Enzyme cleaner - does it work?

I made enzyme cleaner.  Way back in the beginning of March.  And then again at the beginning of April.  The recipe is very easy:
1 part brown sugar (I don't think it needs to brown)
3 parts citrus peel (or any other fruit peel, pinapple is supposed to really good)
10 parts water

Put some lemon and orange peel (or pineapple) into a 2 liter plastic bottle and then put in the sugar and water.  Close the bottle and shake it to dissolve the sugar.

Let stand for 3 months and be careful to let off some of the gas that starts to develop in the bottle or it will explode.  After the 3 months are up, strain and use by diluting 1:10 with water to clean most things.  The first webpage where I saw this, The happy homemaker was really happy with the results and it seems so is everyone else, but I'm just not getting it.

I did everything according to the instructions and then I also did another batch using pineapple scraps and I know that pinapple is supposed to have a lot of enzymes and should work really well.  I just decanted the pinapple cleaner.  I had that standing from April 7 until Aug. 20 and it never developed any mold.  It looks nice, it smells pretty similar to the lemon & orange peel one (almost like a plastic smell, does that sound right?) and I think it works just about the same.  Which is to me: Not really.  I really wished this to work although it annoys me, not to understand the chemistry, so if anyone can explain this I would be grateful.  I have no idea what went wrong or if I'm just misunderstanding something.

I guess I can use this as an excuse to my sloppy housekeeping in the last few weeks, although perhaps a more truthful story would be the nice weather.  We have had a record in nice weather, for more than 20 days in a row the temperature has reached 20°C (that's a whopping 68°F) somewhere in the country.  But now we have rain and more rain so now I really need to find out why my enzyme cleaner doesn't really work because I don't have any excuses anymore.  Or maybe it does work and I just have to let it  sit for a while before I wipe it off.  Does anyone know?  Or even care?  Maybe I shouldn't either.

Homemade Mascarpone for Easter's Lemon cake

Yesterday I made Mascarpone.  I've been wanting to try to make cheeses for the longest time and had some cream.  Mascarpone is one of the easiest things one can make in the cheese department.  So I went ahead and made some.  I also made Lemon cake for desert on Easter Sunday (which is today - Happy Easter :) and thought I could try the Mascarpone with that.  I always serve whipped cream with it and there will be some of that too because my family aren't really as adventurous as I am.

Everything tastes better with whipped cream and when in Italy last year, I looked for cream in the Italian grocery stores, but could only find Mascarpone.  I bought it because I had to have something with my strawberries.  I hadn't really tasted it that much before.  I knew that it is used in Tiramisu, but that was about it.  I got used to it after a while, it's very, very creamy.  But yesterday I used Google to find recipes, although I have two books about cheese making which I could have used (I need to find those).  I found many recipes for Mascarpone, the blogs Baking obsession,  Not without salt and Make it from scratch all have recipes and lovely photos.  Another website that I found which is excellent is Fankhauser's cheese page.  It's just a wealth of information about cheese making of all sorts.

But the Mascarpone is really easy to make.  I used:

2.5 deciliters whipping cream (that is 250 ml or about 1 cup)
1/2 tbsp Lemon juice

Just heat the cream in a water bath.  I put it into a saucepan which I put into a larger pot containing water.  I could have used a bowl in the pot.  Doesn't matter, but it's best to heat the cream gently and stir regularly.  Heat until it reaches 85C / 190F then add the lemon juice and continue to stir for 5 minutes while holding the temperature constant. The cream will thicken somewhat.  Don't worry if you don't notice a massive change.  I didn't and I've read many comments about that.  Just make sure you reach the right temperature and hold it for 5 minutes and follow the rest of the instructions.  It should turn out just fine.

Now, I followed the advise of Dr. Fankhauser and covered it and put it in the refrigerator overnight.  But some people just let it cool on the counter for 20-30 minutes.  I will prbably try that next time.  Just make sure that you don't disturb it while it's cooling.  It's the same as with yoghurt, which hates to be disturbed while doing it's thing.

But the next step, either way you choose to do it, is to line a sieve with a moistened cheesecloth.  And the moistened part makes a difference, I think, because then it drains a bit better.  I failed to do that.  But anyway, put the future Mascarpone into the lined sieve, then gather the corners and let it hang, preferably in the fridge, for a few hours.

I just had to taste it even if it isn't quite ready and it was very nice, thick and creamy with some mashed strawberries and honey that I had left from breakfast.  Yesterday I also made a cottage cheese/Ricotta type cheese from milk and I chopped up some Pineapple peelings to make enzyme cleaner and then I made a little soap.  It feels good to be back in the swing of things.

Homemade Ginger Ale

I loved Ginger Ale when I was a little girl.  I got it infrequently, only when my grandparents held grown up parties where my mother and her sister would help to serve.  I think it started with me wanting the nice coloured drinks that were being served.  Those were alcoholic so not so suitable for a 4 year old and someone had the idea to give me Ginger Ale which looked like the whiskey that was served (I have a feeling that I howled until I got it).  It amused the adults that I really liked it, but I still do.
I came across some recipes for making your own Ginger Ale quite some time ago while browsing the Internet so I started to experiment with that.
There are a lot of recipes on the internet for this, but this is my recipe.  It's a result of many, many trials.  I like it very much.  It's a great thirst quencher.  My husband likens it to moonshine and says it's disgusting!  Having led an innocent life I can't say.  I never tasted homebrew.  But I'm just really  happy that I don't have to share.  If you are interested in trying it out here's the recipe:
- I have tweaked and tried and now I have a delicious drink.

Ingredients:
Ginger, about 45 grams, finely grated (don't bother to take the skin off).
Sugar, 180 grams.
Lemon, juice of one.
Yeast, 1/4 teaspoon.

And... this is according to taste, but I love to add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla sugar and a few red pepper seed OR a small pinch of chili pepper.

How to:
Take a 2 liter plastic soft drink bottle, clean it thoroughly out and fill with cold water up to the "shoulder".
Put everything except yeast in a saucepan.
Heat to boiling while stirring.
Remove from heat, put a lid on and let stand for at least an hour.
Sieve the content of the saucepan through a fine sieve or muslin cloth.
Add that to the bottle.
Add the yeast to the bottle and put the cap on and shake it.

Then wait:
Put the bottle in a dark place, perfect temperature is 10 - 15°C.
Best result in my experience is with the cooler temperature - it takes a little longer (up to 5 days) but has less yeasty taste.

Check the bottle after 48 hours, and then regularly after that. It can explode if left too long!

When the bottle is quite hard to the touch it's ready.
Put it in the fridge.
This should stop the germination and helps to settle any sediment.
When the botle is cold, open it to let out the fizz and then check it every day or it might explode in the fridge - which I imagine is very messy.

I siphon it to another bottle to get rid of the sediment, but you can just pour gently if you don't have a small hose.

It is now ready to drink and is wonderful served quite cold.

NOTE: About the explosive nature of the brew - the yeast produces carbonation and if the pressure builds up, something has to give. That something is the bottle!
DO NOT EVER USE A GLASS BOTTLE FOR THIS RECIPE.
An exploded plastic bottle is annoying, but broken glass is DANGEROUS!!!! 

I have never had an explosion because I can't wait to see if it's ready, but I'm told that it is a possibility. So just keep touching the bottle, you'll know when it's done.

The photo:  Next to my shed I have this space for mint, perfect because it can't spread.  I have to cut it mercilessly to enable the white violas to survive. They have an adorable scent.

Lovely lemon

Lemons are wonderful.  Their colour makes me smile, the smell of the rind is heavenly, not to mention the blossoms (hence my apprehension for my lemon tree), but the true marvel is the taste.  It's to die for.  When I was little my grandmother used to make a delicious drink that we called "sítrón" and everyone else knows as lemon aid.  I still love that.  But lemons can be used in so many things, both savory and sweet, and there is one thing that tops my list.  This lemon cake.

I found it in a wonderful book, by Molly Wizenberg, called "A homemade life".  The book is one of those books that feels good.  It has a quiet unassuming look, but somthing appealed to me when I pulled it out of the shelf at the book store.  I wasn't disappointed. It's just a lovely read and it's packed with all sorts of great recipes.

This has become an absolute favorite of mine.  And everyone who has tasted it has marvelled.  It's going to be the wedding cake at my daughters wedding. That's how good it is.  It's light and delicious and in my opinion it should be served with whipped cream.  I don't know what it is that happens when whipped cream is added, but the result is pure magic. And please use pure whipped cream - NO sugar added to it (I have never understood that) because it will loose the delicious delicate creamy taste.

The recipe is in three parts, batter, syrup and icing.
Batter:
1 1/2 cup of flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Put these into a bowl and whisk by hand to mix.  Add to this 2 tsp. of freshly grated lemon zest and mix well. 
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup yogurt
3 large eggs
Put all into the mixer and whisk it well.  Add the flour mixture from the bowl, slowly and stir it only so that it combines.  This batter should not be over mixed.
Now add 1/2 cup sunflower oil to the batter.
Molly warn about this, but I still wasn't prepared.  Don't freak out!  It will look VERY strange at first, but suddenly it will come together and look like proper cake batter.
I always use a Bundt form (that's the type with a hole in it) for this cake, it just looks so pretty.  So I grease it and pour in the batter.  
Bake at 175 celcius (350 F) for 25-35 minutes, but do a test with a pin because it shouldn't be too dry.
It usually falls easily out of the form and onto a wire rack to cool.
Syrup:
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Whisk together and spoon evenly onto the cake.  This will mostly be absorbed by the cake.
The last part is the icing.  The recipe in the book calls for one cup of sugar.  My preference is to have the icing fairly opaque and thick so I use a lot more.
Icing:
2-3 cups icing sugar
3 tbs. lemon juice
Whisk together sugar and egg whites adding sugar until you like the consitency.  Spoon the icing onto the cake.
Et voilá!  
The decoration in the photo was my first attempt at making sugared flowers and of course I used lemon flowers from my little lemon tree and for the leaves I used Melissa.  I have since discovered that one should whisk the egg whites :)  before covering the flower with it and then roll it in the sugar.  I thought it was strangely lumpy!  Elementary, when one comes to think about it. 


I am looking for some more recipes for light delicious summery cakes for the wedding and would love suggestions.



The photo: Real lemon blossom from my very own Lemon tree that almost died, eaten alive my spider mites.  I've learned since that one is to beat the eggwhites before covering the flower.   Which makes sense to me now.

Green Clean

Before I started making soap I started to make my own cleaners. I hate, hate, hate the horrible smell and fumes of the stuff that is sold in grocery stores. So I started to experiment with natural cleaners and haven't looked back since.

My basic one that I use for weekly cleaning of just about every surface of the house is simply vinegar, water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid. I usually do a 50:50 mix of 4-5% white vinegar and water (less vinegar if I'm using 15%). It's perfect for mild cleaning and the vinegar (I happen to love the smell of that) makes everything smell fresh. Although you can't smell it at all after it evaporates. I sometimes put in a bit of lemon juice for the nice smell and it is also an acid (like the vinegar) that cuts grease really well.

I also use a simple recipe for my untreated wooden floors. It's vinegar and oil. Yes I know, most people call that salad dressing, but it is great as a cleaner and conditioner of wooden floors. Just shake, spray and wipe.

The varnished parquet floors also get treated with vinegar. This time a very weak soapy solution with a cup of vinegar. Makes the varnish shine, shine, shine! I just love vinegar. It has so many uses. It's great as a hair rinse, although I usually can't be bothered. I use it in the dishwasher for the rinse to make sure the glasses are sparkly. I also use it in the washer for the rinse cycle.

And for those who need a quick furniture polish, olive oil with lemon juice works a treat.

The photo: A mixture of vinegar, water, lemon juice and a drop or two of detergent are my favorite cleaning fluid.  I have this great spray bottle that I reused. I'm looking for a pretty spray bottle, anyone?