Making Vinegar From Wine
If you make wine (as oppesed to apple) vinegar, you can dispense with the apples and the press. You'll want good quality wine that's not too strong -- 10-11% alcohol -- because too much alcohol inhibits the activity of the bacteria that transform the wine. If the wine is too weak, on the other hand, the vinegar won't keep well.
There are several ways to proceed.
The simplest is to leave an open, 3/4 filled bottle of wine in a warm place for a four weeks.
Check the taste every 2 weeks and you can leave it longer just taste once a week to your liking.
This technique yields just one bottle, however. For a steady supply of vinegar, take a wide-mouthed glass jug whose capacity is at least a gallon and pour a quart of wine and a cup of vinegar into it. Keep the container covered most of the time, but open it for a half hour every day. In a couple of weeks the madre, a viscous starter, will have settled to the bottom of the jug, while the vinegar above it will be ready for use. Add more wine as you remove vinegar to keep the level in the jug constant.
If you want to make wine vinegar in larger batches, procure a 1-gallon (5 liter) cask that has a spigot at one end. If it's new, rinse it with vinegar and let it dry. Next, fill it to within a couple of inches of the top with wine and put it, uncovered, in a place that's about 68 degrees F (20 C). In a couple of weeks the wine will be vinegar. Drain it from the cask using the spigot, and, if you can, bottle it during a waning moon because it will be clearer. Replace the vinegar removed with more wine, pouring it into the cask with a length of hose so as to leave the surface molds undisturbed.
As was true for apple vinegar, homemade wine vinegar will be more delicate and have greater depth than commercially prepared vinegar.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Marbled Easter Eggs
What you'll need:
Eggs (hard boiled or raw)
Food coloring
Vinegar
Cooking oil
Containers for the dye mixture (mugs will work)
Paper towels
A few spoons
How to make it:
In each container combine one tablespoon of each of the following: oil, vinegar, and your choice of food coloring.
Add enough water to make the liquid deep enough to cover an egg.
Swirl the liquid with a spoon, and quickly lower and raise an egg into it.
Pat dry with a paper towel, and repeat with a second color.
Swirl into a third color, if desired. Some white areas can be left on the egg.
Gently pat dry the completed egg, leaving a bit of the oil to give the egg a varnished look.
Tips:
This craft requires no special materials and produces beautiful results with very little effort. The eggs can be blown when completed, but the project is so simple that you might just discard the eggs and make a fresh batch each year.
Homemade Limoncello Recipe
Recipe for homemade limoncello, a popular after-dinner drink from Southern Italy:
•1 liter of 100 proof vodka (Absolut is the most popular 100 proof brand)
•1 1/2 cups water
•5 large lemons - NOT lemon juice
•2 cups sugar
Wash the lemons, quarter them, and squeeze out as much of the juice as you can. Discard the juice.
Pour the vodka into a large mason jar, or other airtight glass jar.
Add the lemons, seal the jar, and put it in a dark cool place for 5 days.
After 5 days, put the water in a pot, add the sugar and bring to a boil.
Keep at low boil for 5 minutes, stirring often.
Cool to room temperature.
Stir in the vodka and lemons, wait an hour.
Remove the lemon pieces (best to strain them out).
Stir.
Pour the mixture into glass bottles and make airtight.
Put the bottles in your freezer overnight.
Store in freezer until your next dinner event or cocktail party. In Italy, limoncello is traditionally served in small ceramic cups. It can be mixed with tonic, if preferred.
Read more at Suite101: Make Your Own Limoncello: This liquor is best homemade, and great for cocktail parties. http://liquor.suite101.com/article.cfm/make_your_own_limoncello#ixzz0hEd7JmCj
•1 liter of 100 proof vodka (Absolut is the most popular 100 proof brand)
•1 1/2 cups water
•5 large lemons - NOT lemon juice
•2 cups sugar
Wash the lemons, quarter them, and squeeze out as much of the juice as you can. Discard the juice.
Pour the vodka into a large mason jar, or other airtight glass jar.
Add the lemons, seal the jar, and put it in a dark cool place for 5 days.
After 5 days, put the water in a pot, add the sugar and bring to a boil.
Keep at low boil for 5 minutes, stirring often.
Cool to room temperature.
Stir in the vodka and lemons, wait an hour.
Remove the lemon pieces (best to strain them out).
Stir.
Pour the mixture into glass bottles and make airtight.
Put the bottles in your freezer overnight.
Store in freezer until your next dinner event or cocktail party. In Italy, limoncello is traditionally served in small ceramic cups. It can be mixed with tonic, if preferred.
Read more at Suite101: Make Your Own Limoncello: This liquor is best homemade, and great for cocktail parties. http://liquor.suite101.com/article.cfm/make_your_own_limoncello#ixzz0hEd7JmCj
Herbal Dryer Bags
Materials Needed:
5″ x 5″ cotton muslin or cheesecloth squares (2)
Thread
Dried Lavender
Directions:
■Sew large “tea bags” out of the muslin or cheesecloth squares, leaving an opening at the top to fill with lavender. Sew the top shut. No need to sew fancy, just place the squares together and sew a single seam along the top about 1/4″ from the edge.
■Roughly squeeze the bags before tossing in the dryer with wet laundry. When laundry is done the scent is light, not overwhelming at all. Especially nice to use on loads of bedding (sweet, fragrant dreams).
■Bags are reusable! When the lavender is no longer doing its job, take a seam ripper and open about 2″ on one end, empty the bag, refill and sew shut. For one last kick at the can, crush the used lavender and toss it around your carpet. Let sit for about an hour then vacuum.
Tip:
Make more than one dryer bag so that the same bag isn’t in one load after another, alternate them so each bag has a chance to cool down before being used again.
Also good with Fresh Rosemary
5″ x 5″ cotton muslin or cheesecloth squares (2)
Thread
Dried Lavender
Directions:
■Sew large “tea bags” out of the muslin or cheesecloth squares, leaving an opening at the top to fill with lavender. Sew the top shut. No need to sew fancy, just place the squares together and sew a single seam along the top about 1/4″ from the edge.
■Roughly squeeze the bags before tossing in the dryer with wet laundry. When laundry is done the scent is light, not overwhelming at all. Especially nice to use on loads of bedding (sweet, fragrant dreams).
■Bags are reusable! When the lavender is no longer doing its job, take a seam ripper and open about 2″ on one end, empty the bag, refill and sew shut. For one last kick at the can, crush the used lavender and toss it around your carpet. Let sit for about an hour then vacuum.
Tip:
Make more than one dryer bag so that the same bag isn’t in one load after another, alternate them so each bag has a chance to cool down before being used again.
Also good with Fresh Rosemary
Rosemaling Baby Steps
I love to paint and used to decorate everything.
I found one of my favorite techniques as a free lesson located HERE
Rosemaling or Swedish Folk Art in an easy first lesson.
I found one of my favorite techniques as a free lesson located HERE
Rosemaling or Swedish Folk Art in an easy first lesson.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Butter Beer Recipe
Christmas past and present Sixteenth-century sausages and powdered goose. Well, what else did you expect?
Buzz up!
Digg it
Heston Blumenthal The Observer, Sunday 14 December 2008 Article history Butter beer
This is a curious oddity from history that conjures up images of buxom wenches with steaming tankards of beer for thirsty travellers. When we first tried to recreate it, we didn't have much success, but eventually we found a great old recipe and adapted it to make it our own delicious version.
SERVES 6-10
2 cans Old Speckled Hen ale
¾ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
120g caster sugar
5 egg yolks
20g unsalted butter
Pour the ale into a saucepan and stir in the ground ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Gently heat this mixture until it is warm (to approximately 52ºC if you have a thermometer).
In the meantime, using a hand-held blender, blitz the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until light and creamy.
Once the spiced ale is warm, add the egg yolk and sugar mixture and return to the heat, stirring constantly, until the liquid starts to thicken slightly (no hotter than 78ºC). Be careful not to let the saucepan get too hot or the eggs will scramble. Maintain this temperature for 2 minutes.
After 2 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter until it melts. Then froth the mixture with a small cappuccino whisk until it looks like frothy, milky tea. Pour into small glasses, mini tankards or espresso cups and serve immediately.
Not bad but I like Mead , Wassel and honey Beer
Buzz up!
Digg it
Heston Blumenthal The Observer, Sunday 14 December 2008 Article history Butter beer
This is a curious oddity from history that conjures up images of buxom wenches with steaming tankards of beer for thirsty travellers. When we first tried to recreate it, we didn't have much success, but eventually we found a great old recipe and adapted it to make it our own delicious version.
SERVES 6-10
2 cans Old Speckled Hen ale
¾ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
120g caster sugar
5 egg yolks
20g unsalted butter
Pour the ale into a saucepan and stir in the ground ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Gently heat this mixture until it is warm (to approximately 52ºC if you have a thermometer).
In the meantime, using a hand-held blender, blitz the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until light and creamy.
Once the spiced ale is warm, add the egg yolk and sugar mixture and return to the heat, stirring constantly, until the liquid starts to thicken slightly (no hotter than 78ºC). Be careful not to let the saucepan get too hot or the eggs will scramble. Maintain this temperature for 2 minutes.
After 2 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter until it melts. Then froth the mixture with a small cappuccino whisk until it looks like frothy, milky tea. Pour into small glasses, mini tankards or espresso cups and serve immediately.
Not bad but I like Mead , Wassel and honey Beer
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