Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Mine arrived last night! So excited. I keep forgetting to buy cheesecloth (seriously, I've been to fabric stores three times in the last couple of weeks and I forget each time), but I got some coffee filters today so I'm going to try rejuvelac-ing with those instead.

If anyone makes the pub cheese, when you thicken it, you need to stir it until you think you're gonna die, and then stir it more than that. Wow.

ughhh...ok, cheeses are finally NOT covering my kitchen counter! All have turned out good so far ( I think)...

I made the sundried tomato/garlic cream cheese w/ my cream cheese..I added fresh basil too. Its delish.

Air Dried Cheddar: hmmm...jury's still out on that one--it was a bit tangy before and after I cooked it ( I cultured for 2 days--temp in house around 73-4)...I read that it goes through "double culturing"..will this help with the tanginess? I hope so. Otherwise, its not bad.

blue- freaking AWESOME!!!!! Its still culturing on my counter--but oh my...

gruyere: good. REAL good! Cant wait to make fondue! Grated some on tacos tonight.

Piquant Brown- Air drying- brushed with salted wine; we will see..very strong, stinky sort of thing--I like it...but I need to see how it goes...

Yogurt- Very nice...I am pleasantly surprised. Will def make again!

Dinner: Tonight I made tacos with left over beet burgers (crumbled and added Mexican spices)--I had some Brie (left over from last weeks cheese experiment with my issue of VegNews), so I used that for the cheese along with the yogurt for sour cream, and guacamole/salsa. Very nice.

Now I can rest...cheese making pretty much done--

:)

Wow, you've been busy. I think I have to get the book. The sharp cheddar is culturing on the counter since last night (from vegnews) and I'm soaking almonds for the Swiss. Planning to start the brie tonight. Gotta go get more cashews!

I also made yoghurt from the video clip on Myoko's website (not sure if it is the same in the book) but it didn't work. I left it in the sun all day and it never got thick. I ended up turning the crock on low to warm it up, lined it with a kitchen towel and added two 500 ml mason jars and turned the crock off again. It thickened in about an hour but I think it might have been too hot. It kind of separated, it looked like there were lots of small bubbles in it. I refrigerated it but it has a fizzy taste to it now, but it does not taste off, it tastes ok. I wonder if I just left it out too long.

Yoghurt is a real problem in Canada. I can only get Yoso flavoured (even the vanilla is strong and sweet) but I don't like them, the almond one (super yuck) and So delicious coconut (too sweet and no unflavoured either). It would be nice to be able to buy it on a whim instead of planning for it for a couple of days and taking a chance of it not working. It is too cold now to culture it outdoors. I used to be able to get Wildwood which I loved at a HFS but they discontinued it because it didn't sell. I don't understand that because they still carry Yoso which is pretty bad and the coconut which is pretty expensive.

I've made the yogurt three times now, and I've had similar results. It's definitely not something I'd want to eat for breakfast, but it works great in the cheeses, even when it's fizzy.

xo
kittee

I want to report on my Oat American cheese experience. I cut the recipe in half but otherwise stayed true to it. I only had agar flakes so i used those and used half the optional oil (wanted to compromise between richness and not gaining all the weight back i've lost since i stopped eating dairy - that Sharp Cheddar mmmmmmmm good, might as well just slather it right on my hips). anyway, all went well until the last cooking/whisking phase. i could not whisk out the lumps! the taste is good, but i don't know what i did wrong in terms of the lumps.

anyone else try this one?

YES, YES, YES! This book is finally available for Kindle! And I just bought a copy (the Kindle price is $9.99)!

Making yogurt is an acquired technique. If it's separating, then it was too hot. Invest in a thermometer if you don't trust your wrists. It can get hot outside - a kitchen counter might be better if the internal temperature is 110 and the jars are insulated in several layers of towels (or a blanket). The longer it cultures, the tangier and more separated it can get. A location with a stable temperature is best. Unfortunately, most cultured foods have a learning curve. If your yogurt separates, put it in a cheese bag, drain it, and make cheese. Won't work for breakfast, but as Kittee says, great for cheese.

Hi Miyoko,

Thanks for your input! I let it drain about 36 h and the volume went down by at least half. There was more than a cup of solid material from one large yogurt container. Do you think there was too much yogurt culture or something?

:) I am cultivating some quinoa rejuveleac (oh i totally butchered that up) right now, so by the end of next week I should have basic cashew cheese. the next few weeks is totally going to be cheese and jam and sausage making :D

I finished the Swiss last night and it's sitting in the fridge. Had some problems cooking it, I could not get it to bubble/boil as per instructions. The "cheese" was so thick and dry it kept burning if I turned the stove up higher. After 10 minutes of arm wrestling with the whisk I poured (actually spooned, the mass was too thick to be poured) it into a glass dish. The texture was exactly like that of melted cheese, it behaved the same, has a shine to it and oozes oil, OMG. I refrigerated it. I will totally make a fondue with it this weekend because hubby's comment was: who's going to eat all that cheese? I think I won't have a problem aging some of these cheeses because it makes quite a lot and there are only 2 of us.
Hooray, cheese on toast for breakfast tomorrow, or fried up in the frying pan. Back home we used to fry up some Swiss cheese when we made fried eggs.

The sharp cheddar is still culturing and I'm getting ready to cook the brie tonight. The smell is pretty close, although a bit less subtle, and the texture is dead on.

Out of interest I worked out the cost of the cheeses I'm most likely to make frequently. I was wondering if this cashew habit was sustainable!

Even taking into account that I have to order almost everything online because apparently I live in the back-end-of-bryond(!), I found that prices for Sharp Cheddar, Melty Cheddar and Melty Mozerella are about the same or slightly cheaper than dairy equivalents (vegan equivalents have to be ordered with brutal postage so I don't).

So I don't think I have to worry about my cashew habit!

This book needs its own forum with seperate threads for each recipe; we need to get INDEPTJ!

:D

Cheese Porn, vegan style...

Bought the Kindle version yesterday, thanks for making it available in that format!

My soy yogurt has been draining since last night, working on the Buffalo Mozz from VegNews.

Can you be more specific about the medium brown miso? Is it barley miso? Soybean miso?

Where's your sense of adventure?

So I made rejuvelac from brown rice. I got busy during the week and forgot about it so it went 3 days. It's milky with some bubbles and overall it looks pretty good except...it smells like feet. Funky funky feet. Did I let it go to long/do something wrong or is this what the stuff is supposed to smell like?

ETA: I googled a bit and a lot of people have the experience of their rejuvelac smelling funky. Apparently this means it's gone too long because it's supposed to smell slightly yeasty and lemony. However, people have used their stinky rejuvelac to make cheeses and it's ok. So what would you guys do? I'm not worried about getting sick, I'm just worried it might make really strong cheese.

I've been using barley miso for the Cheddar recipe. Not sure if there are other brown ones, but it's working fine.

If it doesn't smell right, it might be growing bad bacteria that could make you sick. I have a couple of recipes for plain old rejuvelac made with wheat and they state if it smells strange, throw it away and start a new batch.

I'm excited about this being available on Kindle too! Although I feel like I need to decontaminate my kitchen before getting into fermented food again...

question - I am making two batches of rejuvelac (quinoa and a quinoa/wheatberry mix). I've soaked it for the 12 hours, and now doing the rinsing and the re-soaking. How much water am I supposed to re-cover it with? Right now i just make sure all the grain is slightly covered. is that too much water is it supposed to be like a splash or something?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think you're probably going to be okay with most kinds of miso, although she does specifically say not to use red in the book. I've been using "mellow white," which is actually a light tan color and also contains rice as suggested in the book. Everything has turned out great, though when this container is gone I will likely seek a stronger miso...but I love red miso and would eat it straight if I thought I wouldn't overload on sodium, so I'm kind of a freak. If it is of any help, the brand I have is Miso Master, but I don't know how widely it is distributed.

couroupita, I wouldn't use funky rejuvelac. Even if you didn't get sick from it, the cost of a batch or two of cheese is way more than I could stomach having to toss out! Brown rice simply didn't work out for me, but I've had nothing but success with quinoa.

I very nearly bought this on the Kindle store today... but then I looked at the sample and it's so pale that it's hard to read. Is it just the sample that has light grey text? It might drive me to buy the paper book, but the Kindle version is verging on illegible. Oh, and the recipe titles are missing!

I've emailed Miyoko via her website about this. It would be a shame if she lots business because the sample version isn't up to scratch!

On a sort of related matter, can you make rejuvelac from red lentils?

hmmmm.... that's a good question.It's not listed in the list of ingredients.

(I am so paranoid. every few minutes i look at my quinioa to see if there are sprouts). I think I drowned them with too much water :(
I think maybe by Tuesday if I see no sprouts, I'll start all over again.

To sprout things, you just soak them to wet them through and then remove excess water. They absorb all the water they need - any excess water drowns them, basically.


Edit: I've got an email back from Miyoko herself saying that she's passed on the "too pale to read" problem to her publishers!