Locust Cider

A new hard cider place called Locust Cider opened up next to one of my favorite craft breweries (Dirty Bucket Brewery). I haven't yet tasted all of their offerings, but I will eventually. I think their dark cherry infused cider is one of the best I've ever had. It's flavorful without being too sweet.

They also make an aged dessert apple hard cider that is very tasty.

Hopped Cider

I have really started liking hopped hard ciders. I discovered them three years ago and have kept my eyes open for different kinds and ciders makers. I've tried five so far.

Tieton Cider Works

Finn River

Anthem Cider

Schilling Cider

Red Tank Cider

Every season seems to bring a difference in the batches. I tasted the Tieton for the first time three years ago, and it was amazing! The next summer produced a hopped cider that was very different and not to my liking. Finn River's hopped cider was a little overpowering the first time I tried it and underwhelming the second time. Anthem has been to most consistent so far over the last three years and very good.

I just discovered Schilling's and Red Tank's hopped ciders this year. Both are fantastic! Schilling is sweeter but has the best nose of any hopped cider I have tasted. The balance of the hops and the cider flavors is really nice. Red Tank's Cascade hopped cider is less sweet and also nicely balanced. It's my favorite. I got the Red Tank at the Schilling Cider House in Fremont (Seattle), and I highly recommend a visit if you're in the area. I got to taste a cider on nitro, and that was a wonderful experience!

Here are some pictures of the Schilling Hopped Cider. It's easy for me to get and very enjoyable. I'm excited to taste it next year.

Tonic

My cousin's wife (who's a bartender) turned me on to a tonic syrup that is made locally in Seattle. Kina Tonic by Bradley's is really tasty! I started using it in tequila and tonics, but it's really made for gin and tonics. Bradley's also makes a barrel aged version of this tonic that I haven't tried yet.

Bradley's Suggested Proportions
1 part tonic
2 parts gin (or tequila)
4 parts sparkling water (or club soda)
lime juice to taste (I use about 1/4 to 1/2 parts)

I usually make drinks with about 2 ounces of alcohol.

Oats

I purchased some sproutable oats from SproutPeople last month.

I finally got around to sprouting some of them a couple of days ago. I make oatmeal this morning. The oatmeal had a fruity, almost flowery, smell, and it had a kind of nutty taste. The texture wasn't too dissimilar to steel cut oats. I enjoyed it!

I'm also making some oat milk for my wife.

The Drunken Botanist

My spouse gave me the book The Drunken Botanist over a year ago. I was very excited to read it, but it got lost in a stack of clutter. I just found it again and have started reading it! I think I'm really going to enjoy reading it.

Homemade Yogurt

I've been making yogurt now for about two and a half years. My wife experimented with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet a couple of years ago and we liked the lactose free yogurt methodology that it recommends. You can buy lactose free yogurt in stores, but I like the thickness and taste of the home made stuff.

SCD lactose free yogurt is "cooked" for 24 hours (regular yogurt is only left to ferment for about 4 hours). You probably need a yogurt maker to be able to control the temperature for 24 hours. An cooler or oven is not going to be convenient.

We got a Yogourmet yogurt maker and have been very happy with it. They only change that we made was that we use a glass jar instead of the plastic vessel that comes with it. We bought the jar from Lucy's Kitchen in Bellingham. We also bought a voltage dimmer in case we needed to increase or decrease the temperature of the yogurt maker because our house is on the cold side and we were concerned that the temperature might end up being a little low. The temperature turned out to be very stable and at exactly the right level (110 degrees).

We've been using the Yogourmet yogurt starter as well (since it is recommended by the SCD for lactose free yogurt), but I'm going to get some heirloom yogurt cultures from Cultures for Health soon and try them. The Bulgarian starter may be where I start.

This is how I make my yogurt.

Step 1

Make sure all your gear is washed/clean. I also pour boiling water over all my pans, jars and spoons. But I don't boil them for 5 minutes. 

Gear

Sauce pan

Metal spoon

1/2 cup metal measuring cup (plastic is fine too)

Thermometer

Fermenting jar with lid

Step 2

Bring your milk up to temperature. If you are using raw milk, you need to bring it up to 180 degrees and then bring it down to 110 degrees. If you are using pasturized milk, you can just bring it up to 110 degrees and you're done. I use goat milk, but I've used homogenized cow milk and had the same good results. Stir the milk while you heat it. 

Tip

I pull the milk off the burner at about 106 degrees. The pan continues to transmit heat and the temperature will climb. Experiment and find out what works for your pan and range. Cooling the milk off takes time. I use a large bowl with ice water in it for cooling down 180 degree milk (and I stir it).

Step 3

Put your yogurt starter in your fermentation vessel. Then pour a couple of cups of 110 degree milk into your vessel and stir it to mix the milk and starter. Then pour the rest of the milk into your vessel and put on the lid.

Step 4

Put your vessel into your yogurt maker. Make sure to follow the maker's instructions. The Yogourmet maker requires warm water to fill the void between the fermentation vessel/jar and the maker container. The water level ends up being about the same as the milk in the jar.

Step 5

Plug in the yogurt maker and let it sit for 24 hours.

Step 6

The fermented milk will likely be a little runny. More like kefir. You can make it thicker by adding milk solids to the milk before "cooking" it. But the Yogourmet maker comes with a cheese cloth bag and that's what I use to thicken up the yogurt. I pour the yogurt into the bag and hang the bag above a bowl for about 12 hours to strain off the whey.

Tip

I use the whey to bake with. I usually make muffins and bread with it. 

Step 7

After 12 hours or so I empty the bag of yogurt into a container. I also scrape all the yogurt off of and out of the bag. I try not to waste any. It's very thick at this point... pretty much Greek yogurt. If you like your yogurt thinner, strain it for less time. Or stir a little whey back in.

Tip

Straining the whey off for about 12 hours pulls about half of the volume of the yogurt out as whey. I start out with 64 fluid ounces of yogurt and end up with about 32 ounces of thick yogurt and 32 ounces of whey. Different cheese cloths will likely result in different results.

Update

I have been looking into using heirloom cultures and have learned that the 24 hour culturing time stresses the bacteria to the point that the resulting yogurt can't really be used as a starter for a new batch of yogurt. CulturesForHealth.com has a good page about this. They suggest keeping a mother batch of yogurt to use as a starter for the 24 batches. 

Raspberry Infusion

I just remembered that I started a raspberry in rum infusion. I had intended to let the infusion sit for about two weeks, but I forgot and it ended up sitting for about six weeks. All I did was put raspberries in rum. I didn't add any sugar (which is often part of infusion recipes).

The rum had a wonderful raspberry aroma and a mellow raspberry flavor. I made about 3 ounces and used half to make my champagne mojito recipe. It was really quite good. The raspberry and mint were very complimentary.

This is my second attempt at infusing. My first attempt was with mint in rum. That didn't turn out very well. The mint turned dark and the rum tasted off. Fresh mint is definitely better. And while I grow my own mint, I have started buying some at Trader Joe's and have been impressed with the quality.