Homemade consumables!

[Kyle]

So who makes their own consumables at home.

Is anyone into winemaking?

Home-brewing?

Cheesemaking?

Etc? (making your own ammo doesnt count)

I am experimenting with cheesemaking, I made about a pound of queso blanco. It tastes better than the "imported from mexico" kind they sell at walmart, for 1/10th the price! (I eat a lot of this stuff, always have. College=quesadillas.

It is real easy. Heat up a gallon of milk to about 182 degrees. Pour and stir in 1/4 cup white vinegar. Stir for about 10 minutes. This curdles it. Pour it into a cheesecloth-lined colander. Let it cool off. Make the cheesecloth into a hobo-sack and let the rest of the juice drain out. Open up the bag of cheese, sprinkle in salt and shake it up. Put this into an empty coffee can, and have a "follower" of some type on top, and weight it (I put a 15 pound freeweight on it). Let it sit like that for as long as you like. Say an hour. This will let it harden up a bit. This should give it some sort of shape, thought it will still crumble real good if you poke at it. Wrap it up and refrigerate.

I am going to try and make some cheddar or somthing. That takes a lot more effort, but theres lots of info online so I think I will give it a shot. Milk is cheap. I am thinking of adding some finely chopped chives or chili peppers to the Queso Blanco. I think that could be good.

So what do you do at home. How do you do it? How did you get into it?

[Stickjockey]

I do mead every once in a while. One of these days I'm gonna try beer.

[wingnutx]

I've brewed my own hard cider a few times.

[Chuck Dye]

I have brewed ales and ginger beer.  Nearly came to grief with the ginger beer when I took some to a curry party.  Mom was unaware of the alcohol content until a couple of ten year olds turned up drunk.

[Gun Runner]

Who here milks their own cows/goats?

Who has a meth lab?

Grow your own marijuana?


Seriously though, the cheese, that's cool.  Using whole milk I assume?

[gunsmith]

does bio warfare grenades count?

I used to have problems in San Francisco with
loud crack heads yelling outside my window.
I purchased some eggs and kept them nice and warm for a few months!

the bums seemed to vanish when ever I made a toss in their direction.

[Bob F.]

Kyle, I make wine, several gallons bubbling away right now. 1st good grape harvest in several years. 5gal of pear wine also (killer white!). Should be bottling soon.

Bob

[charby]

I can my own meat and veggies.

Brewed lots of beer.

I'm looking to make my own sausage, especially fermented ones.

[Standing Wolf]

(making your own ammo doesnt count)

I'll stack my target loads against anybody's beer, wine, cheese, et cetera.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I make my own pasta from scratch.  Handmade egg pasta is far tastier than store-bought dried pasta.  Takes a lot of effort, though...

(making your own ammo doesnt count)

I'll stack my target loads against anybody's beer, wine, cheese, et cetera.

I agree.  It's hard to top custom hand-made ammunition, specifically tailored to your own individual application and fine-tuned for use in your own personal firearm.

[Iain]

I've messed around here and there.

Most successful experiment was making damson cheese. Not a cheese in the dairy product sense, but a highly reduced damson/sugar preserve that has the texture of a shop bought jelly block and tastes very very strongly of damsons. Keeps for about six months in the fridge too. Great when eaten with the other sort of cheese.

[mfree]

Okey dokey. What's a damson and what's a jelly block?

[Iain]

I knew there was potential for trouble here.

You call it jello? Buy it in a block you mix with hot water and then allow to cool and set before serving it with ice-cream? That's what I mean by a jelly block. Not sure if such a product exists in the US.

Apparently a damson is a cultivated form of plum. There's a big and extremely productive tree at the bottom of my parents garden. Because they are quite tart they mainly get used for jam and less commonly this 'cheese' preserve to which I refer. You can make 'cheese' out of quince too, that's a little more well known.

http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/recipes_result.asp?name=damsoncheese

[HankB]

In my family we've made our own sauerkraut - shred cabbage, mix with canning salt, ferment in a big wooden pickel barrel (covered with cheesecloth and a weighted wooden disc) until tart, then can.

We also make our own sausage - trim and grind up pork shoulder, mix with crushed chilis, garlic, and fennel, (add salt if you want) and stuff into natural hog casings.

Is there a statute of limitations if a couple of youths were making distilled spirits (applejack, potato vodka, etc.,) as an add-on to a science project in elementary school?

How about if they were selling it to an older brother, who in turn peddled it out of his locker at a Catholic high school?

Would it make any difference if the father of one of the youths was a police officer?

Just curious about this (ahem!) hypothetical situation which - if it occured at all - would have taken  place over three decades ago, several states away.

[mtnbkr]

(making your own ammo doesnt count)

I'll stack my target loads against anybody's beer, wine, cheese, et cetera.

I dunno.  Ammo just doesn't taste all that good and leaves a funny taste in my mouth.

I've tried brewing beer, but it's hard to get the sort of stuff I can buy at the local Total Beverage.  Out of a total of 15 gallons attempted, I got 2-3gallons that were actually drinkable.  I also made a halfway decent mead once.  One day, I'd like to try my hand at dandelion wine.

I grew my own vegetables for a few years and will probably resume next spring. 

The problem is, I don't have the time or space to pursue things like this in quantities that make it worthwhile.  One day, if I ever get a place out in the country, I'll try gardening on a larger scale.  I enjoy the labor.  I also think it would be interesting to raise some goats and chickens for the meat (and eggs from the chickens), but I'm afraid I or my family would treat them as pets.  :/

"Daddy, what happened to "billy goat gruff"?  Nothing dear, eat your roast..." 

Chris

[Chuck Dye]

Iain,

What you describe is called ate (pronounced AH teh) in Mexico when made from most fruits and queso (cheese) when made from a few.  Quesos are much dryer and more solid, generally, than ates.  If there are Mexican or Central American grocers near you, you should find ates de guayaba (guava), mango, and fresa (strawberry) pretty readily.  You may even find queso de tuna, prickly pear cheese (in Spanish, tuna is the cactus fruit, the fish is atun.)  A typical package of ate is a brick about 4x6x1.5 inches.  A favorite party trick is to slice the brick into quarter inch layers and separate the ate layers with  equal layers of cream cheese or very well drained plain yoghurt.  Slicing is made easy with one of those roller and wire cheese slicers.  Your own home made ate could be set in a cookie sheet to produce a thin layer that would be spread with an equal layer of cream cheese or yoghurt and rolled.  either way, slices on creackers are great.

[lupinus]

I cook right now thats about it.  And headless, thats because what you are making is pasta.  What you buy dried in a store is macaroni (macaroni is not the little elbows and Italians make this distinction)

Pasta is an egg and soft wheat product.  Macaroni is a hard wheat and water product.  Used similerly but depends on the exact dish, time of year, and region as to which gets the nod to go into the dish.  In Italy macaroni is rarely refered to as pasta to my knowlege.

As for me I really want to get into making home made meats.  Salamis, sausages, and dried meats.  I realyl want to give a go at Prosciutto.  Problem is I don't have a place with the proper climate control to do so right.  One day, one day.  I also when i have the land and resources give a go at having some hogs and such.  No big opperations, but enough for personal use.

[Iain]

Huck - are eggs used in the manufacture of ate? If so it sounds like what we call a curd, which I have seen made with fruits such as strawberries.

Have a book by a British chef called Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (I know, how English) that has all sorts of stuff that most people would never consider doing. He has recipes, but I got the damson cheese recipe from him and he has recipes for cheese. The product I am considering making next is genuine old fashioned mincemeat (for mince pies) - the old recipes actually have mince (ground) beef in with the fruit, alcohol and spices. Most are revolted by the concept but I'm intrigued. Pickled chillies is something I'm going to get around to as well.

[mtnbkr]

The product I am considering making next is genuine old fashioned mincemeat (for mince pies) - the old recipes actually have mince (ground) beef in with the fruit, alcohol and spices. Most are revolted by the concept but I'm intrigued.

Mike Irwin makes a good traditional mincemeat pie.  I have a recipe for a venison mincemeat pie, but I can't seem to get around to making it.

Chris

[charby]

mincemeat pies are the cats meow...  That is one of the things I miss that my grandma used to make.

[Larry Ashcraft]

I have made wine and beer, but not for many years.

We make and can our own pasta, 108 pints this summer (ask Grampster or sm).  We grow and can our own dill pickles, red beets, green beans, black-eyed peas.

My son's FIL gave us eight little chicks last spring.  They turned out to be two roosters and six hens, all with some Aracauna (sp) mixed in.  We're getting 3-4 eggs every day, two shades of green, some pink and some brown.

[Zoogster]

I have made beer, hard ciders, mead,attempts at wine, great liquers etc. I really enjoy such things and cheese sounds like a great idea. Although I find all of these things require very sterile equipment/enviroments absent of bacteria or oxygen which requires a bit of time to prepare.

The ciders are the most enjoyable as they turn out great every time, while my preference of beer requires complicated recipes that require things sold in homebrew hobby shops (because it is for a hobby they charge too much) that seem over priced. I mean barley is a cereal grain! Should be on par witht he cost of flour or wheat and rye, yet because it is used for a hobby in America it gets expensive for varieties.

I also tend to make very small qauntities at a time, as it is illegal to sell or transfer just about anywhere so variety is more appreciated than quantity.
Alas I have not found the time for any of this recently, perhaps I shall make some time.

 I have canned things and was interested in home made sodas for a short time.

These types of things are tons of fun and allow one to be more self sufficient, something I envy in the pioneers of early America.

[Chuck Dye]

Iain,

No, ates and quesos are fruit, sugar, and pectin.  I have had curds, both home made and commercial.  I have not checked, but www.fooddownunder.com, a huge resource for recipes, is strongly British in flavor, has plenty of curd recipes. 

[K Frame]

I've cured and smoked my own bacon several times.

I've got a bucket full of sauerkraut fermenting in my dining room right now. I just finished skimming it and washing the weight. It's coming along nicely.

For years I baked all of my own bread. No so much anymore, though.

My mother and aunt are going to be making mincemeat, REAL mincemeat, on Wednesday.

Hey Chris, I have a container in the freezer from last year's batch that I brought back.

It's time for PIE!

[K Frame]

"Daddy, what happened to "billy goat gruff"?  Nothing dear, eat your roast..." 

Chris

Yeah, right.

She'd be the one to beat it to death.