Making ginger beer

Truth be known, the produce from my garden is wasted in my cooking as I'm a totally uninspired cook. Beautiful fresh peas, asparagus, broccoli and carrots are all being steamed together tonight to have alongside chicken and rice. I like to spend as little time in the kitchen as I can, unless it's one of those days when I am spending all day in the kitchen cooking enough food for a week, or throwing together some raw stuff.
The other night I made something with pasta and veges, sprinkling on some chopped parsley at the last minute. The teen, who was setting the table said sarcastically "f a n c y Mum. You finally learned something from Masterchef"
Cheeky little begger!
I do like making concoctions for keeping, like ginger beer, Elderflower cordial, jam, sauce, syrup and cider. Got some of them going on this week.



I know there are recipes for these all over the web but here's my ginger beer recipe followed by one from my Dad:
Ginger Beer 1:
To make the plant:
8 sultanas
2 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp grated ginger
strained juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp of lemon pulp
2 cups of cold water
Put all ingredients in a screw top jar. Leave for 3 days in a warm place. It should show signs of fermentation (bubbles) Then feed the plant for 7 days with 2tsp ground ginger and 4 tsp sugar.


Making up the ginger beer:
3-4 cups of sugar
1 litre boiling water
juice of 5 lemons
strained ginger beer plant
7 litres cold water
Mix sugar and boiling water and stir until dissolved, then add the lemon juice.
Strain the plant through double muslin, squeeze the muslin to get all the liquid out. Add the plant liquid to the sugar, water and lemon juice. Reserve the plant left in the muslin.
Now add cold water and stir.
I bottle into saved plastic bottles to avoid glassy explosions.
Fill bottles and add a sultana to each. Store in a cool place for two weeks.
To make a new plant halve the plant residue left in the muslin and place back in the jar. Add 2 cups cold water. Feed daily as before.
usually freak out about the sugar quantities adding less sugar at stages.
Feel free to experiment or offer some other ideas.


Dad's recipie: (More simple, less wholesome)
16 cups of cold water
1lb sugar
1tsp ground ginger
1tsp lemon essence
1 level dessertspoon of DYC Active yeast
Mix.
Stand overnight (or at least 12 hrs)
Strain, bottle and cap.
Stand 24hrs at room temp, then keep refrigerated.

How to plait garlic

As promised this is how I plait my garlic. I have photographed the technique without flowers because it's easier to see but if you want flowers just plait them in with the bulbs, or substitute a bulb for a bunch of flowers.
It's like doing hair in a french plait.
Tie three large bulbs together and lay them in front of you as pictured. I find it easier when the stalks are still green but they must have been dried in the sun for at least 3 or 4 days so the plait doesn't rot.Next find a bulb which sort of snugly fits in the middle, lay it's stalk on the middle stalk.Snuggle the next bulb in on the left, you will plait it's stalk and the left stalk over the middle ones. They then become the left stalks and the previous left ones are now in the middle.Snuggle one in on the right and cross the two right stalks over the middle ones as before.Find another one to snuggle in the middle and repeat the process to make the plait as long as you like. I use smaller and smaller bulbs as I move up.
When you have added as many garlic as you want plait the stalks and tie the top. It is now ready to hang and use. Many people plait their garlic, feel free to link to this post. I would hope that any learning or perfecting their technique from me would respect that I sell my original garlic plaits locally (motueka and surrounds) to help provide for my family.

Calendula cream 1

I'm pleased that a few friends are going to try the Halloween spider biscuits. Could you tell that the spider body is a raisin? I'm searching for Christmas edible ideas now for our Playcentre Christmas baking stall. Let me know if you all see any quick sure selling ideas, I'm thinking good old shortbread, truffles, gingerbread men and the like.

Somewhere in blogland late one night I saw the suggestion to do entirely handmade Christmas gifts. I wouldn't be at all popular with my kids if I included them but for friends and family it would be do -able. Basil in the garden will be ready for pesto. Herbal ointment for others.On a dry day pick a loosely packed jar full of herb flowers, petals or leaves. Calendula is a great one to start with as it is a good all round skin healer and is very gentle. Comfrey leaves could also be chopped, but because they are quite moist can often promote mould. Lavender flowers are good, strip them off the stalk. Others I use are yarrow, chamomile, elderflower, rosemary, st john's wort, native manuka and kawa kawa. I'm not a qualified herbalist so will not recommend certain herbs for certain ailments but there are many books you can get from the library and make creams for eczema, dry skin, cuts, scrapes, bites, hemorrhoids,massage etc.

Here I'll show the method, it's called cold maceration. Once you've packed the dry petals cover them in oil of your choice (not nasty old salad and cooking oil made in china) I have used olive, almond and grape seed all of which have their own healing qualities and little odour. Avocado would probably be lovely too. Use a skewer to get all the air bubbles out by going down the side of the jar and squeezing the petals back a bit, you might see if you look closely in the picture. Do this until you can't see any more bubbles rising, it's really important as the air promotes mould. Fill the jar right to the top and put a lid on. Set aside in a dark place for four to six weeks. The oils or constituents in the plant that are soluble in oil will be absorbed into your carrier oil. Start with a wee jar first so if you do get some mould growth you don't have to chuck away heaps. My teacher would check hers weekly and just scrape off any mould growing, you could do that if any occurs but the perfectionist in me couldn't cope with that. Another thing to remember when gathering herbs for medicine is to be in a serene or appropriate state of mind. Don't do it when you're stressed or angry as these energy's may be imparted onto your medicine. Sing, smile, pray, visualise, meditate or whatever is appropriate to you.

Next step in six weeks you'll need some natural beeswax, try the beekeeper at the local farmers market or the health food shop. Alternatively you could use the oil as is for massage etc or in aqueous cream but I'll go into that further later.

Bird seed bell

Yesterday at Playcentre we made these lovely bird seed bells which are so simple that with a bit of help even a 2 year old can enjoy making one. We've been eagerly looking out the kitchen window all morning to see if the finches and yellow hammers have discovered them yet. I know the're hungry at this time of year because there aren't many seeds or bugs around. Here's how to make your own bird seed bell.

YOU'LL NEED:

A variety of seeds. We bought a wild bird mix from the supermarket, but you could save corn, millet, wheat, buckwheat, radish, sunflower etc in autumn. Grind up bigger seeds like sunflower and corn.

Egg whites. 2 for every cup of seed.

Small terracotta pots.

Glad wrap or an oven bag. To line the pot.

Thin wire. So you can hang the bell.

METHOD:

Beat the egg whites till they're a bit fluffy, but not as if you're making a pavolova. Kids can do this bit. (the 2 year olds had a go at seperating the yolk from the white with messy results as you can imagine.)

Then they can pour in the seeds and stir them up while you line the terracotta pots with gladwrap. When you've done that let them spoon the mixture into the pot and flatten the top.

Take a length of straight wire make a coil at one end, then insert the straight end of wire down through the mixture then out the hole at the bottom of the pot until the coil is submerged in the seed mix. Position your pots in a cool oven, right way up with the straight bit of wire pointing down through the oven rack, for one and a half to two hours. Allow to cool then tip the bell out of the pot peel off the gladwrap. Make a loop at the top ready to hang in a tree.

An alternative to the egg whites to hold the mix together would be melted fat, you wouldn't need to cook it but I don't think it would look as nice.

Rainbow dyeing

I've been checking out some springtime blogs in the northern hemisphere and was inspired by the wool blankets dyed by here at Small Wonders. Taimarie has provided some good links to follow and before I knew it I was in the mood to do some dying. I havn't tried with blankets but wound some recycled wool into hanks to make multi coloured yarn. My Aunt who has entered the World Of Wearable Art for years taught me this simple method which requires only food colouring and white vinigar. Wind some wool into hanks and wet it. Bring a dye pot with a few centimetres of water to the boil. Add about 3/4 of a cup of white vinigar to the water ( this sets the dye) or acetic acid could be used then you'd only need a tablespoon or so. Lay the hanks on the water and sprinkle the dye on top, Steam, dip or stir to create the desired effect. Add more water and vinigar if it all gets absorbed. It takes around 10 to 20 minutes of simering for all the dye to be absorbed, don't stir too much or it will felt. Experiment!

Take the wool out of the pot with tongs and put it into warm soapy water to rinse. Squeeze out any excess dye without agitating too much, then hang on the line to admire the result and plan the garment you're going to knit.

Harvesting

In spring I grow far too many plants so I give seedlings to all my favorite people. It's always interesting to see how things grow in other peoples gardens compared to my own. I didn't have much success with the Luffa I planted but one of my friends rang me yesterday for instructions on what to do once they've grown, so if you have luffa in your garden here's how to turn them into great back and foot scrubbers. Leave mature fruits in a dry place with the ends cut off and the seeds extracted. The flesh will wither leaving a network of cylindrical fibre. Easy eh? I also gave away lots of these Austrian oil seed pumpkins you just cut them in half and dry out the seeds for storage. You know it's ready when the pumpkin starts to go orange. I got about 3/4 of a cup from the first one I did, which isn't too bad considering if I'd bought the seeds from the shop they'd probably have been heat treated to stop them sprouting and flown here from goodness knows where, so I guess I'm doing my bit in my own garden to help towards stopping global warming. Now if only I could use the pushbike instead of the car sometimes. The catalogue says the flesh is lovely to eat but I find it quite watery like squash and give it to Skatey Boy's pet rats or the chooks, who incedently have stopped laying, autumn is obviously turning into winter for us here in the southern hemisphere. Wharepapa our Mt Arthur mountain range had a sprinkling of snow the other night but it would be very rare for us to get any down this low.

Blogs for beginners

It's great to hear from so many friends that they've tried my tomato soup recipe, it really is yummy isn't it? Someone asked me today how to make a blog. I'm still making mine but I can tell you how to get one started and introduce you to some of the best ones I visit. Most of them have links down the side of the page which direct you to other good blogs or highlighted words that you can click to look at other things, I havn't quite sussed out how to do that yet. So to make one for free go to http://www.blogger.com/start and just follow the directions. You should be able to click that address to get there. Ask a teenager for help if you get stumped. I know there are other places where you can make blogs too, I think you have to pay for some. If you like you could google blogs or blogging to find out more.

The blog I visit every time I'm online is Melissa at tinyhappy. I don't know how to highlight a word to get you there but click this address and check it out. http://www.tinyhappy.typepad.com/ Melissa is a brilliant, creative young mum and blogs almost every day. Through her blog I've found some other real beauties, I like the nz blogs but she has some fantastic international connections too. Here is a great list discribing some good nz blogs. http://stripysockstudio.com/index.php/site/entry/new_zealand_blog_posse_wahoooo/ my apologies for not knowing how to make a proper link. I hope I didn't have to get permission to link, I have a feeling there is blogging etiquette but I havn't really sussed all that out yet either.You can comment on peoples blogs by clicking the comment button at the bottom of each post where you can also read other peoples comments and click their names to see if they have blogs too. I have noticed alot of craft bloggers put on photos of their beautiful children which kind of worries me cos you don't know if you've got creeps looking at your blog, but each to their own you'll never find a picture of my kids on my blog. Happy blogging/blog reading. Here's a picture of my craft corner today, a few projects on the go and a few ideas cooking.