Sallygardens Smallholding

How to Make Pickled Eggs

Trust me, pickled eggs are delicious, no really they are. I think this is mainly an English tradition as I've never experienced them in Ireland. My first rendezvous with a pickled egg was after a long hike in the English countryside which ended at a rural pub, where my companion ordered me a pint of scrumpy cider and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps with a pickled egg thrown into it. I'll never forget that wonderful culinary discovery!

As the days begin to shorten and the weather cools chicken will slow down their laying and some will stop completely until spring. So while there is still a good stock of eggs in the fridge perhaps now is a good time to experiment with pickling.

Buy a good quality pale vinegar from your health shop, organic apple cider vinegar is great stuff and you can use up any remainder for your vegetable pickles and chutneys. As always, sterilise all equipment and utensils to be used and wash hands and surfaces in advance. Bring a pot of vinegar to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes to pasteurise it. Keep covered and allow to cool.  Hard boil some clean undamaged chicken eggs and allow to cool completely. Remove the shells with clean hands and place the eggs into a sterilised storage jar. Pour in enough vinegar to cover all the eggs completely and keep refrigerated. Leave the eggs to pickle for two weeks before eating.

Cleaning and sterisiling is very important to avoid botulism.

Onion Ropes

After a few sunny days the onion skins were nice and dry (see previous post) so I began making onion ropes. First rub the loose dry soil from the onions with a soft dry cloth or teatowel, but don't peel them, the dry skins help to keep the onion bulbs fresh. Keep any damaged or bruised onions in a basket for immediate use in the kitchen, don't incorporate these in your ropes because as they begin to rot the mould will spread to the good onions too.  Put on some good music and get roping, enjoy the task, even better get a friend to come along and 'learn the ropes', passing on these skills to others is important (and fun). Here's a great link on how to rope onions to get you started. It's really very easy and you'll soon get a rhythm going.

When you've finished there's nothing more beautiful than a few ropes hanging in your scullery and kitchen, it's such a welcoming sight and every time you reach for an onion over the winter you'll feel very happy with your achievement.

Butchering Free Range Organic Pigs at Home

When your pigs get to slaughter weight you can take them to the abattoir and they'll kill, butcher and bag up all the meat if you wish. Of course after you've been through it all a few times you may start to get tempted by the thought of saving a few Euros, or simply be keen to have a go and attempt to do the butchering yourself. You can arrange with the abattoir for them to kill and gut the pig so you can collect the cleaned out carcass in two halves and attempt the butchering at home.

Amazingly (and you'll be even more amazed once you've tried it yourself!), a trained butcher can cut up a pig in little over an hour but don't use this as your guideline for completing a the job!  Allow a full twelve hour day with the help of at least one other person, preferably four keen workers. A second day will also be needed if you intend to make your own sausages and salami. Don't forget about freezer space, a couple of pigs will fill three or four drawers of an upright freezer.

Before you gather troops and collect the pig carcass it's vital you have a number of essentials to hand which should be organised  and lined up ready to hit the ground running a few weeks prior to the event. Invest in some butchers knives and a sharpener, ask your local butcher where he buys his own. Also buy a couple of rolls of plastic bags for packing and a good black permanent marker for labeling bags. It's handy to have a weighing scales for measuring out portions when bagging up too. 

If you also intend to make sausages ensure you have already decided on flavours and bought in the necessary herbs and spices well in advance, mix these the day before so they can be easily added to each batch of ground sausage meet as you work. Ensure you have sausage casings and a sausage maker ready to roll.  Buy and watch the River Cottage DVD 'Pig In a Day With Hugh & Ray', watch it several times and set it up in front of the table you'll be working on so you can play and pause the DVD as you make your cuts. We pool bought ours to share between friends.  Keep a well stocked first aid kit close to hand. Take regular breaks and eat well because you'll need to keep up your energy levels. Warn any squeemish, vegan or vegetarian friends and neighbours not to call in that day! Have some chilled beer and wine to crack open once you've finished to celebrate.

Again this is a fantastic experience for children to witness first hand. There is no mistake where their pork chops come from after seeing this. I'm all in favour of educating people as to where their food originates and if that results in my children choosing to become vegetarian then I'd be proud to assist them, we all eat too much meat anyway. I don't want them to be so disjointed from the realities of food that it comes as a shock that pork was once a living pig, or that their burger was a cow. So many kids (and adults) these days don't make the connection or never get the opportunity to, because meat is not packaged with any visual reminders of animals on the labels and our lives are so removed from the whole process. It's all too easy to mentally bypass the realities of life, death and animal welfare that is required for us to consume meat.

I've often had visitors to our home who meet our pigs and find them delightful creatures (which they are), then when I explain that they aren't pets but are for the table, the conversation usually goes ; 'That's so cruel, how could you?',  'Are you vegetarian?', 'No!', 'Do you eat pork from the supermarket?', 'Yes, but that's different', 'yes it is because our pigs are outdoors and free ranging, your pork has probably never seen the light of day and has been raised indoors', silent thoughtfulness then ensues. On the other hand I've had lifelong vegetarians stay with us who have decided to eat our meat because they see that the animal welfare issues that stop them supporting intensive meat production systems are simply not an issue here. Education and awareness followed by informed choice and less meat eating could improve life for a lot of pigs!

Goats Cheese Almost Got The Better Of Me

Last year I made the most simple form of cheese which involves straining the moisture out of yogurt until it reaches the consistency of a cheese spread. It only keeps for a few days in the fridge so it has to be made as and when it's required. You can do this with shop bought yogurt or use your own home produced milk if you have it. The process is simple and not much goes to waste, it's also a wonderful thing for the children to get involved with. I think showing them how food is made really broadens their horizons on so many levels. They begin to think about animal welfare, ingredients, the labour involved and of course the flavours. When we buy yogurt in the supermarket now they seem to have far more respect for their food and little goes to waste. Even if they don't finish something, they'll think about which animal could eat it safely or where to compost it.

Since the simple yogurt cheese making all went so well last year I was determined to try and make 'proper' cheese this year. I did a bit of research into which might be the best book and I invested in Ricki Carrols 'Home Cheese Making' which I have found to be a fantastic book. It not only has hundreds of recipes in it but also ideas and case studies from many home producers and small artisan business people. There's great explanations of the whole history and process of cheese making, as well as the essential individual recipes. Having read through the book several times I then decided on trying to make a simple farmhouse cheddar cheese and ordered some sachets of starter and rennet from Moorlands Cheesemakers in the UK.

The next step was waiting for the goats to kid which induces lactation, and once the kids were a month old I began to take just a  morning milking which gave me between one and two litres of milk. A lot of milk is needed for a small amount of cheese so it took me about five days to save two gallons (nine litres). Unlike cows milk which produces golden yellow cheese, goats milk  produces snow white cheese and butter.

All set and enthusiastic I began heating the milk up to 85F which took quite a long time and then added a pinch of the starter.  After leaving it to stand for forty five minutes I added the rennet. After another forty five minutes the milk had magically turned into a delicate white jelly which meant it was time for cutting the curds into one inch blocks.

I then put the pot into a sink and slowly brought the curds and whey painstakingly up to 100F over the course of half an hour by adding warm tap  water at first and eventually hot kettle water to the sink. The curds were gently stirred all the time and shrank in size as the moisture seeped out, forming the yellow greenish whey.  Once at 100F it was left to sit for five minutes.

The contents were then all poured out into a muslin lined colander, and the curds hung to drip. After a set time, the curds were then placed into a clean bowl and broken down gently into walnut sized chunks, I added salt and then packed the curds into molds with drainage holes.

For molds I used small tubs and drilled holes around the base and sides. I didn't have suitable 10, 20 and 50lb (25 kilo) weights to place on the molds for the suggested timings and it was at this point I came close to losing patience with the whole exercise! Luckily Lena our WWOOFER came up with an ingenious idea; using clamps instead of weights.

The next morning I released the clamps and finally we peeled off the muslin and set the little cheese rounds on a wooden board to air dry for a few days. When the rind developed the cheese were painted with melted bees wax and now it's sitting in the scullery for a month to ripen.

I can tell you it was a marathon task and I was exhausted by the end of it all. At one stage, when I realised I didn't have anything to improvise for the weights, I was on the verge of chucking the lot in the bin!!!  I think it's something we will do on rare occasions as special treats and seasonal gifts for friends and family. Stay tuned to see how the cheese turns out.

If you fancy having a go at cheese making it's essential to follow a proper recipe to the letter because the timings and temperatures are vital to the final result. Using scrupulously clean equipment and researching the pros and cons of pasteurised versus non pasteurised milk is also compulsory before the fun begins.

Making Time for Air Dried Hams

Sometimes when all the pork comes back from the butcher it can be quite overwhelming deciding what to do with everything. By the time you've made a years supply of various sausages and salami there's little or no energy left for much else. Something we tried with our last pigs which were butchered in February was so freeze the joints we intended to air dry. We recently defrosted them when a few rainy days arrived and so a little time indoors was well spent preparing the hams. Once they have been frozen and defrosted they only need half the curing time in the salt in comparison to fresh pork.

With our first hams we followed the River Cottage dry cure recipe but this time we tweaked it a little, changing the amount of sugar (within safe curing guidelines), juniper and bay, and adding a couple of other herbs and spices.

I suppose with each batch we will tweak the cure mix and so I begin to appreciate how mixes become guarded secrets from various parts of the world where they have centuries of experience and have tweaked to perfection!

But somehow Leitrim Ham doesn't have the same ring to it as Parma Ham or Jamon de Serrano. Anyway, not that we'd ever want to part with it by selling.

Elderflower Pancakes

Quick get out to the hedgerows and gather the last of the elderflowers, they are already beginning to fade. Whatever you do don't let the summer pass without harnessing some of this exceptional resource. The elderflower is such a fantastic bonus to the smallholder or anybody with access to the plant. It's so versatile in it's use; we've made a mountain of elderflower cordial and also a small batch of precious elderflower champagne. Another favourite of mine and one use I've not seen described on other blogs is elderflower pancakes. If you wish to delight your children, impress your other half and treat yourself all at once why not give it a go? The secret to anything made with elderflowers is to pick them on a hot sunny day (if at all possible!). Identify the elder with the help of a knowledgeable friend and/or an excellent identification book, be sure the area has not been treated or sprayed.

Make a simple pancake batter, for example Mrs Beeton uses 1 egg, 250ml milk, one 15ml spoon caster sugar and100g plain flour to serve four. For those dairy or wheat free it works well with soya or corn flour substitutes too. Beat the milk and egg into the flour and sugar. Pour some batter onto a hot buttered pan and sprinkle roughly half an elderflower head into the cooking pancake, snipping or hand stripping the flowerletts off the green stalks. Flip it and cook the other side. Serve hot with honey and lemon juice. Enjoy.

If you've missed the flowers don't worry, soon the elderberries will be ready for jam and wine! In the meantime, for more excellent foraging recipes try Cooking Weeds by Vivien Weise.

Country Wine, Chateaux Sallygardens

Wine making is something I've wanted to try for years and now that we grow the majority of our own food at home one of the biggest expenses on our tiny food bill is alcohol. The timing for having a go at this craft is perfect. It will reduce our expenses, utilise locally grown wild plants and cut down on all those air miles and energy that go into producing commercial wine. Of course, I'll still enjoy the odd bottle of Cabernet-Shiraz, St Emilion or Chateauxneuf Du Pape! The question is will our home brewed wine taste nice enough to replace our weekly bottle of bought red wine or will friends throw their eyes to heaven as we produce our dreaded liquid offering at dinner parties.  Time will tell.

I ordered a few glass demijohns, yeast and yeast nutrient  from The Homebrew Centre in Co Clare, who deliver nationwide and provide good advice if you seek it. Our wine won't be made from grapes, well at least not until the grape vines in the polytunnel are a few years old. I'm a believer in utilising what we find in our home environment and in this case we've decided to harvest a variety of seasonal flowers and berries from the surrounding fields to make our wines. There's a whole range of possible plant parts you can use to give flavour and colour to wine; dandelion, gorse, rose and elder flowers, blackberry and elderberry, even nettles, rose hips or birch tree sap can all be tried. During the summer there's usually at least one thing mother nature has on offer that you can pop into a brew. You can even try leaving out packet yeast, in the hope that wild yeasts will be there to do the business instead.

Our first attempt is a joint family effort. Dan and the children all picked a bucket full of dandelion blossom one sunny afternoon. A demijohn holds a gallon of liquid (4.5 litres) and you need to collect the same volume in blossom (berry or leaf). Place the blossom in a large pot and pour in a gallon of boiled water. Push the contents down into the water with a wooden spoon so nothing is floating dry on top. Leave the mixture to cool down to the temperature recommended on your particular packet of yeast (different strains of yeast flourish at different temperatures). Scoop out the flowers, squeezing them to release all the fluid. Enjoy the sweet aroma as you do this.

Stir in a 1.8 kilos of organic sugar, the juice of 4 lemons and a spoon of yeast nutrient. Stir well and then sprinkle the yeast on top of the liquid. After fifteen minutes stir the yeast down into the mixture. Pour the mixture through a sieve on a funnel and into the sterilised demijohn. Seal it with an air filter. As the yeast consumes the sugar and coverts it to alcohol, gas bubbles of carbon dioxide will exit through the water in the air filter. Once the yeast has stopped (a few months, depending on weather temperature) siphon off the mixture into wine bottles, leaving any sediment behind in the demijohn. Label the bottles, wait a few months or a year if you can bear it ... then drink at leisure.

I shall let you know how we rate our wine in a few months time.

Divine Salami

A couple of months ago we began processing the meat from the two most recent weaners we raised for the table. Some of it went into Ox Runners (large intestine casings) to make our very first salami. We experimented with three recipes; plain, garlic and last but not least peppercorn, garlic & port. I was glad we had the comfort of our book which reassured us that the growth of white, blue and green furry mould was perfectly normal and indeed a very good sign.  We decided against using the preservative salpetre which keeps the meat artificially pink but also reduces the risk of botulism in air dried meats. It's something to read up on and to consider carefully before you embark on processing your own pork. Time ticked on and the salami hung tantalisingly in the wood shed to air dry.

Regular groping of the salami gives a crude indication as to when they're ready to sample. Finally, eight weeks later, the time had come to cut down the first salami. Before sampling the bounty the mould is wiped off with kitchen towel and the salami rolled in wood ash. And the moment we waited for .... sheer bliss.

Interactive Food Map of Ireland

Paul O Mahony of Siopa Eile has launched the Interactive Food Map of Ireland. It's a brilliant idea for both producers and consumers. If you wish to locate an artisan made food product zoom into the area in question and click on the pointers to read contact information and product descriptions. Anybody can add or amend information on the map so if you are a producer go ahead and add your details, or if you know of a producer who isn't on the map please and add them. The success of the map depends on it's users adding information so don't be shy, jump in and help to make it a fantastic resource ... and don't worry you can't break it either!

What better way could there possibly be to start International Downshifting Week than to support a local food artisan in your area.

Spread the word. If you're an Irish blogger add the badge.

Making Cheese

This summer I really want to try my hand at cheese making. Last year I made some soft yogurt cheese but I'm ready to move to the next level and try a complicated hard cheese. This involves the use of rennet and a starter culture, and following a recipe to the letter. Unlike the soft cheese I won't taste the results of my efforts immediately, it will be a tantalising few months before I first cut into my cheese.

I've been reading up on cheesemaking for over a year now and I am sooo impatient to get stuck in. I keep looking at my two goats for signs of pregnancy and I'm hoping at least one of them is in kid.  We will know one way or the other when they reach their due date in roughly three weeks time. Unless they give birth I won't have a milk supply this year.

Being ever optimistic I have just ordered a few bits and pieces from a cheese making supplier in the UK and I'm waiting for the delivery like a child anticipating Santa's arrival on Christmas Eve. So assuming the delivery arrives safely, one of the goats has a successful birth and my cheese making skills are up to scratch we will be consuming our own home made cheddar and blue cheese by the end of summer.

I'm always thinking ahead for my next project and at the moment I'm toying with the idea of home made wine. Cheese and wine, the perfect combination!