Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Just started my first batch of rejuvelac. If there's anything I should know, speak up!

A heads-up to anyone else in the Maryland area that doesn't want to make their own yogurt. MOMs Organic Market stores in the College Park and Jessup (Columbia) locations are now carrying 24 oz unsweetened plain yogurt in their stores for a few weeks. They just arrived on the last week at both locations and its on sale now for 2.69$. They are carrying it now based on my feedback - I love them! =)

Im also getting aftertastes but mostly from the nootch. Ive been buying from bulk bins but I just bought a can of Lewis Labs Brewer's Yeast, the kind that specifically says Superb Taste "This is the only brewers yeast that actually tastes good - Absolutely NO aftertaste". Hopefully this is still regular nutritional yeast..

Ugh, just googled it and realized it may not be the same as regular nutritional yeast, even though its labelled as nutritional yeast on the can. Anyone know if I can use this? it does say inactive yeast.

This is a little confusing to me, but just to clarify, brewers yeast and nutritional yeast are not the same thing.

I've never seen brewer's yeast labeled nutritional yeast. I think it's the wrong stuff. Can you describe what it looks like? And how it smells?

Also, I've made the following so far:

Brie: Done and tasted. A little coconutty, but wonderful texture and I like the flavor. I may have used the wrong oil, so I ordered some that I know is right for my next attempt. I formed these in a muffin tin, so I have 1-2 serving chunks.

Sharp cheddar: Done, chilling out in the fridge for another month at least. So far they look good.

Air Dried Gouda: Drying. I am lucky, I am in a very dry and pretty cold climate right now, so I am very optimistic. It's cracking but other than that it looks good.

Mozzarella: I'll be finishing this tonight. I want to make baked cheese sticks and a caprese salad.

Boursin: Culturing on the counter

Pub cheddar: Culturing on the counter. I am SO excited about this one, based on the reviews here.

I had to mail order basically every ingredient since I live in the middle of nowhere, but I'm used to that. One sticking point is the yogurt, as it's at least 2 hours to the nearest non-dairy yogurt. So I'm skipping those recipes for now.

Brewers yeast should be alive, so the brewing will work. Nooch is deactivated.

If you google Lewis Labs Nutritional Yeast, the first image that comes up in google images is the one I bought (it says "Superb Taste" on the bottom. But yeah, upon further examination of some of its nutritional makeup (high is selenium and chromium) its not the right one even though its made from sugar beets which nootch can be as well. Bummer =( It does appear to be totally inactive though because the directions for taking it are much like the regular stuff (disoolve into your drink or sprinkle on salad, etc)

(and no thanks to the store employee who silently pointed at the words nutritional yeast when I asked if it was the same as nutritional yeast).

It smells yeasty, bready, and sweet, much different from nootch. I may try mixing it with nootch and see what happens, as all my cheddar has been tasting like nootch even with a bit extra culture time.

If it smells yeasty, it's probably alive. It's weird that it would say nutritional yeast though.

I have just made the fondue. Super easy, super delicious! With a Vitamix, it was also super fast. <3

The mozzarella tastes great! It's a bit softer than I expected. I'm thinking in tomato sandwiches now

Does it taste like you remember gruyere?

I just made mixed up the ingredients for the air-dried parmesan and its completely liquidy after I thoroughly mixed it up to get all the miso bits. The book says to form into a ball which is not physically possible. Ugh!! =( I made the yogurt cheese by using Whole Soy unsweetened yogurt and hung it up on a nut milk bag for 24 hours. I did use sput in slightly more in order to get the two cups yield and it was still slightly dripping..

Im going to try and stick it into the dehydrator for a few hours (with just air, no heat) and mix occasionally and pray that it thicken up enough to form into a ball.

Has anyone had this issue and found a way to salvage it?

I can't tell from your post if you cooked it with the thickeners yet.

i've only made the sharp cheddar, and it's okay, but i wish i would have known ahead of time that it's easily overcooked. my molds were drip-drying in the rack, and the heavy bottomed pot held enough heat to keep it cooking by the time i dried the molds by hand.

also, i had no idea the culture was going to expand so much. my jar was definitely 2x the size of the mix, and was already close to overflowing when only the bottom 5/6ths had air pockets, so i cooked it. i'll definitely do it again with a larger jar and now that i know it's safe to taste it before cooking and molding, i'll do that too. (my apologies if all of this is in the intro.)

as for the coverings, i wasn't sure when i was supposed to use a solid lid and when i was supposed to use cheesecloth. (particularly when the rejuvelac was soaking, but also during culturing. i used a solid lid both times. i now see that during both, there's a potential of killing the cultures if they don't get enough oxygen or something. or if too much pressure builds up and rhubarbs growth.) (::edit:: haha. the filter.)

Yeah the cooking can take a bit to get the hang of.

It is impressive how much it can grow. Mine try and escape, too. It is summer here, i think they grow especially fast. You can give it a stir during culturing to deflate it, and have a taste while you're at it :)

rhubarbs. Hehe! Haven't come across that one before.

I think you have nothing to worry about! It's humid and hot here atm, with plenty of bugs, so i've only made the parmesan in my dehydrator so far, with extra drying in the fridge. And i only have one of those crappy ones with no temp control (though i love it anyway) and iit runs pretty hot. The parmesan was a complete success, definitely one of my favourites. i'm sure it's even better done as written, i'll find out when things get cooler here.

I think there's a variation where you add pine nuts? That would remedy things somewhat too. I think one time when i made it i blended in a few cashews when it seemed kinda thin, as i had no pinenuts, and that worked great.

Thanks Loomi! After dehydrating yesterday and stirring constantly, I was able to form it into a thin brick to leave overnight and this morning I flipped it over by peeling back the parchment. Im hoping with a few more hours of drying I can flip it over again and maybe get it on an air rack..

The pine nuts was a good idea but I didnt want to lose any more mass by blending it and losing some of it to the sides and bottom of the blender. I will definitely try the recoipe next time with it though.

I just made Meltable Muenster and it's sooo good. Not quite as flavorful as meunster, but tastes/ feels like a nice mild cheese. I've eaten it plain, on toast, and on a white pizza and it was great every time.
My rejuvelac is fermenting away. Hopefully this time it will turn out right and i will be able to make some more cheese. I know i'm going to start with cheddar cos it's my favorite. What should i make after that?

So when you add enough water to "moisten" your sprouting grains for rejuvelac, obviously they're not fully submerged, but are they mostly covered? Or just a little water in there? The directions aren't very specific about that part. I have them about 3/4 submerged right now.

for sprouting, you just want to rinse the grains but not leave any water standing in the vessel... here's a video that does a good job of showing what the process looks like:

http://sproutpeople.org/rejuvelac.html

scroll down to the "how-to" section - I use a mason jar with cheesecloth for the strainer just like he demonstrates and it works great everytime :)

I made the first Brie in the book - I like it! I'm not sure how close to brie it tastes (I don't remember eating it very often), but it's very mild, like a slightly cheesy butter, or a buttery cream cheese? Next time I might culture the cashew cheese a little longer for a cheesier taste (I did about 36 hours).

Next, I'm going to try a cheddar and/or Parmesan.

Thanks! They've been sitting in water for about a day and a half (after the soaking), so hopefully I didn't already screw them up too bad.

So many tips in this thread, I wish they could be in the book!

I wanted to post this; The first time I made the sharp cheddar I did not like it. I realized I had to culture it a lot longer.

However, I have discovered something else; if you add a couple of roasted/cooked and peeled/seeded RED bell peppers to the blender after you puree everything else, you get magic...just drop them in and puree until smooth.

It adds incredible depth of flavor. TRY THIS!!!! (You still culture just like normal, it just gets really yummy this way, IMO!)

:)

There's actually several stores in the village that carry it, you don't have to go Park Slope Food co-op (unless there's another one that you know of? wait that's members only) Anyway if you check the Dr. Cow site or email them there's actually about a dozen places that carry it.
But yea cheaper and more readily available would make me very happy.