Dye-ing to tell you

Quite some time ago I saw India Flynt's book Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles in a bookstore.  I was intrigued by it, but didn't buy it since I was traveling and the book is fairly large and cumbersome.  And, besides I thought, I really don't like this mottled effect of muted colours.  I like the vibrants clear colours of flowers and the rainbow.

But that changed.  It really is amazing how ones taste does change when one starts do dye with natural materials.  I have come to a new appreciation of greeny yellows, browns and grays.  And my preference for evenly dyed yarn and fabric... Completely gone.  I now love the mottled, splotsy (I guess that's not a word) effect that can be achieved with natural materials.  I decided to try some eco dyeing the other day.  I started with an old not-very-white-anymore-t-shirt and then progressed onto a silk scarf that I had bought especially to try to do some eco dying.

I loved the whole process.  Picking leaves and flowers and arranging them onto the fabric, wondering which leaves would leave a mark and how they would look.  Admiring the wonderful colours, knowing that the end result will be completely different from the original composition.  Choosing a branch, wondering which wood would give what effect, and then rolling the fabric onto the chosen branch, tightly.  Tying the  whole thing into a tight bundle hoping that the branch would fit the largest pot, which of course it didn't since I didn't measure before I sawed it.  I didn't steam, I boiled the whole lot.  Wonder if the effect is different that way.  Probably.  Add rust water.  Is that too much or too little?  Have I ruined the whole thing?  Then the difficult time to wait for a while.  I've read some people wait for weeks and months.  What are they made of?  I waited an hour and it was difficult.  And whooo!  What fantastic result.  I love the way the scarf turned out.  Those wonderful patterns that I wasn't aware that I was creating.  I really, really like the effect.

I also loved the t shirt immediately.  Wore for dinner the same day.  And also wore it work.  And then proceeded to dye some more.  The next one was confiscated by a daughter.  That's a compliment, I'm sure.  Then I gave her a few old t's to take on a camping trip around the country.   She wants to gather plants where they stop to camp and arrange them onto the fabric and make a bundle which she'll boil when she gets a chance.  Adding rusted nails and old twigs all adds to the final result.  It'll be exciting to see what she comes up with since they are driving around the whole island and she will be picking plants in very different locations.

This is so easy to do and my shabby old t's look really respectable when they have been through this process.  No longer gray and dingily, they look like works of art.  I'm hooked.  I almost threw out some of my old t shirts and now I'm Google-ing "t-shirts in bulk".  I can't get enough of dyeing them.  I run out to the garden and pick whatever takes my fancy and arrange it carefully.  That part is tranquil and serene.  Tying it up is fun, the the marks usually show and make some pattern.  Then I have to wait to see what emerges.  I have one waiting right now.  I dyed that in avocado skins which gives a lovely dusty pink colour.  Then I put leaves on it and boiled it for an two hours or so.  I put some rust water on it and some copper water also (that is poisonous, but I'm careful) to get some effects.  The rust water produces the grays and blacks, the copper water enhances some green colors from leaves.  Both act as mordants, along with the tannins in the tree branch.  But all very unpredictable in combination with the different leads and flowers.

I can't wait any longer.  I'm unrolling the bundle.  It's all excitedly mottled and splotsy (that should be a word even if it isn't) and I'm sure it's the best one yet.

The Bigger Picture

Most people, when they look at landscape, look into the distance. They admire mountains and waterfalls, glacier, rivers and geysers.  The big stuff.  I was taught differently.  My parents would always concentrate on the details.  Their noses as close to ground as possible, they would walk across the landscape with their tiny loupes in hand.  And that is how I learned to appreciate the country and I sometimes wonder: Which is the bigger picture?

I went up to the north last weekend for a gathering-of-the-clan-thing.  In this case it was the descendants of my fathers grandmother and grandfather on his mother's side that gathered at the old farm, Svanshóll  (Swanhill) in Bjarnarfjörður (Bearfjord).  The last time we were there was in 2006 when my father came with us to celebrate his fathers centenary.  Later that year my father passed away, so that trip was very special.

I have been wanting to come back, so this opportunity was welcome.  I wanted to go to spend some time in the fantastic landscape, look for lichens which I knew are abundant in that area and even gather some.  And I did.

How to explain this purple stain on a rock?  One might think that someone took a felt tip pen and colored the stones.  There were a several purple stains on the rocks.  What they all had in common was that, on closer inspection, one could see at its middle a rather battered lichen (of the type Umbilicaria).  Well, I can only surmise that some bird left it's dropping on top of a lichen and the ammonia in combination with the oxygen developed that fantastic purple colour.  I know that purple can be obtained from this lichen and now I've seen it happen spontaneously in nature.  I wonder if this is how our ancestors discovered lichen dyes.
Umbilicaria proboscidea.  At first glance the rocks seem to have black flecks on them.  Then, when one looks more closely, one notices that it is lichens.  That there are more than one species of Umbilicaria isn't evident until one looks even closer.  U. proboscidea has the distinctive raised, white navel and black fruiting body.  U. arctica is larger and evenly colored and U. torrefacta is distinguished by having small holes in it's surface.
If one very carefully breaks away the thallus of the lichen, without taking the navel (the stem that attaches it to the rock) this lichen will continue to grow.  This way I managed to carefully gather some of the Umbilicaria which grew absolutely everywhere we looked.  I gathered at least three types, all quite common: Umbilicaria torrefacta, Umbilicaria arctica and Umbilicaria proboscidea.
Ochrolechia parella (I think).
A beautiful symphony of lichens.
Parmelia omphalodes (or saxatilis).
A fish head found in the grass.
I love the beaches in the north, full of driftwood from Russia, littered with old ropes and the odd shoe or boot and often you will find a small flock of sheep resting on the warm, black sands while Eider ducks swim with their young ones just a stones throw away.
That colour!
What texture!
The rhythm of the relentless sea.
I always stop at the churchyard to visit my grandmother's grave where she is buried with her two youngest daughter and the three other people who died with them in the avalanche that demolished my fathers home.
The gravestone
My older sister hasn't visited since she was about 6 or 7, so I took her to see Goðdalur (Valley of the gods), our grandfather's farm.  It is very remote.  The road is long and winding and very rough and we had to cross two rivers, one had a bridge, the other didn't.  Jeeps really are a necessity in this part of the world.
Goðdalur, the farm.
Quietly crumbling.
Eventually becoming a part of nature as everything must.
I miss my father.  I think he would have liked my interest in lichen. But this is how my sisters and I always remember my parents:  Together,  heads close, loupe in hand looking at some plant and discussing the details to be able to identify it.  Both of them have found new species of plants for Iceland.  I'm very grateful that they taught me to look closely at the world.  It really is only when one looks at the details that the bigger picture reveals itself.

Perfect and thick - Yoghurt revisited

It's been more the a year since I made my first yoghurt and I've been making it ever since.  That is just about every week to ten days.  The yoghurt that I make tastes somehow fresher than store-bought.  I have never liked unflavoured yoghurt.  It's always tasted way too sour, but when I make it myself I never sweeten it.  I just mix a bit of honey or strawberry-honey mixture and I love the way the crisp sour taste mixes with the sweet honey and tart fruit.

I think I surprised everyone that I was so diligent about the yoghurt making and baking sourdough bread, which I also do every week or so.  I think it's because I just feel so good after eating my own.  I can't imagine being without it.

I've just started a new diet called GAPS.  The whole idea is that our gut is damaged and lets through large molecules into the bloodstream which cause the body to make antibodies and also that the bacterial flora of the gut is not good, so that we have too many harmful bacteria in the gut and they make toxins which also get into the blood and they cause all sorts of problems.  Neither grain nor dairy is allowed on this diet because they are hard to digest.  The diet starts with meat broth, boiled meat and vegetables, cod liver oil, Probiotics and yoghurt for those who can tolerate it.  Rather restrictive, but I'm prepared to try it.  I am lucky enough to be able to use yoghurt from day one.  Not only have I been eating yoghurt every day but I'm one of the lucky people who can digest lactose as are 95% of my country men.  This ability is a genetic mutation about 8000 years old, known in peoples of northern Europe and eastern Afrika.  So I have no plans to abandon dairy.

I have found a wealth of information on the internet about this diet and I particularly like this site, The Liberated Kitchen, where she has a page about the resources, for those who would like to know more.  I have started this diet because I am really tired of arthritis pain in my hands and I think I need to try something to make it better (other than painkillers).

But back to yoghurt.  The first time I made my own yoghurt I got a really good thick yogurt, so I thought, hey, this is easy and promptly made another batch that was very thin and runny.  Then I had a batch that had tiny hard grains in it.  So I thought I had better figure this out so that I could make the perfect batch every time.   This is how I do it.

I always use 1.5 - 2 liters of full fat milk.  For a while I experimented with adding cream to it and that produced very nice yoghurt, but it is more expensive.  So full fat, pasteurized og homogenized (can't get it any other way) but not ultra heat treated.  I would try fresh milk straight from the cow if I could.  I put this in a pot and put it on full heat on the stove.  I stir it pretty continuously as i monitor the heat with a thermometer.  When it reaches 180 °F / 85 °C I turn down the heat and hold this temperature for at least 5 minutes.  This is the best tip ever.  This is what makes the yoghurt thick and creamy.  Something about the heat and proteins, but the result is thicker yoghurt.

After holding this temperature for 5 minutes I plunge the pot into a bowl filled with ice cubes and water and stir the milk until it has cooled down to 110 °F / 42 °C.  Then I pour almost all of the milk into a large jar.  The small amount I pour into a glass and to this I add the yoghurt that I'm using as a starter.  This is usually what is left of my own.  Or, if I've been greedy, store bought fresh yoghurt.  I mix it with the milk in the glass, about 2 - 3 tablespoons, and then pour it into the large jar.  Then I mix the liquid in the jar by gently stirring.

I put the jar into my oven on a low setting and keep it overnight.  I find that 10 hours works very well for me.  Then I take it from the oven and put it in the refrigerator to cool down.  When it is cold I use a knife to stir it well and it is ready to eat.

I used to think this was so much hassle to make.  First I thought one would need a yoghurt maker.  Not so.  Wouldn't use one if I was given one.  It is much easier to use a jar.  Also I used to worry terribly about the exact temperature.  But it's not that precise.  I've heated the milk above the recommended temperature (although not to a boil) without any ill effects.  The important thing is that the yogurt bacteria thrives at temperature between 100-110 °F / 38-43 °C.  If it gets hotter the bacteria will die.  If it gets colder the bacteria won't do it's job till it's warm again.  So as long as one is careful about the temperature after the yoghurt is added, there is no problem.

Fruit Rolls

I have always hated to throw out any left over mash from making fruit or rhubarb gel, syrup or drink so I was quite happy to find a recipe for fruit rolls.  I jumped on the chance to make some,  first I used the left over mash from making Red Currant (Ribes) jelly and then I tried to use Rhubarb mash.  I liked the former much better, it tasted really good, fresh an fruity.

They are relatively easy to make.  I used about 1 liter (4 cups) of fruit mash for one baking sheet.  For the Redcurrant mash I put the mash into a pot and pour a little less than 1 cup of water over it.  I then added sugar to taste.  Since I was using leftovers from jelly making, the mash was already slightly sweet, so I didn't need a lot of additional sugar.  Just start with 1 tablespoon and let that dissolve at a low heat and then taste it to see if it needs more sugar.  I've seen recipes without sugar, so I guess it all depends on taste.  I also like to squeeze a little lemon juice in there to give a little tang to the taste.  I let this simmer for 10-20 minutes making sure all the fruit was well mashed and the whole thing has thickened.  It's good to give it a last taste to make sure that it's neither too sweet nor too sour.   Then I strained it.  I did that with the Red Currants because I had all the little branches and stuff in there.  When I used Rhubarb mash I didn't strain, but that makes more of a cloudy fruit roll.  It can be good to use a stick blender on the fruit mash to make sure it is well pureed.

This is then poured on a baking sheet lined with baking paper or silicone.  The thickness is 1/2 to 1cm (1/4 to 1/2 inch) thick.  This is put in the oven on a low heat 60C (140F) until it has dried and can be peeled off.  This can easily be overnight in the oven on that heat.  I don't have a dehydrator, but this would be perfect for that.

When I do the Rhubarb mash fruit roll I also add an apple to give it more substance.   In fact most fruit can be used and I think Blueberries would also make a very nice fruit roll and those probably wouldn't need any additional sugar.

More Shabby than Chic - The Allotment

I've been spending some time in the Allotment garden lately.  I managed to get some  timber last year to make a raised bed and then I found some more this spring.  They may not be the prettiest raised beds, but I've done my best to compensate by decorating a little bit.  To be truthful, I'm a lazy gardener.  I've always believed that gardening should be fun and not a chore.  One part of that is to be able to sit down, look over your work and contemplate the next steps, while sipping a cold drink and munching on something chocolate.

One of the first things that I did when I got the Allotment was to scrounge a few pallets to make a deck of sorts.  I stapled some dark material on the underside so that weeds wouldn't get through and then I put some old deck chairs on there.  The deck chairs were nice, but my mom couldn't use them, she chouldn't get up.  So I tried to find a pretty table for next to nothing, but just found a battered, ugly Ikea one, but it had to do.  My mom had bought a folding chair and I brought one of mine that wasn't in use at the moment.  I think I may need to put a tablecloth on that table and then the whole setup will be very nice.

When my husband and I were clearing out the garage the other day (I didn't actually throw anything away :) I had to do something with this monstrosity of a candle chandelier that had been hanging there (and regularly falling down) on a nail.  It was left over from the garden decorations for the wedding and I didn't have the heart to throw it out.  It really is kind of cute, but I don't have any place for it at home.  The perfect solution, of course, was to take it down to the Allotment and hang it in a nearby tree.  Just to make things a bit more homey.  I would have loved to be able to build a shed, but the Allotments aren't big enough for that and we don't have permission for it anyway.  So I'm doing the next best thing: Decorating nature.

I also do some more serious gardening.  I spent the national holiday down there building a compost heap out of pallets and wire hangers.  It actually took all of fifteen minutes to put it together.  The rest of the time was spent cutting up perennial weeds (minus roots) and shoveling shit (sorry...manure).   And then watering everything and covering it, hoping to start a turbo compost factory.  And I dug up a lot of weeds, some of which I'm going to use for dye.  And then I watered the plants.  We have had a long dry spell with sun.  It's been wonderful to have to water.  Sometimes June is very wet.

I allocated a part of the space to some dye plants that I sowed this spring.  I have japanese indigo, woad and weld and madder and one rather lanky coreopsis.  I should sow some more.  I also need to sow a bit more salad and stuff.  I always make the mistake of not sowing regularly.  But lettuce, spinach, radishes and even beetroots can be sown quite late and it's often better to sow a little every week or two than to sow a lot at one time.  Or so I prefer to think when I'm running a bit late with everything.

Of course I could buy new things for the Allotment, but there is something extremely satisfying in reusing stuff that is destined for a landfill.  And, please, if anyone knows of a good way to use wire hangers, pass it on.  I really hate to throw them out but I'm not ready to iron his shirts either.

The Elusive Green

I love the colour green.  Didn't realize it until quite recently, well, a few years back.  If asked I would have said red was my favorite colour.  I don't wear green much, but when we bought our home eleven years ago all the windows, doors, fences and roof were a dark green colour.  I guess that's when I discovered that I like the colour.  Then I bought green drapes for the bedroom.  Mostly because they were on sale and that was the only colour available.  And I like those green drapes in the bedroom.  They give a nice green glow into the bedroom in summer.  With the nights so light, it's an advantage to tone the bright light down to a calming green.

I thought I had found the solution to the problem of getting a green colour naturally in soaps.  It is one of the most difficult one to get from plants, both in soap and as a textile dye.  Which is counterintuitive since most plants are green, so what happens to all the green?  Well, it turns either yellow or brown because the Chlorophyll is not water-soluble and therefore can't be extracted in a water bath.  And furthermore, as I understand it, it does fade even if it is used in it's oil soluble form as a soap colour.  Apparently Chlorophyll is a combination of Chlorophyll a and Chlorophyll b and the a is a good dye and can be bought and used in soap.

I thought I had found a shortcut when I was given some very green tablets that were to be used as a nutritional supplement.  No way was I going to eat those pretty green things.  I had to try them in a soap.  Well, you've guessed it.  It really was a nice, nice green for a little while and then it faded.  I knew that!  Of course it faded.  I really knew that was going to happen.  It always does.  I just have to give up this naive hope that somehow I will find a perfect green that says green and doesn't turn olive and brown, or disappears.

But the soap was the Rosemary shampoo bar, slightly changed.

Olive oil         40%     280g / 9.9 oz
Coconut oil    30%    210g / 7.4 oz
Castor oil       20% 140g / 4.9 oz
Sunflower oil 10% 70g / 2.5 oz

Water 30% 210g / 7.4 oz
Lye 99g / 3.5 oz
3% SF.
 
I added a lot of Rosemary essential oil and shredded some soap on top to make it slightly more interesting, but it didn't really work.  I used too fine a grater and I like the look better without, but now I know that.  It has been curing for quite a while, actually 3 months now, but I finally tried it and it has a very strong and refreshing smell, a nice generous lather lather and my hair loved it.  I also really liked the first recipe, but this one may be an improvement, if only slight.  I probably needed more of the green tablets to give a strong lasting colour.  As it it the soap is a yellow green that's not really special.  But I'm getting ready to start dying yarn again.  I'm  going to do it very methodically this time and I'm starting with one of my favorite weeds, Rumex.

It's Rhubarb time again

I have been making everything Rhubarb in this past week.  My Rhubarb plants are doing so well, probably because I covered them in loads of well rotted manure last fall and gave them some seaweed as well.  They are growing like maniacs, which is nice because I didn't expect to be able to get any crop this year since it's only been two years since I got them and I even replanted them last summer.

Rhubarb rewards it's owner handsomely if treated properly.  It's not very complicated.  It should be divided every 10-15 years, or when it stops being productive.  It's a big plant and it needs plenty of nutrients.  Manure is perfect, or some other form of organic fertilizer like chicken manure and seaweed.

There are many cultivars of Rhubarb, some are completely red through the stalks, others have red on the outside of the stalks and then some are completely green.  The reds cultivars tend be give less crop than the others.  The taste is also different between the cultivars and apparently is is malic acid that determines the taste, if there is too little it tastes of little, and if there is too much it is too sour.  There is no correlation between the colour of the stalks and the amount of malic acid in the Rhubarb.

This year I have already made Rhubarb syrup, Rhubarb heels, Rhubarb drink and Rhubarb muffins.  And of course Rhubarb soap!  I wanted to try to make a gradient colour with Rhubarb oil.  Maybe an Ombré type effect. I didn't quite succeed, its more stripes than Ombré, but it's nice anyway and I had fun.

I just eyeballed the amounts of Rhubarb oil (chop up some pieces of root into oil of your choise and let it infuse until you see a good colour) into the soap, so it wasn't very scientific, but the recipe is here:

Olive oil 49% 360g / 13oz (out of this 20g was Rhubarb root infused)
Coconut oil 25% 190g / 6.7oz
Rapeseed oil 17% 107g / 3.7oz
Cocoa butter 9% 70g / 2.5oz
Castor oil 2% 14g / 0.5oz

Water 33% 250g / 8.7oz
Lye 106g / 3.7 oz

I divided the soap into four approx. 200g /7oz each and colored the first part with about 2 tablespoons of Rhubarb oil.  The second with just over one tablespoon.  The thirds with about half a tablespoon and the last with about a teaspoon.  I tried to pour very evenly, over a spatula, and slammed the mold down to even it, but there are still valleys in the colors bands.  I put the soap into a cold oven when it started to gel, because I wanted it to gel evenly and it seems to have done just that.

The intensity of the colour surprised me a little bit.  The darkest layer is really dark red.  Quite beautiful and a blueish tint to it.  The cut surfaces are more of a yellow red, but they turn more blue as the soap ages.  The scent was a combo of Rosewood and Rose Geranium and it smells lovely.  I still leave a lot of Rubarb left to harves and I just may need to try some of the hair colour recipes next.  On myself.  That could be interesting...

Learning and learning and passing it on.

I looked at my blog the other day and thought: What the he.. happened to my soap blog?  No soaps!  I would blame ADD if it wasn't for the fact that I just have so many interest that I just don't have time to tend to them all.  But I have to admit that soaping hasn't been high on my list of things to do recently.  I have made soaps, but just some of the ones I keep making again and again, like shampoo bars.  And I figured that repeating recipes probably isn't all that exciting.  Unless I learn something new.  Which incidentally, I did the other day and didn't post about it.  So it's coming up.

But that's what this is all about.  Learning something new.  I am insatiably curious about a lot of things and I research stuff to the death.  Lately I have been chasing down books about natural dyes, especially lichen and mushroom dyeing.  I found one old Norwegian book in a used bookshop in Leiden in Holland, ordered a book from the Faroe Islands (in Faroese and yes I can read it) and also found some books in Sweden that I'm interested in, but they don't accept credit cards or PayPal.  Which they didn't in the Faroe Islands either and that was a lot of bother.  So I didn't order any Swedish books, but I found a very old Swedish book (or a series of booklets published in 1805-1809) in electronic format in a New York library active (which was really good because the last time it sold, it sold for almost 1500 dollars).  Another interest that I have been nurturing is spinning.  I don't know how these things come to me, but I have developed an intense interest in learning to spin.  So I watch videos about that.  And bookbinding.  I just know that I'm going to be making my first book very soon.  I love the Internet and how it makes getting information so easy.

I get very excited when I learn something new and I always need to tell someone.  I'm compelled to.  Even if I think it would be smart to keep things to myself, like a business secret, it's really hard for me.  I tend to just blurt it out, really to whoever is standing next to me.  Can't keep knowledge to myself, I have to share.  I think I am a teacher at heart.

I used to teach part time and I loved it.  Through teaching I discovered that I'm quite good at public speaking.  No nerves.  On the contrary, I can't stop talking.  I never speak from a script, just straight from the heart.  My recent talk at the Horticultural Society about Rhubarb came about as a result of my sharing some of my Rhubarb recipes in a newspaper insert a year ago.  Then they asked if anyone had articles about visits to Botanical Gardens for this years annual publication.  Since I had recently visited four gardens in the US with my mom I promised to write about that.  Not very exciting, but they like to have some articles like that.  And then I was asked for some more short articles and recipes for this years insert and I did the Dandelion recipes that I blogged about, the Dandelion coffee, the Dandelion pesto and the Dandelion honey.  I skipped the one about Dandelion dye, thinking gardeners may not be interested in dyeing wool.

I did make a new soap tonight.  I was inspired by the soap challenge that Great Cakes Soapworks has been doing.  Even if I haven't been that creative with soaps lately I read all the blogs.  The soap I did was a graduated Rhubarb soap.  I'm really looking forward to cutting it to see if I managed to make a nice ombre effect.  That would be cool.

Cheese - call it Ricotta or something else

I made a real cheese the other day.  With rennet and everything.  It was the type that many people call Ricotta, but technically is a fresh cheese.  I don't really care.  It's a soft cheese that is really easy to make and all it requires is some milk and rennet.

I have some rennet in my fridge, since my younger sister gave me some along with cheesecloth, some milk and a book about cheese making.  She packed everything separately so I got many packages.  The first package contained cloth diapers, the next one a yellow liquid in an unmarked jar.  I have to admit that I wasn't thinking cheese at that point...  We have  a bit of a love/hate relationship, it's a long story, I love her, she hates me!  But anyway, the present was great and I've been meaning to try my hand at cheese making.  Like everything one hasn't done before, it was a bit scary, but also when it came down to it, it was really easy to do.

It is as simple as making yoghurt and I do that every week now.  I really, really like my yoghurt and miss it tremendously when I travel and can't have any.  But back to cheese.  The most complicated thing about making cheese is that most recipes call for a gallon of milk.  I guess 1 gallon of milk makes about 1 pound of cheese.  But I don't do large recipes.   Not in soaps and not in food. I prefer small batches, so I scaled it down to 1 liter (about a quart).

1 liter milk (I always use full fat milk, both for yoghurt and this cheese)
1/2 tsp salt
A little less than 1/4 tsp rennet.

Heat the milk in a pot to about 80C / 180F.
Take off the heat and put the pot in ice water to cool down to 50C / 125F.
Stir in the salt.

Now, the rennet needs to be diluted in some water before being mixed into the milk.  Add it to 1/4 cup cold water, stirring it in.

Then add the rennet mix to the milk and let it sit for 10 minutes and don't disturb it.

The milk will get thick.  Get a knife and cut into the curd to facilitate the separation of the whey from the curds.  Carefully, with a slotted spoon, ladle the curds into a sieve, lined with cheesecloth and let it drain.

Tie a string around the cheesecloth and hang it up and let it drain overnight and there you have it.  Wonderful fresh cheese.  I flavored mine with freshly pressed garlic and Chives and used it on my sourdough bread.  It was a wonderful robust flavor.  The cheese is also very good as it is.  My dogs loved it too.

I used the whey in the next sourdough bread recipe.  I can't say that I noticed that much difference in the taste, but I'm sure that it is very healthy to use it that way.

Of course the irony is that real Ricotta cheese is made from whey that is left over from other cheese making.  So it is a bit strange to call this Ricotta.  I did think about trying to make real ricotta by using the whey to make cheese again, but there wasn't that much of it so I imagine that there would have been very little cheese from that.  I may make cheese again.  I've read about making hard cheeses, but those are a bit complicated to make since one needs to store them and cure them at certain temperatures for a number of months.  I don't think I'll be making any hard cheeses soon, but I just might make another, maybe even bigger, batch of cheese.

Or you could liquidize - Dandelion coffee

I have found the perfect way to eradicate dandelion from the lawn.  In the past I used a special tool that was sold in Garden centers, but all it did was to guaranty that the root would break and the dandelion would happily continue to grow.  Then I tried that plant hormone stuff, but if that is to work it has to stay dry for a few days and that requires a minor miracle in Iceland in summer, so not much luck there.  But then I figured out that a big shovel or spade is best.

But I don't really dislike dandelion.  It's a wonderful plant, full of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D and vitamin B complex, as well as zinc, iron and potassium.  It supposedly can regulate blood sugar levels , is a liver tonic and a diuretic.  Last year I made the dandelion honey from the flowers and recently I tried the dandelion pesto made of the leaves (which contain calcium, magnesium and vitamin K) which was very nice.  But this recipe is probably my favorite.  It's dandelion coffee!  Yes, I was sceptical too.  But it's really surprisingly good and remarkably like coffee, except it doest irritate the stomach and is supposedly good for you.  The taste is nutty and mild, at least with cream added to it.

You need a few roots.  Wash them thoroughly and dry them.   I had some roots that were already dried, so all I had to do was to break them into pieces and roast them.  This I did in the oven for 30 minutes at 200°C / 300°F.  If you need to dry the roots as well as roast them, then you should chop them up into similar sized pieces and put them on a baking tray.  Then they will roast equally.  You don't want to burn the roots, a nice mid to dark brown is what you're aiming for.  Apparently, the more the roots are roasted, the less bitter they taste.  I haven't noticed any bitter taste in mine, although some of them were fairly light in colour.

The washed and chopped roots are put on a baking tray evenly spaced and put into an oven at 120°C / 250°F for 2 hours with the oven door open so that the moisture escapes.  Turn occasionally and keep and eye on the roots for the last half hour to make sure it doesn't burn.  If the colour it too light then raise the heat to 200°C / 300°F and roast until the roots are a nice brown colour.

Let the roots cool before you grind them in a coffee grinder.  Those who do not have one, can use a mortel and pestle to pound the roasted roots, or simply wrap them in a clean dishtowel and whack with a hammer.

I use the coffee just like instant coffee, one teaspoon in a cup and I add coffee-cream.  Some people let the coffee steep for up to 30 minutes and then strain and reheat.  It's just a matter of taste.  Try this, it really is quite good.  Although I have to admit that my husband doesn't like it at all.  But then again, he's in the hospital and I'm not.  So, I just have to say, how many people can say: Oh, I've given up coffee, but can I offer you a cup of Dandelion coffee.  How cool is that.

Eating your enemy - The sweetest revenge

I have been a member of the Horticultural Society for some years now.  Gardening is one of my passions, although I haven't really blogged about that a lot.  I used to be interested only in ornamental gardening:  Perennials, bulbs and shrubs.  Vegetables - not so much.  Didn't really eat them and and therefore I wasn't interested in growing them.  But that was back in the days when I had a cigarette in one hand and a can of Coke in the other.  Always.  Some people thought I had been born that way.  But, for some reason, I started to eat vegetables, quit smoking, took up Pilates and stopped drinking Coke.  Many times.  Damn that stuff is addictive!  But I haven't had a Coke in over a month now and I'm very proud of myself.

But back to gardening.  I did a public talk about Rhubarb last summer and recently repeated it for the Horticultural Society, which was fun.  The lecture addressed the whole of the plant, the leaves, the stalks and the root and what to do with it.  Some of that turned into blog posts last summer.  When I was asked for some short articles for a newspaper insert, I thought I would do the same for the bitter enemy of many gardeners, the dandelion, Taraxacum officinale.  Isn't the thought of digging up your enemy and then eating it, just the sweetest of all?

The plant is a medicinal plant and has many benefits.  It is an excellent source of vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc.  The root has traditionally been used to treat liver problems, the greens are diuretic and the flowers have antioxidant properties.  All parts are edible, the leaves often used in salads, the root as a coffee substitute and the flowers for wine, textile dye or dandelion honey.

Dandelion leaves have the mildest taste before they flower. After flowering their taste is more bitter.  I used greens from a plant that hadn't flowered for this recipe, that is the perfect taste for a pesto.  This recipe is rather small, but can easily be multiplied for a bigger quantity because it can be a bit small for large equipment.  I used the leaves of one large dandelion that I just dug up from my garden.

Dandelion pesto

60 grams / 2 oz dandelion greens
1/4 cup Olive oil
1 clove of Garlic
1 tbsp lightly roasted Almonds (could also be hazelnuts or pine nuts)
1/2 tsp salt
10 grams / 0.4 oz Parmesan cheese

The process is easy.  Put the dandelion greens and olive oil into a food processor/blender and whiz together.  Add the garlic, almonds and Parmesan cheese.  Blend until it is smooth.  Add salt to taste and use more olive oil if needed to get the desired consistency.  Put in a jar and pour olive oil on top so it covers the pesto.  Use the same way as you would regular pesto.