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I'm making pesto

Nobody

Danforth Kitchen Whore
Sep 5, 2001
1,481
3
Toronto
They sure do. It is still pretty pricey, though.
5 gallon drums are gonna cost, no matter what's inside them.

also, with the rather horrific ice storm in Quebec a few years ago killing a few hundred thousand maple trees, prices are up everywhere...
 

Nobody

Danforth Kitchen Whore
Sep 5, 2001
1,481
3
Toronto
And when you go through *gallons* of the stuff, you see where lies my dilemma. :D
Well, i live near Maplesyrupland, and we only use it occasionally - special occasions...

like this one:



Creme Brulee with Maple Syrup (in the creme) and some Maple Sugar [on top, but not over-done] with a little creme anglaise and some berries...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 

Nobody

Danforth Kitchen Whore
Sep 5, 2001
1,481
3
Toronto
sounds like yr brood have quite the sweet tooth.

get one of those shot limiters that bars put on well liquor bottles.
...and take the cost out of their allowance. As soon as that happens, you'd be shocked at how careful kids can be about waste...
 

geargrrl

Turbo Monkey
May 2, 2002
2,379
1
pnw -dry side
v. 1 ( moosewood)
3 packed cups basil
2 clove garlic
1/2 c pine or other nuts
(3/4 C parsley) (optional, never tried it)
3/4 C fresh parmesean
1/2 C evoo
1/4 C melted butter
salt to taste

v.2 Marcella Hazan "Classic Italian Cooking"
2 C basil leaves
1/2 C evoo
2 T pine nuts
2 clove garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 C fresh parm
2 T fresh romano
3 T butter


For cheese, I used some fresh parm but it was made in Wisconsin.
 

Nobody

Danforth Kitchen Whore
Sep 5, 2001
1,481
3
Toronto
That stuff should not even be allowed to be called parmesan. :disgust1: It's a travesty......

But I guess it's better than parmesan in a green can. :p
Whatever is in the green can, it ain't no cheese from Parma.

Parmigiano Reggiano is an Appellation Controlled name, btw - It's only available from Parma and Reggio Emilia, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Anything made anywhere else is loosely called parmesan.

Just another useless bit of trivia from yours truly.

:cheers:
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,380
12,535
In a van.... down by the river
Whatever is in the green can, it ain't no cheese from Parma.

Parmigiano Reggiano is an Appellation Controlled name, btw - It's only available from Parma and Reggio Emilia, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Anything made anywhere else is loosely called parmesan.
And shouldn't be, IMO. I bought a small block of that Wisconsin "parm" once against my better judgement and the stuff was unrecognizable as a "proper" stinky cheese. :D
 

Nobody

Danforth Kitchen Whore
Sep 5, 2001
1,481
3
Toronto
And shouldn't be, IMO. I bought a small block of that Wisconsin "parm" once against my better judgement and the stuff was unrecognizable as a "proper" stinky cheese. :D
Prolly 'cuz there's no rules on how to make 'domestic' parmesan. It's supposed to be aged 2 years minimum in block form with only some salt added.

In Wisconsin, I think they just dry out some cheddar.
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,380
12,535
In a van.... down by the river
Prolly 'cuz there's no rules on how to make 'domestic' parmesan. It's supposed to be aged 2 years minimum in block form with only some salt added.

In Wisconsin, I think they just dry out some cheddar.
It certainly was some quite foul stuff. I couldn't believe how cheap the "real" stuff was in Italy - we saw some at a farmer's market for about $2/lb. We really get the shaft here. :disgust1:
 

Nobody

Danforth Kitchen Whore
Sep 5, 2001
1,481
3
Toronto
FYI - Mozzarella is another one of those cheeses that just about no one has ever had in North America.

Firstly, it's nearly always supposed to be buffalo milk [never mind the fior de latte, you picky bastards!] Secondly, it's supposed to be unpasteurized and eaten with about 24 hrs of making it...

All in all, the quality of the food at the Costco in Santa Barbara was as good as or better than any Vons, Ralph's or whatever. Cheese was a key selling feature for the membership for me.
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,380
12,535
In a van.... down by the river
FYI - Mozzarella is another one of those cheeses that just about no one has ever had in North America.

Firstly, it's nearly always supposed to be buffalo milk [never mind the fior de latte, you picky bastards!] Secondly, it's supposed to be unpasteurized and eaten with about 24 hrs of making it...
I know, I know.... :rolleyes: We were introduced to "real" mozzarella in Liguria on our European holiday in '99. The "fresh" stuff at Costco is not quite the same quality, but it's a decent facsimile. I wish the Slow Food movement would gain some more traction here, we might get alot of this good stuff produced locally if it did......
 

geargrrl

Turbo Monkey
May 2, 2002
2,379
1
pnw -dry side
You have a Costco 'round there, don't you? Because they have an *excellent* cheese selection, usually. Their "buffalo" mozzarella is good, along with their imported stuff. We got a membership at Costco vs. Sam's club on virtue of the cheese & price of diapers. :D
Costo? Yes, of course. I've already put real Parmesean on the list for next time. I am trainable, you know. I'm sure I'll find, though one thing that is interesting about Costco is the regional variations in stock.

gg
 

geargrrl

Turbo Monkey
May 2, 2002
2,379
1
pnw -dry side
FYI - Mozzarella is another one of those cheeses that just about no one has ever had in North America.

Firstly, it's nearly always supposed to be buffalo milk [never mind the fior de latte, you picky bastards!] Secondly, it's supposed to be unpasteurized and eaten with about 24 hrs of making it...
If Mozzarella is an Italian cheese, how could the "real" stuff be made of buffalo milk ? I assume you mean bison/buffalo, and not water buffalo. Buffalo are a N American critter, how would the Italians get access to their milk?
 

Nobody

Danforth Kitchen Whore
Sep 5, 2001
1,481
3
Toronto
If Mozzarella is an Italian cheese, how could the "real" stuff be made of buffalo milk ? I assume you mean bison/buffalo, and not water buffalo. Buffalo are a N American critter, how would the Italians get access to their milk?
North American Bison are erroneously grouped into the 'Buffalo' category.

That place next to Lackawanna in upstate New York should be called 'Bison' and the wings from the Anchor Bar there should be called 'Bison Wings.'

The bison is only distantly related to the water buffalo, slightly closer than Angus beef cattle, but not by much.

The water buffalos used to make cheese are descended from the Indonesian wild buffalos. Crusaders returning from the slaughter brought them back from the Middle East in the 1300's or later.

I assure you, Italians use these critters to make Mozzarella every day. One of the reasons is the much higher fat content of their milk makes cheese making at this level much easier [remember, it's a raw cheese - unpasteurized, etc.]

The milk alone is worth the interest:

The taste - it's smoother, tastier and doesn't leave a sour aftertaste. It is also healthier. Basic composition analysis shows that buffalo milk has 58% more calcium, 40% more protein, and 43% less cholesterol than cow's milk.

I don't drink much milk anymore, but when i do - i tend to pay attention and I've noticed the difference. Haven't found any since I moved north of the border, but you could check out these guys:

woodstock waterbuffalo
 

geargrrl

Turbo Monkey
May 2, 2002
2,379
1
pnw -dry side
The water buffalos used to make cheese are descended from the Indonesian wild buffalos. Crusaders returning from the slaughter brought them back from the Middle East in the 1300's or later.
Fascinating. The history of food products moving around the planet and being absorbed by different/new cultures is worthy of it's own thread! Examples, Italians got the tomato from the New World, as did the Irish and the potato. I got interested in this subject when I googled the history of the potato - if it was a New World food, how did the Irish get so dependent on it?
 

Nobody

Danforth Kitchen Whore
Sep 5, 2001
1,481
3
Toronto
Fascinating. The history of food products moving around the planet and being absorbed by different/new cultures is worthy of it's own thread! Examples, Italians got the tomato from the New World, as did the Irish and the potato. I got interested in this subject when I googled the history of the potato - if it was a New World food, how did the Irish get so dependent on it?
There's a huge amount of information available on The Great Hunger [Irish Potato Famine - 1845-51] but not much on why the Irish were so dependent on potatoes previously.

Basically, it was very easy to grow and provided an immense amount of nutrition, energy, etc. for the amount of resources it consumed to grow it...

The economic and nutritive benefits of the potato conincided with some funky laws enacted in Ireland [called the Popery Act] that forbade Irish Catholics from passing on the family farm to a single son. This lead to 'subdividing' the plots among the male children.

One cynical reason for this is that the Brits, who were anti-Catholic as a nation, forced wealthier Catholic landowners to split down their properties - effectively using successive generations to pauperize the wealthier progenitors. It was financially more successful to be Protestant than Catholic.

On top of that, with the potato being a superior source of food energy, more heirs were born and survived to adulthood, and since all heirs would inherit land [which wasn't the practice previously], all heirs were motivated to marry and propagate.

Farms got smaller faster, and were poorer - the only successful crop was, in fact, the potato.

Then, 'Blight' and death.

9 million Irish in 1845, 4.5 million in 1852.

.5 mil to 1 mil dead, 3-4 mil emigrated around the world [Diaspora].

All because of a potato. Oh, and religious persecution and some other stuff.
 

geargrrl

Turbo Monkey
May 2, 2002
2,379
1
pnw -dry side
yes, I learned that - it's amazing how fast they became dependent on the potato, just a few hundred years from Peru to Irish Starvation. ( is that fast?)

For the uniformed, the potato is a new world food, the type most grown in cultivation came from the Andes.
 

Nobody

Danforth Kitchen Whore
Sep 5, 2001
1,481
3
Toronto
yes, I learned that - it's amazing how fast they became dependent on the potato, just a few hundred years from Peru to Irish Starvation. ( is that fast?)

For the uniformed, the potato is a new world food, the type most grown in cultivation came from the Andes.
Okay, what about guys in civilian garb?

kidding.

New World Foods that I know off the top of my head...

Taters (Peru - discovered [for Europe, obviously] by Conquistadors)*
Tomatoes**
Maize (only called Corn in USA/Canada)
Chocolate
Vanilla
Pineapples
Lima Beans
Peanuts (which are actually peas [legumes] not nuts [seeds])
Turkey (not the country, rube!)
Cashews (northern Brazil, if I remember it right)
Cod..

There's a lot more to the list, but those are the one's I'm familiar with...


*Potatoes are members of the nightshade family and as such, their stems, leaves and fruits are rather poisonous.
**Tomatoes are also members of the nightshade family - but their fruit is not poisonous [yay!].

Interestingly, some people have grafted tomato plant stems to potato bases and have both tomatoes and potatoes in the same plant.

Seriously. I'm not making that up.