Crumbled Buttermilk Cheese

This cheese, because it is heated, is fairly dry in texture and can be tossed into a salad or sprinkled over casseroles with delicious ease.

Ingredients:

• 1 quart cultured buttermilk
• Cheese Salt
• Herbs or other flavoring (optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat buttermilk over direct heat to 160°F. The buttermilk will automatically begin to separate into curds and whey. If it does not, slowly increase the temperature until it does, but do not go over 180°F.
2. Scoop the curds into a colander suspended over a clean bowl and lined with butter muslin. Make a draining sack and hang the curds to drain for 6-10 hours, or until the whey stops dripping and the desired consistency has been reached.
3. Pour the cheese from the draining sack into a clean bowl. Add salt and any extra flavoring ingredients.

This cheese will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Makes about 1 cup of cheese.

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A Closer Look: Bulgarian Yogurt Starter

Today we are going to take a closer look at the Cultures for Health Bulgarian Yogurt Starter.

…It’s incredibly versatile and easy to make. This yogurt can be eaten plain with some fruit and granola, whizzed up in a smoothie, used in place of sour cream, or as part of marinades and dressings.

I love it, and look forward to enjoying it for years to come. ~KL Adams

Product Highlights

Our Bulgarian Yogurt Starter Culture is the creamiest of the thermophilic heirloom yogurts. It can be re-cultured indefinitely. Thick, rich, and mild, this is the closest to commercial “European Style” yogurt.

• Each box contains 2 packets of yogurt starter
• Activate 1 packet using 1 quart pasteurized milk; store 2nd packet in the freezer as a back-up
• Cultures at 110ºF using a yogurt maker or other appliance
• This culture is also suitable for use with raw dairy milk or non-dairy milk, with special care.
• The mild flavor of Bulgarian Yogurt makes it a great base for dips, dressings, or other recipes using yogurt.

Bulgarian Yogurt Starter Instructions and Troubleshooting: 

• Instructions for using this culture may be found here.
• Having trouble making Bulgarian yogurt? Browse our Yogurt Troubleshooting Articles or contact us for assistance.

Ingredients: Organic milk, live active bacteria (L. Bulgaricus, S. Thermophilus).

This product contains no GMO ingredients.

Shipping Information and Shelf-life: Our Bulgarian starter culture is shipped in a barrier-sealed packet as a freeze-dried yogurt culture. The starter keeps

• At room temperature (68° to 78°F): 3 to 4 months
• In the refrigerator (40° to 45°F): 9 months unopened
• In the freezer (0° to 25°F): 12 months unopened

Allergen Information:

Manufactured in a facility that also produces products made with gluten and dairy.

We absolutely adore this yogurt. Thick enough to make my husband happy and with a wonderful sweet and smooth taste. ~Horsegeek

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Product Q&A

Q. Do you have to keep making yogurt weekly to keep your mother batches safe to use? I’m assuming they mold and go bad after a time. How long does your “set aside” yogurt for making the next batch actually keep/stay safe to use? Thanks.

A. Reusable (Heirloom) cultures should be made every 5 to 7 days to ensure that the bacteria is strong enough to culture subsequent batches.

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Q. I’d like to buy the Bulgarian culture but am quite sure I would not want to make one batch of 7 jars after another. Is there a way to keep the starter healthy if it’s not being used? Could I just stick it in the fridge?

A. You can keep a “pure” pasteurized dairy mother culture in the fridge, and make sure to reculture a new mother from which to make more yogurt within 7 days. No need to have to make a new batch of yogurt right after a batch.

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Learn more about the Bulgarian Yogurt Starter here.

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Weekly Recap – September 5th Edition

It’s time for the weekly recap.  Leave your favorite links or ideas in the comments below!

This Past Week on the Blog

In case you missed them, here are a few highlights from this past week:

A Closer Look: Organic Vegetable Glycerin – Organic Vegetable Glycerin is a thick, clear, odorless liquid, useful in homemade soaps and other skin care products, such as creams and lotions, for soft, smooth skin.

What’s New at CFH: Save 20% on Personal Care Products & Make Your Own Coconut Oil Peppermint Conditioner

Herbed Red Potatoes with Crème Fraîche – Crème fraîche provides the perfect complement to savory herbed potatoes. Make enough so everyone can have second helpings!

Do Fermented Foods Reduce Anxiety? – A recent article on National Geographic points to some research that shows how gut health and fermented foods may help reduce anxiety.  It continues to show that we are just scratching the surface on the benefits of traditional fermented foods.

Stocking the DIY Personal Care Pantry – Having just a handful of staple ingredients on hand allows me to make everything from no fuss toothpaste to deodorants to shampoos to lotion and more.

 

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Stocking the DIY Personal Care Pantry

The other day we ran out of toothpaste. It was refreshing (no pun intended) to tell my family “Don’t worry, I’ll whip something up.” My husband took the children to town to run errands and I busied myself in the kitchen.

I worked on a few gluten-free sourdough recipes. I tidied up a bit. And I whipped up toothpaste without a recipe because I had the basic ingredients on hand – baking soda, bentonite clay, glycerin, coconut oil, and peppermint essential oil.

Much like stocking a kitchen pantry, having just a handful of staple ingredients on hand allows me to make everything from no fuss toothpaste to deodorants to shampoos to lotion and more. Here are my favorite personal care pantry ingredients which can be used to make an array of personal care products.

Castile Soap

This little bottle of soap is really all of the soap you need, when making various body cleansing products. From foaming hand soap to body wash to shampoo, it can be used as the base for any cleansing, sudsy wash.

Bentonite Clay

This cleansing clay is a great, inexpensive base to have on hand for a variety of products. This toothpaste is not unlike my homemade paste. This clay based shampoo removes buildup and helps your scalp to adjust to a natural cleansing routine. Finally, bentonite clay is just one of the mineral-rich ingredients in these Relaxing Bath Salts.

Baking Soda

I already had some of this in my kitchen for use in baking, but I also keep it in larger quantities for household cleaning and personal care products. It adds just a touch of abrasion for toothpaste and works well as a binder and deodorizer in deodorant.

Organic Vegetable Glycerin

Used in small quantities in many personal care recipes, this organic vegetable glycerin helps bring together many personal care recipes. This Winter Blues Bath Gel combines glycerin with the fragrance of citrus, while this Zinc Oxide Diaper Cream uses just a touch for baby’s bottom.

Basic Essential Oils

Used in just about everything from mouthwash to lotions, essential oils are used for their botanical properties as well as their fresh and natural scent. While my collection generally spans further, I like to at least keep these six varieties on hand for use in various applications:

• Lavender
• Lemon
• Peppermint
• Eucalyptus
• Rosemary
• Tea Tree Oil

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is a great all-purpose base oil for everything from deodorant to salve to hot oil treatment. If you need more reasons why coconut oil is a superb option for personal care products, here are Fifteen Personal Care Tricks Using Coconut Oil.

There are, of course, other ingredients to have on hand to further extend the above six to various applications. But isn’t it nice to know that with just these few things on hand, you can whip up deodorant, toothpaste, hand wash, body wash, and more?

Note: All of the above ingredients are currently 20% off through 9/6/15. Just use coupon code SHAMPOO when checking out.

What do you keep in your personal care pantry?

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Do Fermented Foods Reduce Anxiety?

A recent article on National Geographic points to some research that shows how gut health and fermented foods may help reduce anxiety.  It continues to show that we are just scratching the surface on the benefits of traditional fermented foods.

From the article:

“…Recent research from Virginia’s College of William and Mary and the University of Maryland shows that eating fermented food—such as yogurt, sauerkraut, pickles, and kimchi—markedly reduces social anxiety. The effect is especially pronounced in those whose nerves tip into neuroticism—that is, the chronically, fearfully, shy.

It’s been common knowledge for decades that our mental state affects our innards: anxiety can bring on nausea or diarrhea; depression can make us lose (or gain) an appetite. Now, however, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the brain-to-gut pathway is a two-way street. Not only does the way we feel affect our digestive tracts, but the trillions of bacteria in our digestive tracts can dictate the way we feel…”

Read more here

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Herbed Red Potatoes with Crème Fraîche

Crème fraîche provides the perfect complement to savory herbed potatoes. Make enough so everyone can have second helpings!

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds small red potatoes, washed and quartered
• 3 tablespoons cultured butter
• ¼ cup chopped green onion
• Sea salt
• Basil
• Garlic powder (or 2 cloves garlic, minced)
• ¾ cup crème fraîche
• Black pepper

Instructions:

1. Boil potatoes in just enough water to cover until tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Drain potatoes and transfer to a large bowl. Add butter.
3. Mash the potatoes together just a bit to blend the butter. Leave some large chunks.
4. Add green onion, salt, basil, and garlic powder to taste, stirring them in gently with the spoon.
5. Pour in the crème fraîche, stirring and blending as you pour.
6. Top with pepper and more butter, if desired. Serve warm.

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What’s New at CFH: Save 20% on Personal Care Products & Make Your Own Coconut Oil Peppermint Conditioner

Don’t miss out on this week’s sale.  You can save 20% on all the Personal Care Products by using coupon code SHAMPOO (expires 9/6/15).  Also, check out this DIY Coconut Oil Peppermint Deep Conditioner recipe.

Coconut Oil Peppermint Deep Conditioner

A deep conditioner is meant to be used periodically – once per week or less. Its deep conditioning adds moisture where it is most needed, leaving your hair soft without weighing it down.

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 drops peppermint essential oil

Instructions for Making Coconut Oil Peppermint Deep Conditioner:

1. In a small cup, combine warm water and coconut oil. Mix until the oil is melted.
2. Add peppermint essential oil.

How to Use Coconut Oil Peppermint Deep Conditioner:

1. For normal hair, apply deep conditioner just after rinsing out shampoo. Work it into all parts of the hair, including the scalp. Rinse with warm water and allow hair to air-dry.
2. For oily hair, apply only to the ends of the hair, starting about halfway from the scalp. Work the mixture into the tips, using only as much as necessary to lightly coat hair. Rinse well and allow hair to air-dry hair.

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