Nut Cheese, Chili, Kombucha, Plus More Cherries

I have a link to a blog that explains how to make Vegan Cheese out of nuts off to the right side. A couple of weeks ago I decided to try and make some myself. I used two metric handfuls of walnuts, one handful of almonds and I sprinkled in some small pumpkin seeds for good measure. I added into the blender some fresh sauerkraut brine teeming with lactobacilli, some vegetable oil and a hunk o' homemade sauerkraut too. The blog I got the info from said to add seaweed and coconut creme but I couldn't find coconut creme that was unsweetened and I did not want to put seaweed in it. I just blended all that stuff up until it was good and creamy. It took forever and next time I will blend the dry stuff up first so it doesn't take so long. After it was mush I put it into a swing-top jar and let it sit for four days. It was only supposed to take 14 hours but I put the lid on the the jar. The mush is supposed to ferment and rise like bread but since I put the lid on the gas had no where to go and the mush didn't rise. So I burped it everyday until I thought it was good to go. One day waiting for the train I turned to my girlfriend and exclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear that "I needed to go home and burp my nut cheese." It tasted really good actually! The sauerkraut brine had a lot of garlic in it so it ended up tasting like a more puckering sour cream and onion/garlic dip. I had a bunch and then gave it to my girlfriends sister who is vegan and she liked it too. Actually there wasn't anyone that I gave it to that didn't like it. Plus I got to make nut cheese jokes after everyone took a bite.

After Four Days

A purple layer on the top formed but did not taste bad at all

I made a batch of Chili and Kombucha on the same day. The Chili came out great and I took it camping with me but the Kombucha didn't come out as planned. It didn't taste bad I just should of let it ferment longer than five days. During the summer I could put the batch out in the sun-room and if I left it longer than 4 days it would have been pure vinegar. Now it's cold in the house and five days just won't cut it. It came out too sweet and the ginger I used ended up tasting too root like and not spicy enough. I also didn't boil it for very long and didn't get enough lime zest flavors. I didn't use tea bags either and it made it kind of cloudy. So if I were going to do it all over again I would boil it longer, use tea bags to hold both the tea and the ginger and zest, and I would ferment it longer or taste it at least before I bottle it!

Mothers

One more thing that I would take into consideration is that I had the mothers in the fridge prior to the fermentation. I did not give them enough time to get used to the warm temperatures. Now I have been storing them at room temperature in some juice.

Kombucha Recipe (for this batch):

• 4Tbs Black Tea
• 4 Tbs Green Tea
• One zested lime
• About a golfball sized grated piece of ginger 
• ~2 cups of sugar (perhaps too much)

Finally a couple of days ago I tasted my Cherry Brett Ale and it tasted different from the last time I tasted it but it still was not sour enough for me and it didn't have enough cherry flavor or aroma. So I grabbed 4.75 cups of sour cherries and proceeded to boil them down to make some sort of syrup. I used an immersion blender for a long while to make it as smooth as possible and also added in 3 Tbs of white sugar to make sure I wasn't going to drop the alcohol content to much. Its been bubbling (but not blowing over) since I put the cherries in and it smells a lot more like cherries too. I thought that maybe I waited to long to add the brett into the beer because most of the sugars might have gotten eaten up before the brett could work its magic. So hopefully this will give the brett more to work with and make the ale a little more sour.

Boiled

Blended

Added To Batch

Sad face rock I found hunting with Tom