Happy New Year’s Ghee

Happy New Year, everyone! 2013 marks the return of Harmonious Belly. It’s been six months (just about) since I wrote my last post and I am hopeful that that long of a break will never happen again. So what have I been up to?

food-lovers-guide-to-queens-meg-cotner

Well, my book – Food Lovers’ Guide to Queens – was published in December. Between the time I submitted my original manuscript in late June, there were bouts of additional editing. I enjoyed the process, and have learned a lot about book publishing during it all. It was released on December 4, 2012.

After it was released, I gave a number of interviews, which was a lot of fun. Some were on the phone, some were in person. I spoke to bloggers and reporters. Here are a couple of links:

Food Guide Unlocks Borough’s Culinary Door [Queens Gazette]
Blogger Pens Foodie Guide to Queens [DNAinfo]

I still plan to go on food explorations throughout Queens, but these days I’m cooking a lot more at home, and feeding myself more nutrient-dense foods.

Also, in August, I started working as the Editor of QueensNYC.com, a newish website all about Queens – food, real estate, evens, and news. I’ve learned an awful lot about blogging, writing, and Queens.

But back to the food. This weekend I tried my hand at making homemade ghee. This is essentially clarified butter that is cooked a little longer so that some of the milk solids brown and caramelize. That is what gives ghee the classic nutty flavor. It has a higher smoke point than plain butter, too, and can sit out on the counter without going bad, but I will likely keep mine in the fridge anyway (ideally, I like to keep my counters relatively free of stuff).

I used this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo. I started with a pint of raw butter – look at how beautiful and yellow it is! If I hadn’t had the raw butter I would have used something like Kerrygold – using grass-fed butter is important to me.

raw-butter-pre-ghee

Then I turned on the heat and let it go for about 15 minutes at a very low temperature. The butter melted completely in that time and started to separate into fat and milk solids.

ghee-milk-solids-separate-from-butterfat

Then I turned up the heat a little to get more separation going. There was mild bubbling and frothing going on. I scraped the bottom of the pan and felt that some of the milk solids had fallen to the bottom of the pan, as was expected, and they were a beautiful amber color.

ghee-frothing-milk-solids

I turned off the heat and removed some of the remaining milk solids with a big slotted spoon, discarded them, then poured the liquid through a sieve lined with a couple layers of cheesecloth. Here is what remained in the sieve.

ghee-remaining-milk-solids

And here is the end result! Sure, there is a little bit of froth, still, but I’m not worried about that.

homemade-ghee-finished-product

It’s dark now but will lighten up as it cools. I have a whole pint to use. My understanding is that it will keep for a year in the fridge (I’m sure I’ll use it up before then). I tasted it and it is delicious – love the nutty flavor.

I’m really excited to use my ghee in cooking! I plan to make black eyed pea curry soon, so the ghee will be perfect for that. A lot of Ethiopian recipes ask for a spiced ghee called niter kibbeh, which I’d like to try next time. I adore Ethiopian food, and it is not available really here in Queens, so I’d like to try my hand at making it myself.

Overall, I would say that making ghee is pretty easy. The whole process took about a half hour from the time I put the butter in the pan to the time I strained it into the jar. It’s definitely worth giving it a try.

5 Spoke Creamery Redmond Cheddar

5 Spoke creamery redmond cheddar

While shopping at one of my local produce markets (Greenline Organic aka “The Tiki Hut” because of the thatched overhang), I checked their cheese section and found they carry this 5 Spoke Creamery raw cheddar from Port Chester, NY (that’s near the Connecticut border). I saw that it is raw, and decided to check it out. It is delicious!

I was particularly impressed with how the Redmond Cheddar melted in the quesadillas I had for lunch (raw cheddar and CSA tomato between two Tortilleria Nixtamal corn tortillas, fried in pasture butter) today. I also snacked on it a bit and found it very satisfying. It has a wonderful texture.

I’m really happy that a delicious raw cheddar is so close at hand!

Visiting the Dungeness Valley Creamery

While I was in Washington State, I got to visit the Dungeness Valley Creamery. This is the farm on the Olympic Peninsula that produces the raw milk I drink when I’m out there. I’ve always enjoyed its richness and flavor, and I was itching to visit the farm – last time I tried to do that it was this past Thanksgiving and we were totally snowed in. Freak snowstorm – there was no way we would be venturing out to Sequim at that point.

snowy port townsend, washington

Thankfully, this time we had good weather – it was much cooler than I was used to (and I was glad it was cooler) – so we made our way to Sequim.

We were greeted by a bunch of calves hanging out in little one room hotel pens.

mahogany, a calf at the Dungeness Valley Creamery

interested in hay

shelly

They were all in good spirits and were happy to nuzzle and lick our hands or whatever was in their way. Really sweet and friendly little (that’s relative) creatures. It was fun to interact with them.

There were some adult cows nearby, too.

adult cows

They were a bit more nonchalant and content to hang out and observe us. But then at one point, they really wanted to lick my hand while I was petting them, and it was then and there that I realized just how huge cow tongues are.

I was also interested to see where the cows are pastured, and we found the pasture out on the other side of the entrance.

the pasture at Dugneness Valley Creamery

more pasture

The cows were just hanging out there, relaxing. It was nice to see them out in the fresh air and not confined. The grass is really green and grows in thick rounds – I’m sure it looks delicious to the cows.

In the wintertime they eat hay from the Leitz family Hay Company in Sequim, who gets their hay from eastern Washington. They also feed their cows a little bit of grain, but no soy or corn, only a mixture of wheat, barley, oats, molasses, and minerals. They do not give their cows antibiotics, hormones, cottonseed – not even corn or canola oil! Thank goodness. Their website FAQ explains a bit more as to why they include grains in the cow’s diet. I’ve personally never had a negative reaction to their milk.

I stopped at the little farm store and bought some raw cheddar (“Jewel”) and a bar of goat milk soap, which smells like roses. So pretty – I do love the way goat milk soap feels on my skin, and this stuff smells amazing, too.

I’m really glad I was able to check out the Dungeness Valley Creamery. It’s so awesome to see where our food comes from – I hope to do more of this here in NY, too.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop, and Simple Lives Thursday, hosted by GNOWFGLINS.

Food Fun in Washington State – Retail Raw Milk

I am back from Washington!  I had a most excellent time, in part because I was simply able to take a break from the east coast rat race, and in part because I got to spend quality time with family.  My boyfriend’s family is in WA, too, so it was lovely to spend time with them as well.  I am originally from the West coast, so it felt great to be back on my  home coast.  I just love the West.

I had plans in mind to visit the Dungeness Valley Creamery to see the farm and meet farmers Jeff and Debbie Brown.  But on Monday 11/22 a snowstorm descended upon the area and we got probably 4-6 inches of snow.  It shut down pretty much everything in the area (snow like that is rare there), and icy roads remained for 3-4 days, so a visit to the farm was a bust.  My hope is to visit next summer.

However, WA is progressive, and one can buy raw milk in stores. What a concept!  I was able to purchase some of their milk at the Port Townsend Food Co-op, where my mom has a membership.  Here’s a (cell phone) shot of the refrigerator shelves:

raw milk for retail purchase!

What a treat! It was so delicious – slightly grassier tasting than what I get in New York, but that was really a non-issue.  I loved it.  And I will miss the freedom of being able to just drop by and pick up a half gallon whenever I like.  Maybe New York will get to that point one day.  I hope so.

The other place I know where this milk is available is at the Chimacum Corner farm stand, south of Port Townsend.  There’s a cafe in PT that offers raw milk as well!  When I discovered that via the Real Milk site I was really excited to check them out. Look for more about them in a future post.

Sally Fallon In NYC, Spoke About Raw Milk

Fullscreen capture 3282010 41229 PM.bmpOn Saturday night, I was fortunate enough to see and hear Sally Fallon speak on the subject of raw milk, aka real milk.   She is, of course, the co-author of Nourishing Traditions, the best guide to traditional, nutrient-dense food history, information, and recipes, and the founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation.  She spoke to a large and enthusiastic crowd down in Chelsea who were happy to have her.

I am a raw milk drinker, so I definitely support her arguments, whether they’re about safety or nutrition.  To see what she talked about last night, just go the Real Milk site and download the Raw Milk powerpoint presentation.  There is a lot of science in there to back up the pro-raw milk arguments.

I was asked about what I got out of the talk, as I was not there to be convinced of anything new.  For, me what I gained was 1) more assurance in the effectiveness of raw milk on health; 2) reinforcement that raw milk is safe from a food safety standpoint; and 3) a reminder that simply because it’s raw is not enough – this farm fresh milk must meet certain criteria to make it acceptable for human consumption.

What are these criteria?  They are as follows:

  • From pasture-fed cows
  • Full fat
  • Cows free of TB and undulant fever
  • Milk produced under sanitary conditions
  • Milk immediately placed in cold storage
  • Regular testing program for somatic cell count and pathogens
  • Regular testing of water on the farm

So basically, make sure the cows are fed on pasture and eating grass, they are free of disease, and tested regularly (as well as testing the farm’s water), and use refrigeration.  Since the “swill milk” days, the advances in medical testing, water cleanliness, and refrigeration are light years beyond from where we were then.  The cows that supply my milk meet each and every one of these criteria.

Puy_de_Sancy

As far as its effectiveness on health, it was clearest in the list entitled, Destruction of Built-In Safety Systems by Pasteurization.   From the inactivated bioactive components like Leukocytes (they eat at all foreign bacteria, yeast and molds), to the reduced levels of medium-chain fatty acids (also found in coconut oil), to the general dismantling of the natural protective safety systems that reside in the milk, it’s clear to me that pasteurization is not something beneficial to the health of the milk.  Additionally, raw milk seems to be supportive of our immune systems, contains carriers to ferry vitamins and minerals through the gut and into the blood stream, and has curative properties, (see The Milk Cure, which should only be done with raw milk).  One woman in the audience told us that she put raw milk in her child’s ear and it cured his earache in about 4 hours!

And to touch on the food safety standpoint – why not look at one of the core reasons our milk may not be safe – the cleanliness of the animals and their surroundings, and the manner in which they are raised and treated during their lives.  Cows that produce milk that is consumed and sold as raw are under a lot more scrutiny and are tested more often.  This kind of practice is what I’d like to see – preventative, wholistic health care for the animals, rather than its opposite.  It will keep them healthy and happy, and their milk is healthy and makes the drinker happy, too!

Sally herself was in good spirits.  The talk was informative, and she presented the information in an easy and sometimes entertaining manner.  She also answered a bunch of questions from the audience, including one from a physician asking about how doctors and medical students could access education about raw milk, especially since they are (falsely) taught that all raw milk is dangerous.

Most memorable quote of the evening: “Drinking raw milk is like playing Russian roulette with an empty gun.”   Too true.

Photo credit: (cc) Jean-Pol Grandmont via a Creative Commons license