Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Moo!

I'm not sure who's responsible for deciding which books to place in the display windows at the Market Block Book store (next door to my shop), but whoever you are, you're killing me! I swear I must see twelve different books that appeal to me on a weekly basis. The one book I've been glued to lately (mostly at the shop, but I daydream about it when I'm home) is "The Home Creamery" by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley. Are you familiar with this? You might want to get acquainted with this book.

After reading "Plenty" and loving every single second of it, I feel really compelled to not only support local farmers, but to make more of my own food before relying on the supermarket for a quick fix. We don't consume a whole lot of dairy in our home, but we've been talking more and more lately about how that might change if we started making our own dairy products. That's where this book came into play. I'm so enthralled with the recipes inside and the seemingly simple techniques to make things like feta, butter, mozzarella, yogurt and sour cream make me wonder why I haven't been making my own dairy treats all along. I find myself asking that question a whole lot lately about a lot of our favorite food goods.

I'll keep you posted on any experiments as we go through the book, but I highly recommend giving this a read. There's lots to learn in those pages!

6 comments:

leah said...

the creamery book has been on my wishlist for months. we are ready to move past the yogurt stage. we've done butter and ricotta too and i really want to try mozzarella. i am thinking i might get matt some rennet for father's day. romantic isn't it?

Good Girls Studio said...

You are turning into a pioneer frontierswoman! Looove it! Can't wait to see how the cheese turns out!

LK- Healthy Delicious said...

you had me at homemde feta. *sigh* another one to add to my list....

Daniel B. said...

I am having a difficult time locating cream without Carrageenan or Mono and Diglycerides in the local grocery stores.

Presumably you would want to find unadulterated cream in any attempts to make butter at home.

Who ever would have imagined a carton of cream would have a list of ingredients? It is so wrong.

Kate said...

Leah, I think that's one of the most romantic gift ideas I've heard of in a while. It might not be to some people, but if it means that much to your husband, it's not only romantic but sweet, too!

Jo, you can start worrying if I talk about riding a horse to work in my next post.

LK, buy this book! You'll thank yourself for it. Feta is one of the first I'm going to try, simply because we eat enough feta in our house to kill an army.

It IS sad, isn't it, Daniel? That's the main reason why I'm making my own to begin with. Try the farmers' market for the uncrappy stuff. I know the markets here have raw milk and organic milk. No additives whatsoever.

Unknown said...

Hi Kate, We make our own ricotta cheese at work and it is increadably good and suprisingly easy.....good luck with your new adventures... try lots, so when I get there you will have all the kinks out, and all I'll have to do is eat....aaah vacation, love ya nancy