A Poltergeist in my Booze Cabinet!

This is a mere third of the average quantity of  booze
in the booze cabinet in Casa De Pixi.

I just don't know what happened, y'all...

One minute, the booze cabinet was all happy and tidy - a whole mess o'bottles of varying shapes and sizes sitting side by side, full of delicious cordials, wines, meads, and experiments in progress...but the next minute?  What a mess!

You see, I reached into the cabinet and pulled out a bottle without paying overmuch attention.  As I removed the chosen bottle, there was a suspicious scraping noise, like...well...powdered glass, or sand.  The bottle in my hand was indeed coated in glass dust!  I promptly rinsed it off, set it down, and got a flashlight to see what had happened!

The gory scene lay before me - not just a cracked bottle, or a shattered, empty jar, no.  I wasn't just a leak from a bad seal.  Somehow, my delicious, popular, brag-worthy strawberry cordial had EXPLODED.

Oh, Strawberry Cordial, you were so good! *sigh*

I'm not kidding, you guys.  Look at the picture - the glass was pulverized. Crushed. Teeny, tiny, sand-like bits.

Now, I've heard of fermenting beverages popping their corks, or of beer bottles exploding, but not a cordial.  A cordial isn't fermenting, bubbling, alive. It is inert booze, soaking up flavors!

So what in the world happened?  Was it maybe a poltergeist?  A furious imp?  The Strawberry Association for Free and Sober Fruit?  Whoever is responsible should explain to the poor spider in the corner of the cabinet, whose web was sparkling with glass dust.  They also should have been there to help as I washed each and every sticky, glass-coated bottle from the cabinet.  *sigh*

Whatever it was, I hope they never return.  That cordial was really good!!

August Wildflower Mead - A Success and Recipe of sorts

In August 2012, I took it upon myself to wander around the yard and gather some lovely flowers

Queen Anne's Lace
by Modern Scribe Photography

together to make a gallon of wildflower mead - affectionately referred to around my home as "yard-clippin booze."

Into a pot went just about 3/4 gallon of filtered water, and as it came up to boiling, I added in:

One handful each of Primrose flowers, Queen Anne's Lace flowers, Chicory flowers, Red Clover
Four dried Hibiscus flowers
1 small dried slice of Lime
Roughly 1/8 cup dried elder flowers
1 fingertip sized nubbin of ginger

Once boiling, I turned off the stove and to the hot water, I added 3 lbs of local honey (just about 4 cups).  I stirred it until mixed, and strained and poured the wort into a waiting sanitized gallon jug.  I added cold water to fill to the neck of the jug, and once it was cool enough, I added one packet of bread yeast and a fermentation cap.

It bubbled happily for a while, and then ceased.  I allowed to sit on a dark spot in my kitchen until early March.

I used a straw to taste the mead.  It was good, but I know that most people prefer a sweet mead, and the yeast had eaten all the sugars away, making it a nice dry mead with a hint of flowers and honey flavor.

I bottled just one swing-top wine bottle of the dry mead, as it will one day pair nicely with a fish dinner. YUM.

To the remainder, I added a simple sugar syrup.  I re-sanitized the fermenation cap and let it sit until this weekend, when I was sure that there was no more fermentation.  I bottled up the rest, and I must say, it is one of my most favorite meads so far!

My camera is broken, so no pics I'm afraid, but take my word for it when I tell you that it is the clearest, cleanest, most well-rounded mead I've made yet!

Next on the list?  A five gallon batch!

Quick Strawberry Pineapple Wine - a mixed result

Strawberry-Pineapple wine

I had an intense craving for fresh fruit and veggies the other day.  Since that is one of those food desires that is acceptable to give in to,  I drove down the street to the local fruit market.

The awesome little tienda down the road was on my list to visit anyways, as they have a wonderful selection of 7 Day candles, and we go through those fairly quickly.  I love their bins of dried peppers, and they also stocks local produce, as available.  The rest of their products come from Mexico and Guatemala.  I merrily went home with a coconut, a pineapple, a bucket o'strawberries, a cucumber, a tomato, and an amazingly sweet watermelon!

Once I was home, I realized that I'd probably gone a bit overboard on fruit for just me and Eric, so decided it was a good time to brew a quick gallon of wine.

Into the bucket went:

• 3 lbs strawberries, washed, with greens and most of the white cores removed.  They were so sweet and awesome, and local from SC!
• 1 lb fresh pineapple - it could have been sweeter...not bad, but I've had better.
• 2 small oranges, cut in half, squeezed and thrown in skin and all

On the stove, I boiled just about 1 gallon of water.  While that was heating, I mashed up the fruit with a sterilized masher in the sterilized bucket.  When the water boiled, I added it to the mashed fruit.  It smelled like strawberries and happiness!

Next, it needed to cool so that I could add the yeast.  I covered it with a clean towel and strapped it down to keep any fruit flies and other pests out of it.

Once that was all cooled off to below body temperature, I opened it up and added a healthy sprinkle of regular baking yeast and re-covered the bucket.  Within a few hours, the whole bucket was fizzing away merrily while distressed fruit flies gathered around in abject misery at being kept from the fermenting fruit.  I swear that I could hear their tiny violins...

Three or four days later, I strained the bubbling mass into another sterilized bucket, stirred in about 2 pounds of sugar, and poured the whole thing into a sterilized gallon jug.  The bubbling was fierce! The color was vibrant!  The smell was alcoholic!  In the first 6 hours of being in the jug, it blew off the airlock.  I sanitized a new airlock and replaced it, and the fermentation slowed down after that.

It's been in that gallon jug now for over a week...more like 10 days, and I think it is DONE.  There are no more bubbles rising to the surface, no more pops from the airlock.  The sediment is settling and the wine is clearing.  The next step is bottling, and then the waiting, and finally the drinking!

Bottling Update:  Well, I must say that it's lackluster.  *sigh*  The amazing, potent, heady strawberry scent has vanished, and left only a tiny trace of flavor, and the yeast nommed up ALL of the sugars.  It's very dry, and definitely alcoholic! 

But not all is lost!  I bottled it anyways, and labeled the bottles with the flavor and date.  I also made a note to add a Simple Syrup to jazz them up when I open them for use.  Maybe even a Strawberry or Pineapple flavored simple syrup using fruit juice...mmm....

Waste not, want not!  Booze abuse is not tolerated in this house. *grin*

I think that my mistakes was that I used standard activated kitchen yeast.  I know that it works, but I really do prefer the sweet mead yeast that I get from the brew shop.  I'll have to bite the bullet and buy some more!

Tasting Update:   I made a simple syrup, as in this recipe, and it worked out quite well.  Adding it to the bottle of wine as my tastebuds dictated returned quite a bit of the fruit flavor.  Next time I make the syrup, I'll use some fresh strawberries as well to restore some more of the sweet fruitiness!  I love it when something works out...

Quick update - the booze edition

Fermenting Apples by Modern Scribe Photography

Of course, when I do have a quick update, it's about booze. Go figure!

My apple mead/cider/cyser was a dud...it grew mold!  I must have opened it too many times, and also should have used a new gallon container instead of just dumping the must into the apple juice container.  Oh, well.  I'll mark that down for a lesson.

But! The good news is that I get to try my beer on Friday.  The Gaelic ale clone will be ready to open, and I am so excited!  I love beer.  I'm already plotting my next batch, which will likely be a porter.

I've been beset by a fit of crafting.  I made three pendulums last night, and am about to list those and a couple of embroidered patches on my Etsy.  I've decided while I'm hawking the honey at PixiesPocket.com, I might as well use the well-established Etsy space I've had since 2005 to move some of my odd craft bits. 

Keep posted, and I'll have a more enjoyable and informative blog post up soon.

Apple Picking & Processing 2011

J.H. Stepp Orchards, by Modern Scribe Photography

I live in an incredibly beautiful and bountiful area.  Western North Carolina has so much to offer in the way of local, healthy food that I'm becoming quite happily spoiled by my diet.  There's hop farms for brewers, local bison ranches, and in Hendersonville, North Carolina, you can't throw a stone without hitting an apple tree.  The winding roads around Lake Lure and Chimney Rock are a verdant place where orchards and small farm markets thrive.

My love and I recently went winding down that road with our housemates, a friend, and his six-year old daughter to pick apples from J. H. Stepp Orchards, a beautiful old orchard we picked from last year.  We missed the really sweet apples of late August and September, but still delighted in the bushel of Golden Delicious, Fuji and Rose Cameo Fuji apples that came home with us.

Stepp Orchards also has a wonderful common room in their barn, with a fireplace going to keep icy fingers warm, hot cider on tap, fresh apple juice, apple cake, and accessories such as apple peelers and corers available for purchase.  I picked up a handy dandy apple-corer and gorged on butterscotch apple cake while we all got assembled and directed to the proper picking places.

Calliope, by MSP

By the by, if you have an enthusiastic and bright child to bring along apple picking with you, I highly encourage it.  Boy, can they pick like little devils! And run. And climb trees. And not carry heavy apple baskets, at all.

Once we were laden with big, gorgeous apples, we didn't linger long at the orchard, because we had plans...oh yes, we had plans.  The bushel of apples, the gallon of apple juice, and a bag of fresh, clean sweet potatoes made it home with us in no time.

The rest of the day involved relaxing, for the most part, but I just couldn't wait.  Within a couple of hours of being home, we were diving into a still-warm pan of German Apple Cake!

In the month since picking, we're down to about 5 apples after we made everything...but we still haven't made all that we wanted.  We might just have to go again so we can have apple pie filling!

The complete list of what my housemate Sarah and I made from a bushel of apples:

Dried Apple Rings:  Soft and chewy, melt in your mouth, super-yummy apple rings!  And then the dehydrator started making the most TERRIBLE sound...time for a new one? Any suggestions from you food-preservation people out there?

German Apple Cake:  Nuh-uh. No way.  Not this recipe...if I tell you, I'll have to kill you.

Apple Sauce: (which became Apple Butter)  Easy to do...chop apples, put in pot with small bit of water or apple juice.  Cook down with a lid until soft.  Strain if needed, and ta-da!  If you want to turn it into apple butter, transfer it to a crockpot and season the ever-loving sense out of it with brown sugar and cinnamon and cloves and such, and then let it cook on low until you like it.  SO EASY, and smells soooo goooooood.

A happy apple crew, by MSP

Apple Pectin:  (Check out this recipe on Mother Earth News for reference) We did not succeed completely at this task...but we used up all the peels, cores, and otherwise unwanted bits of apples on hand in the attempt.  Our pectin didn't clear or settle well, because our apples were too sweet. Apparently, this works better with sour or crab apples, which I would have know had I read the entire recipe. Whoops!

Apple Cordial:  This is so fun, and so easy.  I peel my apples by hand, and leave flesh clinging to the peel.  I put the peels in a jar.  I put spices in the jar sometimes...othertimes, just apple-y goodness.  Then I fill the jar with vodka (or rum. or brandy.) and remember to shake it occasionally.  Once I've forgotten about it for a while, I strain out the peels, add sugar or sugar syrup to the alcohol, and bam! Apple cordial.

Apple Mead (Or Cyser):  A grand experiment has begun!  The jug o' juice that we picked up from Stepp Orchards was wonderfully tasty, but we stopped drinking it when it was half-empty.

Next, I heated water and melted a large pour of honey into it to make a must (un-fermented mead) and poured it into the gallon jug, and added one single solitary allspice bud.

I popped an airlock on the jug, and pitched the yeast the next morning.  We've got a perfect spot to keep the jug warm (between 80-84 degrees) and it's been bubbling merrily for about a week.  It will soon be bottled (if we can save enough...we keep tasting it and it's already dwindling rapidly).

Check out your local farm offerings for a U-Pick near you.  I used the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) to find Stepp Orchards!

Let's Talk About: Tinctures, Elixirs, and Cordials

Tincture corner of my herb shelf, A. Shehan

I love herbs, and I also enjoy alcohol. You dedicated readers know for sure that I adore honey...so I generally do my best to combine those three ingredients in as many forms as possible.

My cabinets are full of jars, and those jars are full of strange floating bits in colored liquid. It makes me feel my most witchy to open that cabinet and bring out strange brews to share with friends.  I have many jars that are medicine, and jars that are for fun, and jars that are a bit of both.

Tinctures are medicinal extracts of herbs in alcohol. Some folks use moonshine and other high-test likkers for their tinctures, but I tend to use a medium-brand, triple-distilled vodka so I don't have to dilute the tincture until it's ingested.  If you aren't into vodka, a nice brandy is a good alternative.

The process for making a tincture is simple:

Get an herb, fresh or dried.
Put said herb into a jar.
Pour alcohol to cover the herb.
Put a lid on it, and give it a good shake every now and again
Strain after 3-6 weeks and label clearly.

Now, tinctures are potent!  When you take tinctures, please do a lot of research if you are dosing yourself, or find a practiced herbalist to give you guidance.  Some tinctures, such as poke root or teasel, only need a couple of drops per day to be effective and more than that can cause you harm.

Elixirs are the sweetened version of those alcohol-expressed medicines.  I tend to make "sipping" elixirs out of the more tasty herb tinctures.  These can almost cross the line into cordials, which while they may have medicinal benefits, are mostly just for pleasure.  The sharp tang of elderberry cordial is lovely, but I try to save it for when I'm feeling sick.  To use an elixir, just pour a bit into your hot tea, or into a brandy snifter to sip on for a while.

Then there are the less-than-tasty herbal medicines...adding sweetener to the more bitter or astringent herb tinctures can make ingesting them a more palatable experience, especially with kids.  Valerian and Horehound are good examples of herbs that can use a splash of honey to cut their bitter strength!

Elixirs are easy to make:

You can start out with a tincture and add a simple syrup (recipe below).  Add the cooled syrup to tincture in small bits, then shake the mix to blend it, and then taste.  If it isn't right, add more and taste again!  Be careful, these are meant to be sipped as they are still potent medicine, and this sweetening and tasting process can get you loopy.

Simple Syrup:
Boil one cup of water.
Add two cups of sugar (or 1.5 cup of honey, or agave, or whatever you prefer!)
Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and remove from heat.
Allow to cool.

Otherwise, you can use the lazy method. Pour a dollop of honey into a strained tincture and give it a shake.  It works, but it ends up being super sticky and thick compared to the simple syrup process described above.

I hope that helps to demystify some of the process and allow you to play around with your Junior Alchemist kit in your kitchen, and have another way to use your herb harvest before the final frost takes it from you!

Cordials and Tinctures, 2011, Amber Shehan

Here are some cordials and tinctures that I have in the works.  All of these are in 40% vodka.

In the back, we have Cranberry cordial.  I buy cranberries when they go on sale every holiday season, and freeze them if I don't use them immediately.  This jar has been full for close to a year, and will remain there until the berries have lost a bit more color to the alcohol.  Then there will be a sugar syrup added (perhaps brown sugar this year) and it will sit and settle until Thanksgiving or Christmas.  

Clockwise, we next have goldenrod tincture.  Goldenrod will have his own post soon, so I'll move on to the next little jar.

Yarrow was a strong sister plant for me this year.  She sprang up tall and magnificent from the patch I prepared and transplanted her the first year I lived here.  The fronds on this plant were humongous, and her flowers plentiful! Yarrow tincture is good for keeping insects at bay when applied externally, and is an amazing wound cleaner as well.  She'll be handy to keep around for next spring.

Lemon Balm, Sweet Melissa, fills out the next jar with her flat, wide leaves.  I crushed them with my fingers as I put them in the jar, to release her lemony, sharp oils.  This plant is excellent for anxiety, depression, any emotional rollercoasters and overwhelming dizziness can be slowed down by a couple drops in water and a couple of deep breaths.

Lastly, we have valerian and mint.  Some folks can't stand the smell of Valerian, but I'm quite fond of it.  The mint is there to make it palatable, sure, but it also has it's own benefits in the realm of gas relief and relaxation.  In a couple of weeks, I'll strain that jar and add some honey to the tincture and shake it together for a tonic cordial.  My delicate-tummied love sometimes ends up unable to sleep at night with gut pains keeping him awake...but after one good slug of valerian and mint cordial, there's a couple of burps and then a symphony of snores!

This is my last fresh-harvest hurrah for the season.  This week, I'll be making tasty treats using the elixir method with rum instead of vodka, and leftover apple peels that would otherwise be discarded.  Winter is nigh, and I'm set on having plenty of tasty, warming medicines to get me and my loved ones through!

Recipe Box: Blackberry Mead - Part 2

The berries and sweet peas, image by Amber Shehan

It has been a week since my first post about my Blackberry Mead.  I'm pretty excited, and things are progressing nicely!

The bucket full of berries, spices, and honey water has been bubbling merrily for seven days.  I made sure that the bucket was picked up and swished around every now and again to keep it oxygenated, and to keep everything from settling.  Besides the swishing, the bucket got a good stir once a day.

It was a joy to stir while guests were over.  People who have never before brewed really observe the fermentation process with wonder in their eyes.  It serves to remind me that I am not only a wino with a DIY complex, but a high magician, a witch, an alchemist. Poof! Alcohol.

After seven days, the sweet, fizzy smell in that corner of the kitchen was delightful - not too yeasty or cloyingly sweet.  I declared the mash ready to strain and moved to the secondary fermenter.  I could have perhaps let the berries and must sit together longer, but I didn't want the bitter seeds and skins of the berries to penetrate too deeply into the flavors of the final product.

My housemate Sarah helped, and together we lined a strainer with a layer of cheesecloth or two to catch the smaller floaty bits.  The strainer was set into a large cook pot, and slowly and carefully, I poured the bucket out.  What a feast for the senses!  The color is magnificent, the smell - divine, and once we funneled the brew into the carboy and sampled what was left over, the taste?  Absolutely thrilling!

Isn't is gorgeous? I can't wait! (image by A.Shehan)

So, with the carboy capped off with a fermentation lock, it took only a couple of hours for the yeast to kick back into action.  The lock is bubbling about once every five full seconds.  I won't know when this mead will be ready...but I'll guess by the bubbling going more slowly, and look for other signs, like the opacity of the mead itself clearing as the yeast dies and settles to the bottom.

I will keep you all updated as the mead progresses.

Oh, and here's the dream list of brewing projects that I have not yet begun:

• Peach Mead (Melomel)
• Ginger Mead
• Apple Mead
• Spiced Apple Mead
• BEER! I want to brew Ninkasi's beer.

I would also like to direct you folks to the blog of a friend of mine, Michael Ruff of Dove and Raven Mead.  We made his first batch together a couple of months ago; he learned the basics of brewing, and he tried in vain to teach me hydrometer math.  He just started his first cherry melomel, and it sounds amazing! 

Recipe Box: Blackberry Mead - Part 1

I can tell that it is truly summertime.  Over the last week or two, my housemates and I have gathered close to two pounds of blackberries from the brambles on our lower lot.  With chevre on toast, and by the handful, we've managed to consume about one pound of those, and we froze the rest for later use. We plan on using those to make a syrup, or maybe add to it and make a small batch of jam.

But I had other plans for berries...plans that involve more fruit than our yard can currently provide. 

So, I woke up early yesterday morning and went to work with my husband. While he mowed beautiful lines into the sweet-smelling, dew-covered grass, I went around the perimeter of the land and gathered the wild blackberries that pepper these hillsides.

After an hour and a half of work, I had earned arm-scratches, purple fingers, and a hell of an appetite to go along with the two pounds of fat, ripe blackberries that I had gathered!

Image by Amber Shehan

We brought them home, rinsed the berries, and then I began the process of making a one gallon batch of blackberry mead!  This is also known as a melomel, a mead made with fruit.

Blackberry Mead (1 Gallon)

2-3 lbs of wildflower honey
2-3 lbs of fresh picked wild blackberries
1 allspice
1 clove
1 bit of dried orange peel
lemon juice

I used a large stockpot and heated just under 1 gallon of water to boil.  I threw in the allspice berry, clove, and orange peel while it got going.

While the water was heating, I sanitized a bucket with a bleach and water mix, and rinsed well.  I then added the berries to the bucket along with a splash of lemon juice.

Once the water is kicking at a steady boil, turn off the stove and remove the stockpot from heat.  Add the honey, stirring to blend.  If it is unfiltered honey, you may get a foam on the surface, which can be removed if you wish.

I poured the hot honey water (also called the must) over the berries and gave a good couple of stirs.  Lacking a lid to fit this bucket, I put a towel over it and tied it down to allow the must to cool and to keep flies and ants out.

I allowed the must to cool overnight, and this morning added a sweet mead yeast to the room temperature bucket.  It was beautiful, gave a little bit of a bubble, and then settled down as I stirred everything together.   I re-covered the bucket and tied it down again, and will let this mixture do it's thing for a couple of days.

Check in again soon, and I'll let you know how it turns out, and hopefully will remember to take some pictures as I rack it over into a carboy to finish fermentation!

Learning about Native Appalachian Plants and Herbs

Amber by Modern Scribe Photography

Howdy, everyone...I hope Spring's been keeping you as joyfully busy as it's been keeping me! Between building the chicken coop, filling honey orders, and jumping on the trampoline, I've been keeping the growing things tended.

Oh, yes...I've been exploring and cultivating my yard like a thing possessed... since I last checked in:

~We've succeeded in moving decorative boxwoods from the only flat, sunny, well-draining spot in the front yard up to the top of a ridge to help combat the erosion there. Sarah and I got all scratched up and dirty and sweaty and happy while accomplishing that task.

~We broke up the soil in the newly cleared spot (about 4x5) and added some composted cow manure and sand, and worked it into the clay. While pulling out weeds and roots and rock, we saw more worms than I could count! They are certainly welcome guests. May they continue to grow and prosper here!

~We transplanted our tomato starts into that new place - a Cherokee Purple, a Jeune Flame, and two Oregon Spring tomato plants. We made cages for the bushy plants and stakes for the climbers. They all seem to be doing well, but the Oregon Spring tomatoes are a little slower than the Cherokee Purple and the Jeune Flame, who are flowering to beat the band.

In the House of Herbs Greenhouse by Modern Scribe Photo.

~We got a Crookneck Squash, an Old Timey Kentucky Pumpkin, and a Pickling Cucumber vine from House of Herbs here in Candler, North Carolina. They are thriving and we already have a squash starting to swell! I did the happy dance when I saw it, and ran inside to tell the whole household. They know I'm a dork and love me anyways!

~The other side of our front porch also has good drainage, and gets mostly dappled sunlight and shade due to the ornamental cherry trees that shield that side of the house.  This is where I've decided to relocate our pallet-bed...the spot where I put it initially was too sunny and wind-blown. One quadrant of the bed has some struggling spinach coming up, and one little lettuce sprout. I think they've been too warm and dry, but they may do better in their new home.

~In the second quadrant of the pallet-bed, we have some freshly transplanted Basil seedlings, and a healthy and happy Oregano plant. I've also planted a Comfrey plant that I got from House of Herbs.

~Also on the herbal front, there are some happily growing peppermint plants and soapwort plants in pots on the porch, as they are both rather invasive. I've planted a native Elderberry bush and it is thriving on the hill under the Oak tree's dappled shade, and we have a German Chamomile and White Lavender plants in full sun alongside the Chrysanthemum that I thought had died last fall, but is now starting to make quite a show.

Pisgah Waterfall by Modern Scribe Photography

~Wildcrafting: So far this spring, I've learned quite a bit about native plants of the Appalachians. I've correctly identified Trillium, Mayapple, Wild Ginger, and Umbrella tree while slipping and sliding and busting my butt climbing around the wild slopes and waterfalls of the Pisgah National Forest. I think that I also saw Solomon's Seal and Bloodroot, but I'm not 100% and will bring a book next time!

Bee, Closeup - by Modern Scribe Photography

~Even just while wandering our yard, I've identified:
Cinquefoil (Rough-fruited or Sulfur Cinquefoil, another "noxious weed" with medicinal uses. Stay Tuned for more.)
Red Clover (stay tuned for more)
Ox-eye Daisy
Dock, both Curly Leafed and otherwise
Wild Yarrow (Milfoil)
Bittersweet Nightshade
Plantain (stay tuned for more)
Japanese Honeysuckle (Invasive! I've trimmed it back quite a bit, and plan to use the flowers to flavor a wine) 
Dandelion (which is now a mead brewing)
Wild Blackberries (smells so sweet!)

So if I'm too muddy, tired, and sunbaked to blog about it as often as I did before, bear with me...I'll keep you posted as often I can!