Category Archives: recipes

The return of the “Booch”

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It had gotten out of control. I was brewing six quite large jars of Kombucha a week, while making my own organic juices to add after the first fermentation part. One day I get the bright idea to try and use Mate instead of regular tea as a starter and my scoby (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeasts) crew was never the same. As any smart brewer will tell you, always save a starter scoby. Problem is, that one got a gnat family reunion after the lid (use cloth not paper towels!) was compromised. Now after about two years of Kombucha brewing hiatus, I have decided to bring the “Booch” back.

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Clean Home

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As I’m cleaning my home after a successful valentine’s day party (early I know), I think I’ll share a great all purpose cleaner recipe. This is from Clean House Clean Planet. A good intro to cleaning without chemicals. Most of the recipes use white distilled vinegar, baking soda, Dr. Bronner’s soap, lemons, and borax. Nothing weird or with a name that is impossible to pronounce.

This one is called Earth Scrub:
1 2/3 cups baking soda.
1/2 cup Dr. Bronner’s soap.
1/2 cup water.
2 table spoons distilled white vinegar.
a couple of drops scented oils. Optional…
Mix in all ingredients, adding the vinegar last. The water will evaporate after a while, so you just need to add some more. I love this cleaner. It smells great (depending on the soap or oil you use) and is chemical free. Try it once and you will not go back to “regular cleaners”. This outdoes anything I’ve tried, without the horrible smells. Use it in the bathroom, kitchen and pretty much anything with glazed tiles. Not sure if it’s ok to use for dishes, but it does leave them squeaky clean.
Tell me what you think after you’ve tried it, if you do try it.

Not Just For Greeks!

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The other day I saw an Olive tree and for the last time thought to my self, how hard can it be to cure olives?
So here we go. First pick olives from tree. Preferably an olive tree…
Cut a slit all around each olive.
To prepare brine, add a mixture of water and salt to a container with a ratio of 10:1. To make sure you got it right, put a raw egg (in the shell) in the container. As soon as the egg floats you are set. If it doesn’t then add more salt.
Remove egg. Put olives in brine and cover with something so as to submerge all of them. A plate works well here.
Now just put a lid on it! Shake up the mixture a bit each day and replace the brine once a week. After three weeks of this, take an olive out and if it does not look suspect to spoilage rinse and try. If it’s unpleasant and smells funny, abort project and try at a later date. If it’s bitter, continue shaking up mixture and replacing brine once a week till ready. If it’s not bitter and you’ve enjoyed the experience then you are done. Fill up a jar with a new batch of brine, add four table spoons of quality red wine vinegar and top with a layer of olive oil.
Now this is just my first time doing this. I don’t know how it will come out. If in about three weeks I mysteriously stop posting, get concerned! Otherwise I’ll post a proud picture with my new found skill and bounty.