Quark Quark

I made a new type of cheese, quark cheese. Apparently it is popular in Germany. From what I read it is supposed to taste like givinah levanah (white cheese) that is popular here.

You can make it from any type of milk but of course I used goat's milk.

Milking

2 liters milk

Ready to start

2 pieces calcium chloride

3 tablespoons yogurt. I used Mueller bio.

Dissolve calcium chloride in water and add to milk.

Heat milk to 86 F.

Remove from heat.

Add yogurt and mix.

Let sit at room temperature 12 to 24 hours.

It will look like a big pot of yogurt.

Looks like yogurt

Separate the curds and whey. The best method is to cut the curds. There are plenty of descriptions of how to do this. http://www.culturesforhealth.com/how-to-cut-curd-cheese-making

Transfer to a colander lined with a cheese cloth.

Bring 4 corners of cloth together and hang it somewhere to drip for about 24 hours.

After 12 hours I opened the cloth, added a little salt, tied it back up and let it keep dripping.

Eli and Bentzi think it is great. They think it tastes like givinah levanah. 

And it tastes like givinah levenah

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Can't Have Too Many Figs

Fig season has begun! I like the beginning of the season because it is still easy to stay organized and not overwhelmed with too many figs. And the figs are delicious!

At the beginning of the season, now, just a few trees have ripe figs. I can pick just enough figs so that we have some to eat, some to give away and a little left for cooking.

Fig Picking

I am enjoying this because in another week or two we will have too many figs. Today I made some fig jam. Next week we will have to have figs in everything....fig muffins, fig bread, chicken with figs, baked figs...

Jam is ready

The fig jam came out pretty good. 

To make the jam

About 1 kilo fresh figs. I trimmed the stems and cut in half.

1/4 cup honey. I used the honey from our bees.

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon

1 stick cinnamon

About 1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp citric acid

2  tsp corn flour (optional to thicken)

Place everything except the citric acid and corn flour in a pot. Do not cover the pot.

Bring to a boil then tun down and let simmer about 45 minutes. 

If you want to thicken, add citric acid and/or corn flour slowly. I raised the heat a little before I added to be sure it would mix well.

Bentzi liked it. Hope he plans to eat a lot.

Bentzi likes it!

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