We get around 4 gallons of milk per day from our Jersey cow. For our family, this is plenty to make cheese, butter, kefir, ice cream and more — plus we have some to share with friends AND some to clabber (spontaneously sour) for the chickens and dog. I figured out a really easy way to get both clabber for the chickens and sour cream for us, with hardly any work at all. This week’s free video shows you how I do it.

Easy Sour Cream: The Print Version

Here’s the quick run-down if you can’t or don’t want to watch a video.

Any time I’m going to clabber milk for the dog or chickens, I start it right after milking, when the milk is warm and the perfect temperature for culturing. I cover the jar of milk with a paper towel or cloth napkin and rubber band, then leave it to clabber (sour spontaneously) at room temperature for 1 to 2 days, or more in the winter when it is cooler.

(You can’t clabber pasteurized milk because it lacks naturally present organisms — though you can simulate clabber by adding a mesophilic cheese culture.)

After 1 to 2 to 3 days, both the cream and the milk are thickened from the acids produced by the proliferating organisms, and the cream has conveniently risen to the top. I skim off the cream for us and chill it until we need it. I take the clabbered milk to the animals. Voila — done! With hardly any effort at all. Except for milking the cow of course.

How did I used to do this? It was easy, too, but not quite so effortless. I used to refrigerate the milk, let the cream rise, skim off the cream, and let both the cream and milk sour separately. My new way allows me to skip the fridge stage entirely (saving about a day) and the cream and milk sour together (saving multiple containers and additional counter space). I love it! Hardly any work at all — which you’ll see in the video.

By the way, you don’t need to milk your own cow to try this. If you have an abundance of raw milk from a friend or co-op, just bring the chilled milk out of the fridge and let the milk and cream sour together before skimming the cream. If not time, you’ll be saving counter space and containers!

What do you think? Are you game to try this? Do you think it would help you?

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Summer — berries! Oh, we’re loving them. We found a great place to purchase organic berries at conventional prices, either U-pick or convenient flats. (For local readers, the place is The Berry Patch on Old Melrose Road in Roseburg.) I’ve stopped by each week for a few weeks to bring home flats of strawberries or raspberries. They will have strawberries all season, and various kinds of other berries all summer as well.

My favorite way to preserve berries is to use a tweaked lacto-fermented preserves recipe in Nourishing Traditions. The original recipe is “Berry Preserves” on page 11. Using lacto-fermentation increases vitamins, enzymes and probiotics, making these preserves even better than the berries alone. What conventional jam can boast that? I will demonstrate these preserves as well as a few variations in the fermenting class.

You’ll need Pomona’s Pectin — a wonderful, natural pectin that doesn’t depend having a certain amount of sugar or even a certain type of sugar for setting up. You can use no sugar, low sugar, or natural sweeteners such as honey or stevia! This pectin can be used in fermented recipes (such as below), but also in cooked or freezer recipes. It is extremely versatile and easy to use. Click here for Pomona’s free PDF of recipes and instructions — very handy, easy to read and a breeze to implement!

This doesn’t set up like your normal jam, but it does thicken. It spreads well on toast, pancakes, or as above, you can see we eat it by the spoonful with kefir. Delicious!

Lacto-Fermented Raspberry Preserves

Adapted from Nourishing Traditions. Makes 1 quart.

• 6 cups fresh raspberries, washed and drained (or any other berry except strawberries, which are too acidic for this method)
• 1/4 plus 1/8 cup sweetener of choice (recommended: palm sugar, sucanat, rapadura)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 6 tablespoons whey (dripped from plain yogurt or kefir with active cultures — see directions here)
• 3 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin
• 3 teaspoons calcium water (also included in Pomona’s Pectin)

Mash all ingredients together until all mixed and berries are crushed — though I like to leave them a little chunky. Put in a clean, quart-sized glass jar, leaving the top 1″ of the jar free. Cap tightly and ferment at room temperature for 2 days. If any mold or scum appears at the top, skim it off. Transfer to cold storage (refrigerator or cellar) for up to 2 months, or freeze for longer keeping.

What are you making with summer berries? What is your favorite way to preserve them?

This post is shared with Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and Fight Back Friday.

Yesterday, I made our family’s traditional hummus — a recipe handed down from my grandmother and namesake, Tata Wardeh, to my mother and then to me. However, there was a difference: this time I lacto-fermented it. Yeah, yeah, by now you know that I try to ferment just about everything.

To do this with hummus (or almost any other condiment), just switch out some of the liquid for whey and give the mixture an overnight sit at room temperature to complete a fermentation. The beneficial organisms in the whey have a bit of a feast on the sugars in the food, and proliferate throughout. The result in hummus is that the organisms make it a little “fluffy” or “bubbly” from the gases they produce.

I found that my digestive system likes lacto-fermented hummus better than the regular kind — because sometimes garbanzo beans (or chickpeas, as they are also called) can be more gas-producing than other beans.

The darker flecks in my hummus are the result of using an Indian relation of chickpeas/garbanzos — the Chana Dal bean (and more info here at Azure Standard). They’re smaller with darker skins. I don’t bother to remove skins from garbanzo beans; that’s just too much work!

I highly recommend using toasted sesame tahini. Toasting is another means of reducing phytic acid in seeds, and it gives the hummus a darker, roasted flavor. Love it!

Our Family’s Traditional Hummus — Lacto-Fermented

• 2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
• 3 rounded tablespoons roasted sesame tahini
• juice from 1 lemon
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup whey — with active cultures, such as from dripping off plain yogurt or kefir, or from raw cheesemaking

Put all ingredients in blender or food processor. Adjust water to desired consistency. Blend to make a smooth, thick, but sorta chunky paste. Transfer to an air-tight container and leave out at room temperature overnight, 7 to 12 hours. Transfer to refrigerator.

When serving, garnish with paprika, parsley and/or extra virgin olive oil. Pictured with sprouted spelt crackers.

How you eat your hummus? This morning, I served it with sprouted crackers, Middle Eastern cheese, two fried eggs, and kefir and fruit. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Cranberries are in season. If only they were local (for me)! I recently tweaked my mom’s famous cranberry-orange-apple relish recipe to add a fermentation stage. Natural fermentation adds probiotic benefits and beneficial acids for the gut, as well as increases the vitamins and enzymes. As if that weren’t enough, this relish (like many other lacto-fermented foods) is incredibly yummy. If you start a batch early this week, it will be ready for Christmas dinner. And might I suggest doubling or tripling the recipe? You’ll like it that much.

Water kefir provides a dairy-free means of fermenting; even if one didn’t need dairy-free, I prefer the results over that of using whey!

I included this recipe in a recent weekly menu plan. I’m enjoying putting together the menu plans because it encourages me to work on at least one new fermentation project each week. Good for my family, and good for you.

Intrigued by lacto-fermentation? Learn more about its benefits in this post, in our Fundamentals eBook, or in our online Fundamentals class (includes instructional videos, audio and PDF).

Fermented Cranberry-Orange-Apple Relish Ingredients

• 2 oranges, peeled and quartered, seeds removed
• 2 apples, washed and quartered, cores removed
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup rapadura or sucanat
• 1/4 cup whey or water kefir

Fermented Cranberry-Orange-Apple Relish Method

Makes 1 quart. Combine all ingredients in food processor. Pulse to chop; don’t puree. Pack into a clean, quart-size, wide mouth jar. Wipe threads clean. Screw on a lid and band tightly.

Let sit out on a cloth at room temperature for one to three days. Daily, or as necessary, check for any mold growing on the surface and skim away, repacking carefully. Taste for desired texture.

If the weather is very hot, fermentation may only take a day or so. Burp the jar if necessary (to prevent explosions). When you’re happy with the taste and texture, transfer to the refrigerator in an airtight container. Will keep for a few weeks. Repack the storage container carefully after each dipping.

Enjoy mixed with kefir or yogurt (pictured, below). Put on top of breakfast porridge, toast, pancakes or waffles. Eat alongside baked or grilled poultry, beef, lamb, or pork.

Options: Vary the amount of fruit. One day I didn’t have so many oranges and apples, but lots of cranberries. And I made a cranberry-heavy relish. It was delicious! I had to use a bit more sweetener.

Kicked up with the Chinese 5-Spice Blend, lacto-fermented apple chutney has been rocking our house lately. I can’t keep enough of it on hand for the kids. They love to put a scoop of it in a bowl of kefir. We just went through 1/2 gallon of it in 3 days — and that was with me telling them not to take so much!

If you’ve not heard of Chinese 5-Spice, you’ll want to listen up, and then get or make some. (And then make the chutney, too, of course.) It is an amazing blend of five spices. Truly, the person who combined them was inspired.

You’ll find 5-spice in nice herb/spice departments, or you can easily make it yourself by mixing together equal parts of (all ground) anise, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and fennel. We often use it instead of cinnamon in oatmeal during the winter (see my 5-spice oatmeal), or muesli during the summer. People say that 5-spice is wonderful in marinades and rubs for meat. Delish!

Update Saturday 8/28/2010: I just made up a new batch of 5-spice, this time using spices from Mountain Rose Herbs. Oh, my! The best mix yet — very fragrant. I wish you could smell my kitchen!

I’m helping to host the Nourishing Jams, Jellies, Preserves and More! Blog Hop, along with Pamela and Diana.  My contribution is the following recipe for 5-spice apple chutney. Please visit the blog hop post where you’ll be able to see other preserves using natural sweeteners and/or natural methods of preservation.

Even though I’ve done my fair share of jams over the years, this year I really wanted to experiment more with chutneys and lacto-fermentation. At the moment, apples are pretty much the only chutney-suitable seasonal fruit available, so… apples got me started! We selected a box of local Gravenstein apples grown near the Umpqua River from a man who follows natural, beyond organic, growing methods. Oh, his apples are wonderful, worms and all! Don’t worry, there weren’t actually that many worms, and none of them got in the chutney.

I’m pretty much hooked on lacto-fermented chutneys. Talk about easy and satisfying. Nothing easier than doing some chopping, mixing, packing in a crock or jar, and waiting. The waiting is the hardest work. I’m eager for the pears, plums, and cherries to come in season so I can make other chutneys.

Why lacto-fermented? Lacto-fermented foods offer beneficial organisms to keep our guts healthy and our digestion optimum, and increased vitamins and enzymes. Foods preserved through lacto-fermentation are more nutritious than in their raw or cooked state. With canned and cooked produce, enzymes and vitamins are lost, and beneficial organisms are not given an opportunity to culture.

The downside with lacto-fermented fruit and vegetables is that they require cool storage after the fermentation stage is over. After that, the lacto-fermented fruits last only a few weeks. One must freeze them for long-term storage. Don’t despair, though! This is not so much a reason to avoid making lacto-fermented foods, but instead is an encouragement to embrace the seasonal opportunities that come our way. In other words, think not of extending the seasons, but rather embracing what the seasons offer.

Let’s get to the recipe.

5-Spice Apple Chutney (Lacto-Fermented)

Makes 1/2 gallon or 2 quarts.

• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup whey
• 1 cup water
• 6 cups coarsely chopped apples*
• 1/4 cup Rapadura, Sucanat, palm sugar or other natural sweetener
• 1 cup chopped pecans or other nut**
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 4 tablespoons 5-spice blend

*Wash, quarter, and core the apples, then coarsely chop by hand or in the food processor.

**I don’t believe the nuts need to be soaked ahead of time, as the fermentation should neutralize enzyme inhibitors.

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Transfer to one clean half gallon jar, two quart jars, or a crock. Pack down so all ingredients are covered in liquid, and at least 1/2″ below the rim of the container. Add more water if necessary to submerge all ingredients. Cover tightly. My crock doesn’t have a lid, so I covered it with plastic wrap and secured it with a rubber band.

Let sit out at room temperature for two to three days. Daily, or as necessary, check for any mold growing on the surface and skim away, repacking carefully. Taste for desired texture. If the weather is very hot, fermentation may only take a day or so. Burp the jar if necessary (to prevent explosions). When you’re happy with the taste and texture, transfer to the refrigerator in an airtight container. Will keep for a few weeks.

Enjoy — I suggest a scoop in a bowl of kefir. Or alongside a grilled meat, or atop pancakes or waffles. Mmm…

Repack the storage container carefully after each dipping. Now wasn’t that easy?

You might also want to check out some jams I’ve posted in the past: Chunky Spiced Pear Jam and Blackberry Jam. Both feature Pomona’s Pectin as the non-sugar-dependent natural pectin. I look forward to your contributions in the Nourishing Jams, Jellies, Preserves and More! Blog Hop.

I’m also sharing this post with Fight Back Friday!

The two winners of the Family Camping Handbook are… Kristi and Kelli. Congratulations! I’ll email you both so you can connect with Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship, the handbook author.

One of the best and most simple things I’ve ever done is make my own vanilla extract. And bourbon vanilla, at that. I used to buy it at Trader Joe’s and really liked what it did for our ice cream, so that’s the kind I wanted to make.

Using homemade vanilla extract, our raw Jersey ice cream (and many other dishes) are out of this world. Like 500 times better. Perhaps that is an exaggeration. But the point is, homemade vanilla offers much more flavor. Here’s an example of what it can do.

I had some frozen Jersey cream (a bit freezer burned), back in May, I think. I made ice cream, using vanilla extract from Trader Joe’s. Nobody liked it, no doubt because of the freezer burn.

What’s wrong with the ice cream, Mom?

I had more frozen cream (a bit freezer burned). I made ice cream in late July, using my bourbon vanilla extract. The ice cream was amazing.

Mom, what did you do to the ice cream? Its soooooo good. Did you get fresh cream?

See what I mean? The awesome, homemade bourbon vanilla was so good, it masked mild freezer burn.

Here’s how to make it. It couldn’t be simpler. I used this recipe to guide me in making up 1/2 gallon.

Homemade Bourbon Vanilla Extract

• 32 vanilla beans (mine come from Mountain Rose Herbs)
• 1/2 gallon of bourbon

Split the vanilla beans in half, lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds. Put the seeds and beans in a clean half gallon jar and pour in the 1/2 gallon of bourbon. Cover the jar, then shake it gently. Put the jar in a dark cupboard. Shake it up every few days.

Start using it after a few weeks, though after 8 weeks it will be good and dark. Perfect. Use anywhere you would use normal vanilla extract. Below, I’m adding it to sourdough chocolate cake, in this week’s new video for the “pay what you can” Sourdough eCourse. Mmm.. See how dark it is? That vanilla is about 9 weeks old.

Continue adding vanilla beans and bourbon for an endless supply of vanilla — four vanilla beans for every cup of bourbon. This would make wonderful gifts, wouldn’t it — small, pretty glass jars for all your lovely people?

I’m sharing this post in Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, and Pennywise Platter Thursday.

Lots of people have emailed me over the years for a homemade ketchup recipe, and I’ve emailed back a basic, loose recipe that gets us by. But now I’m pleased to share Erin’s recipe! It offers more flavor and is lacto-fermented for greater nutrition and a longer shelf life. Enjoy! –Wardeh

Is it crazy for ketchup to bring me such a smile? Honestly! I didn’t know if I should name this delicacy “Oh My Lans Ketchup!”, “Mercy Sakes Ketchup!”, or “You Are Never Going to Believe It Ketchup!”. When I think about this delicious, simple, and nutritious condiment, I can only shake my head. Can you imagine encouraging your child to take a dip in his/her ketchup? Who doesn’t love to dip? Enjoy the taste and tang of summer year round with this lacto-fermented treat! Your gut will thank you… as will each of your friends and family members!

• 12 ounces organic tomato paste (no salt added)
• 1/4 + 1/8 cup water
• 1/8 cup whey (or water)
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder (could probably use a prepared dijon mustard if you don’t have powder)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used larger grained salt.)
• 1/4-1/3 cup maple syrup or honey (You could even add a bit of molasses.)

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together all ingredients. Pour sauce into a storage container. Cover and leave at room temperature for two days. Move to the fridge.

Oh, my! Just thinking about this ketchup makes my mouth water. When my neighbor was giving it a taste test, she suggested using it as a barbeque sauce for grilling. Excellent idea!

See all basic recipes, including lacto-fermented mayonnaise and honey-dill mustard.

Next week, Erin will be sharing another basic lacto-fermented condiment! This recipe is shared in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Today is the Lacto-Fermentation Blog Carnival at Sustainable Eats. Annette, the author of Sustainable Eats, lives in Seattle. In 2009, she

“vowed to re-channel my grocery money away from mono-crop farmers, processed food companies and animal feed lots. I did not buy foods from outside Washington state until I had exhausted all local options and I gave up out of season foods.”

Her blog tells of what she’s done and learned as she and her family have transformed their in-city 1/4-acre lot into a productive vegetable garden and orchard (though the orchard isn’t producing yet… too young). In 2009, their food fed them from May through mid-December. In 2010, she’s changing her preservation strategy from primarily canning to lacto-fermentation. Her family will be eating even more seasonally, and putting up foods using traditional lacto-fermentation methods that increase nutrition. Read more about lacto-fermentation.

For Annette’s blog carnival, I’m sharing the lacto-fermented mayonnaise I made last week. I combined two recipes to create a mayo that worked with what I already had in my pantry. Sometimes the pantry determines what one can do, wouldn’t you agree? The recipe contenders were: Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s LF Mayo (she says it tastes just like Hellmans) and the LF mayonnaise in Nourishing Traditions on page 137.

You might wonder why a lacto-fermented mayonnaise? Nourishing Traditions has the answer:

“Homemade mayonnaise imparts valuable enzymes, particularly lipase, to sandwiches, tuna salad, chicken salad, and many other dishes and is very easy to make in a food processor. The addition of whey [for lacto-fermentation] will help your mayonnaise last longer, adds enzymes and increases nutrient content.”

I have read where people don’t like the mayo in Nourishing Traditions that much. We hadn’t had mayonnaise for many years (due to my son’s previous egg allergy), so I figured we might not have any mayo-taste memories for comparison. The NT mayo uses olive oil for the oil, which is admittedly a pronounced flavor, but we liked it (and it was amazing in our egg salad). If I’d had some sesame oil (as called for in Kelly’s recipe), I would have used some sesame oil in place of the olive oil for balancing. So feel free to do that.

See all basic recipes, including lacto-fermented ketchup and honey-dill mustard.

Lacto-Fermented Mayonnaise

All ingredients should be room temperature.

• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (or Erin’s lacto-fermented mustard)
• 1-1/2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon whey
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt, to taste (about 8 pinches for me)

Combine egg yolks, mustard, vinegar, whey and salt in a food processor bowl. Blend well, about 30 seconds. With the food processor running, add the olive oil in as slow a drizzle as possible. It will emulsify into mayonnaise. It took me about 5 minutes, at least, to slowly pour in the 1 cup of olive oil and complete the emulsification. Adjust salt to taste.

To lacto-ferment and help the mayonnaise last longer, leave it out in an air-tight jar or container at room temperature for 7 hours. Then refrigerate. Enjoy!

Please visit Sustainable Eats’ Lacto-Fermentation Blog Carnival for lots of other lacto-fermentation recipes! Also check out all the lacto-fermented recipes on this blog, including raw cheese recipes, naturally pickled turnips and beets, Kombucha, and water kefir.

See all basic recipes, including lacto-fermented ketchup and honey-dill mustard.

We’re on a quest to find the perfect homemade creamy salad dressing. We’ve enjoyed almost every trial version. I’m not sure I’m done with the recipe, but this will show you where I am so far. And, you know what, I’d love to have your suggestions on how to improve this and make it more tasty!

The base of this recipe is either: chevre, yogurt cheese, kefir cheese, or sour cream (or “sour cream” made from chevre). Those all have different consistencies – the key is to add raw milk to whichever one you’re using to get it to the consistency you prefer. The recipe below reflects a thinner consistency, which is what we like because: 1) it lasts longer and 2) it is easier to pour.

The yogurt cheese or kefir cheese will make the dressing more tart, so you might want to decrease the apple cider vinegar and/or add a bit of raw honey. The chevre and sour cream make our favorite dressings, though we like the yogurt or kefir based dressings very much, too.

What I like about this recipe is that it is very versatile. And it goes with saying (though I’m going to say it) that herbs and spices differ greatly in quality and flavor. I am always very happy with the dried herbs and spices I get from Azure Standard; the brand is usually Oregon’s Wild Harvest. These herbs/spices far surpass the grocery store herbs. Other options for you would include a health food store with good turnover or Mountain Rose Herbs.

Lindsey recommended adding chives to a creamy, ranch-style dressing. I have yet to get some chives. They are on my list for my next Azure order. I placed an order yesterday but forgot to add the chives and now it is too late.

On to the recipe…

• 1 cup chevre, yogurt cheese or kefir cheese PLUS 1 cup raw milk –OR– 1-1/2 to 2 cups sour cream
• additional raw milk, for consistency (I use 1/4 to 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons herbed seasoning salt, herbamare, or 1 teaspoon sea salt (plus more to taste)
• 1 tablespoon organic dried dill
• 1 tablespoon organic dried parsley
• a pinch of black pepper
• additional ingredients – garlic, more herbs, etc.

Whisk all ingredients together – in food processor, blender, or with a whisk by hand. Store in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator. Makes 2 to 3 cups, depending.

Please share your favorite salad dressing recipes in the comments. I’d also love to hear your suggestions for how you’d make this dressing better.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet, Fight Back Friday! at FoodRenegade, and A Gathering of Homemade Dressings at Kitchen Stewardship. Making your own salad dressing is not only better for you (have you read any labels lately?) but you’ll save money.

The other day, based on what I read at Fias Co Farm, I tried turning my chevre into “sour cream”. It isn’t true sour cream because it isn’t from the cream. However, the taste is so good and the texture so right that we all swear (not really) it is the best sour cream we’ve ever had.

Just warning you, the process is a little complicated.

Put about 1 cup of chevre in the food processor, add a tablespoon of raw milk, and blend until smooth. Add more milk and blend, tablespoon by tablespoon, until the “cream” is the right consistency. Chill or serve immediately.

See how hard that is?

I think you can do the same thing with yogurt-cheese (labni/labneh/labani) or kefir-cheese, too. Has anyone tried this before?

The reason I love this is because we get very little cream from our goat milk, due to its being naturally homogenized. Although a little cream rises to the top if the milk is left undisturbed in the fridge for a few days, it is not that much, nor do I have that much time to wait. Yet I am able to make a batch of chevre from whole milk every other day – which gives me plenty of cheese to turn into this “sour cream.”

The other way to get sour cream from chevre is not to let the whey drip out as long. (This also works as a mayo substitute!)

I’m submitting this post in Fight Back Fridays! – how are you fighting back for real food?

I would like to share what you know with the great and inspirational readers of gnowfglins.com. Send your favorite kitchen tip(s), accompanying photos, and your website address (optional) to: tips at gnowfglins dot com.