Saturday 29 July 2017

Farmhouse Cheese

Farmhouse Cheese and Starving Greyhound

The dumpster diving continues and we have an unpredictable but reliable (you didn't think those two words worked in a sentence, did ya?) supply of cheese, dips, fruit juice, milk and small goods. There is a bakery that throws out finger buns, chelsea buns, bread, pizza and tea cakes but sometimes their bag of unsold goods has the floor sweepings dumped into it and nobody can see the sweepings until the loot is home and well lit. It is always heartbreaking to find sweepings on a chelsea bun!

A few nights ago the boys went "diving" as I call it, and came home with 22 litres of A2 milk. My daughter uses A2 milk and we buy it at about $5 for a 2L bottle. Unfortunately I don't have freezer space for this unexpected windfall so I offered free milk on a Pay - It - Forward site and to the dumpster diving community but I guess milk is of low value and even the woman who said she wanted some never showed up to get it so I turned 4L into farmhouse cheese. It is milky and sweet flavoured, goes well on a cracker. If I was super organised I would show it with the choko pickle I finally got around to making, I'm sure it would be a good combo!

Farmhouse Cheese Recipe here

21 comments:

  1. It sounds really good to eat. I have to make myself stop thinking about it or I'll raid the fridge and see what I can find.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is your favourite thing to find in the fridge?

      Delete
  2. Well, nowadays, they won't let me go near the fridge. But I loved to find some cheddar cheese when I could walk. How about you?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brie! or chocolate or a nice dip

      Delete
    2. Treey,
      I tried to comment on your post about the fab four but you seem to have turned comments off. Your line about Paul Mc Cartney using so much hair dye made me laugh and then I had to look up a picture of him. The hair is wrong for the face :)

      Delete
  3. That cheese looks good enough to eat!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is good! The method is nearly the same as paneer but I think paneer should be cooled more quickly to give a smoother result.

      Delete
  4. It's criminal some of the stuff that gets thrown out, especially by the big supermarkets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it really is. Possibly more criminal is the stuff they refuse to sell in the first place. The big supermarkets won't sell produce that doesnt fit aesthetic specifications but they retturn the imperfects to the wholesaler or grower and evade responsibility for the waste

      Delete
  5. Cheese is one of my favourite foods. And is currently the one stopping me from moving towards veganism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am not vegan or even vegetarian but I feel the need to reduce the animal products we eat and I was starting to look at alternatives like almond milk etc. I feel less guilty about eating dairy foods from a dumpster because my money isn't supporting the industry

      Delete
  6. Glad you found a use for all of that milk. Cheese looks lovely.

    Thank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That picture confused me--a very dark thumb on a very light hand? Did your daughter drink a2milk before I mentioned it? How do you make this cheese? What does it compare to? I have never heard of it before.

    I had surprises when I got the food home in the light. Sometimes, I could cry. You could freeze the milk in smaller portions in freezer bags or in Ball jars for the freezer rather than give it away.

    My favorite thing to find in the refrigerator is any morsel I thought was gone. Sometimes I buy ice cream sandwiches and store in the refrigerator out of the box since the box won't fit. often I find one left from a month ago out a stash I thought I had finished.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's my son's hand and it is of normal colour but the kitchen was dark and the phone flashed, making everything look weird.
      My daughter has been on A2 milk for maybe five years, she was advised to use lactose free milk but it didnt help her so i decided to try her with A2. She can tolerate regular milk but it leaves her feeling sick in the tummy so she has A2 at home and if she is ordering something in a cafe she will have soy milk as A2 is not offered.
      I'm not sure what kind of cheese mine would compare to, it is firm and crumbly. The flavour is mild like a fetta but the texture is different. It is made by boiling milk, adding vinegar and then draining the whey off. I kept a bottle of whey, I don't know what to use it for, apparently chickens like it but I dont have any!
      I would be happy to find an ice cream sandwich in my freezer!

      Delete
  8. I did not mean to publish as Linda.

    ReplyDelete
  9. As Dave says, it's scandalous how much food is thrown away by supermarkets. I believe the UK is one of the worst countries in the world for food waste. About 25% of all food produced is not used. People buy a lot of food on impulse and then leave it to rot. Jenny plans our meals for the week and we buy exactly what we need from the supermarket and greengrocer. No waste whatever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never plan quite that well! there is always the day I need to do something quicker than what was planned, or i forgot to buy one of the ingredients or i just dont feel like it.
      having said that, we dont waste a lot.
      Australians also waste something like 25% of what we buy. A recent doco had the host outside a supermarket and saying to people, lets just put a few bags (25%) of groceries in the bin right now. It really made people stop and think

      Delete
  10. I find catering for one (most days) and then larger numbers when I have people staying or for dinner involves more thought that I seem to give it and I am ashamed to say that, however hard I try, I do waste some food. I have been trying and I've been pretty good whilst my brother has been staying at planning and only buying what's been needed. I shall just try harder when he and his wife (who has just arrived) leave next week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i think a little bit of food waste is forgivable and adjusting quantities for different numbers of people is quite hard to get right, I find. Heck, I am still struggling to compute that I now have six adults to cook for and the kids have been grown up for years!

      Delete

go on, leave a comment or four.