Strong Waters

Scott Mansfield (he taught our Fermented Beverages class this past spring) is putting the finishing touches on his new book, Strong Waters- A Simple Guide to Making Beer, Wine, Cider and Other Spirited Beverages at Home.

We saw some of the photos from the book, they are absolutely stunning and I guarantee that they will inspire you to make your own spirited beverages.

Recently Scott invited us to a tasting where we sampled several of the recipes that are included in the book. Delicious! I can’t wait to make them at home.

Strong Waters will be available in February 2010 and you can pre-order now on Amazon! We’ve already ordered our copy!

Quick Pickles

We finally made our first batch of pickles from one of the recipes that Michelle and Ingrid taught us in our recent pickle class. We started nice and easy with Quick Dill Pickles. The whole process took less than an hour. This really was so so easy and these pickles are fantastic!



Slice the cucumbers and onion and add the garlic, dill and chili.


Add the water, vinegar, spices, salt and sugar to a pan and heat mixture to dissolve the salt and sugar.


Poor the warm mixture over the cucumbers, onions, garlic, dill and chili. When the mixture cools to room temperature, put the cucumbers in jars add the brine and store in the fridge.

This recipe is posted on our website: www.urbanpeasantsf.com

Pickling Class

We had a fantastic time a few weeks ago at our picking class taught by Michelle Fuerst and Ingrid Pankonin and hosted by our friends at Hands On Gourmet.

We started the evening with a charcuterie platter from Boccolone and a glass of wine (or 2) from Dacalier and Fog Hill; two new and very small Napa wineries. (They are only in a few wine shops and a couple of restaurants in the Bay Area but I think their wines are worth looking for.)

We learned how to make Quick Dills, Fermented Dills and Bread and Butter Pickels. As Michelle and Ingrid demonstrated pickling techniques we sampled and snacked along the way.

I left with the confidence and the inspiration to go home and start making homemade pickles!

Ginger Beer

We decided to get ready for the next heat wave and make a batch of ginger beer- with extra jalapenos.




First we peeled and sliced the ginger and sliced the jalapenos.




Then we simmered the jalapenos and ginger in water for 30 minutes.




After 30 minutes and the liquid was fragrant, we strained out the ginger and jalapenos.






We added the lemon juice and malt syrup to the strained mixture.



Then we poured it into the carboy, added the yeast, put on the airlock and let it ferment for a week. When the fermentation stopped we were ready to bottle.



I rinsed the bottles with One Step bottle rinse.



We racked the beer from one carboy to another then added the corn sugar.


Mags kitty was very interested in watching the process.





Then we filled the bottles!



Yea! Ginger beer. It will be ready to drink in a few weeks. The recipe is on our website www.urbanpeasantsf.com under Events.

Sauerkraut

If you live in San Francisco and haven’t stopped by the Farmhouse Culture sauerkraut booth at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Thursdays, we highly recommend heading down there.

Kathryn Lukas, founder of Farmhouse Culture, makes some of the best, mouthwatering, sauerkraut around. Their kraut is made with locally sourced organic ingredients and Sonoma Coast sea salt. They make several different krauts, including the Classic and Apple a Day (with tart apples and fennel seeds), but my personal favorite is Holy Smokes, made with smoked jalapenos, carrots, radishes and onions. Try adding Holy Smokes to a grilled cheese sandwich; I’ve had one everyday for a week! I’m officially addicted.


Last week they were offering a seasonal kraut called Summer Love with summer squash, carrots, lavender and tarragon. We made grilled pork tenderloin drizzled with honey and topped with Summer Love kraut. The honey was from Her Majesty’s Secret Beekeeper where Cameo, the owner, helped us pick out a lovely Oakland honey. It was DELICIOUS!

You can find Farmhouse Culture krauts at several other farmers markets in Santa Cruz and the Peninsula, check their website for exact locations.
www.farmhouseculture.com.

Ginger Beer and Apple Cherry Cider

Shortly after our fermented beverages class that Scott Mansfield taught, we started our own batch of hard apple cherry cider and ginger beer with rhubarb syrup. We modified the recipes a bit by using sour cherry juice and honey in the cider and adding rhubarb syrup to the ginger beer.

This weekend we tried our first bottles and we were extremely happy with the yummy results! The cider was a beautiful blush color. Sparkling and very crisp, we could taste both apple and cherry. The ginger beer was spicy and refreshing.

This really was as easy as Scott said it would be! Here’s how we did ours.

Cider:
Since this was our first batch we started out small (next time we’re going for the big carboy!)

About 3/4 gallon of Knudson’s apple juice
A little more than 1/2 a 1 qt jar of Knudson’s sour cherry juice
1 teaspoon of ale yeast
1 cup honey
1 cup water

Pour the apple and cherry juice into a carboy, add the yeast, put on the airlock. We let ours sit 3 weeks- about a week or so after the fermentation stopped, we would have bottled sooner but we were out of town and did not have a chance to bottle until we came back.

Right before we bottled, we mixed a cup of honey with a cup of slightly warm water and stirred until the honey dissolved.

Next we poured the honey water into a clean carboy and then racked the cider (to remove the sediment) into that new carboy. Next we immediately bottled the cider and then let it sit in the bottles for another 2 weeks before drinking.

Ginger Beer:
For our ginger beer we followed Scott’s recipe (posted on www.urbanpeasantsf.com), we modified it slightly by substituting a 1/4 cup or so of rhubarb syrup for the corn sugar. We also left out the Jalapeno. It took 6 days for first ferment, 4 weeks before we tried our first bottle.

Rhubarb Syrup
1 cup rhubarb, washed and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups water
Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and stir over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the mixture boils, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 25 minutes until rhubarb is falling apart. Remove from heat and, using a fine mesh strainer, strain and discard rhubarb solids. Store left over syrup in the refrigerator.

We can’t wait to start another batch or two and share it with our friends! Let us know if you have tried any of the recipes from the Ginger Beer and Mead class, we'd love to hear from you and share your results on our blog.

Seeds, Chickens and Monte Rio

Last Saturday my wife and I decided to take a break from the city and go on a day trip with our dog to wine country. While it wasn't one of those sunny, dreamy days, one often experiences up there, the rain didn't dampen our spirits as we drove along the Russian River. Passing through the lush, forested scenery on Old River Road, we stumbled upon a small, unassuming store in the town of Monte Rio.

On the building a hand-painted sign read simply: Vegetable Seeds.

Turns out we stumbled upon the Sustainable Seed Company. It has an old-timey feel, and it's filled with organic heirloom seeds packs, incubating chicken eggs, various organic soil amendments, books and other organic gardening-related stuff. It's the brain-child of a guy named Farmer John with the help of his partner Theo (guy in photo below).


They are passionate preservationists of the genetic heritage of open-pollinated seeds and ardent supporters of local organic farmers, who supply them with some of their seed stock. I spoke briefly with Theo about gardening in the city, picked up seed packets of beet, radish, fennel, chard and kale and invested in a couple of shares of a local chicken farm.

If you are thinking about starting a garden, please check out their website and purchase your seeds from the Sustainable Seed Company. www.sustainableseedco.com

"A seed is hope. It contains the possibility of a new life and great abundance. Hope and possibility not only lie in seeds, but in the soul of every person. With your help we will begin to build these communities and you will be the richer for “our” seeds…our very souls will lie in the heart of your gardens."

Love, Farmer John

Amen.