This time of year in the Valley, people from every walk of life are combing the fields for strawberries. For some, it's tough on the back. For others, it's an all-you-can eat orgy. If a cache of strawberries happens to make it home to your house, here are a couple of ways to take fruit and cream to the next level. While you would think that ice cream and cheese are far from simple to prepare, you are quite mistaken. It is all about putting the right things together under the right circumstances. Like strawberry plants and sunshine, it doesn't take much to get a lot.
Strawberry Ice Cream
Cream plus eggs plus sugar plus berries is about all you need. Getting to ice cream requires a bit of refrigeration plus mixing. There is nothing like getting fresh local berries together with a little milk and sugar. Having it in a cone is summer at its most carefree. Here are a couple of ways to make ice cream.
You may say, "Why do I have to spend money just for a little ice cream?" And to that I can only say, "Suck it up." Whether it's an ice cream maker that runs on electricity or a big old bucket powered by a gang of children, what better way to combine local fruit, dairy and eggs or build character and upper body strength? ?Strawberries are just the beginning. There are also cherries to think of, and next month blueberries and peaches. After that, pears…
An electric ice cream maker mixes up the eggs, milk and fruit. Directions vary based on the machine which moves and freezes the mixture to get it to the right consistency and temperature. It takes between 30 and 60 minutes to make. The expensive machines ($600) have a built-in freezer to do the entire job. The cheaper ones do the mixing and your own freezer is used to finish the process.?Cusinart?is a popular brand. For what you would spend for a summer's worth of Haagen Daz, it's worth the investment.
Finding an ice cream maker isn't easy; you might have to go to e-Bay, but an old-fashioned crank ice cream maker is really a nice thing to have around the house in summer, especially if there are a lot of kids around with nothing to do. Mix up the cream, sugar, eggs and fruit and put the mixture into the inner part of the bucket. The outside of the bucket is where the ice and rock salt go. The freezing takes place, as well as the mixing, while someone, maybe you or the?mythically?helpful kids, crank away. Again, it takes around an hour, so get ready for a workout.
Ricotta Cheese and Strawberries
Eating strawberries with ricotta is a very elegant way to consume strawberries and is done in the best of restaurants. Local entrepreneur and cheese queen Ricki Carroll of New England Cheesemaking Supply is located up in Ashfield. When strawberries are in season, one of her first cheesemaking lessons is ricotta.
The recipe illustrates how easy it is to make cheese. Making ricotta is simply a matter of separating curd from whey. This is done by adding a little citric acid to milk and bringing it to a temperature just below boiling. Then the curds are removed and chilled for several hours. That's it! This step-by-step recipe for ricotta cheese can be found at Ricki's website www.cheesemaking.com, which also is a source for citric acid and a thermometer. She recommends fresh milk. I would use raw, if you can get some: lots more flavor. (More on raw milk, why to buy it and how to find it next week.)
Ricotta from Whole Milk
(From Ricki Carroll, New England Cheesemaking Supply Company)
Use whole milk—the fresher the better.
Add 2 tsps. citric acid per gallon of liquid (dissolved in 1 cup cool water).
Add 1/2 of this citric acid solution to the milk (save the rest of the citric acid). Stir briskly for 5-10 seconds. Add 1 tsp. salt.
Heat the milk slowly on low to medium, stirring well to prevent scorching. At 165-170F, watch for small flakes forming in the milk and the separation of small curds. If after a few minutes you do not see the flakes forming, add more of the citric acid until they form (do this in small, 1 Tbsp. increments to avoid overly acid milk). Continue heating to 190-195F, then turn the heat off.
As the curds rise, use a perforated ladle to move them gently from the sides to the center of the pot. These clumps of curd will begin to consolidate as they float on top of the liquid. Let the curds rest for 10-15 minutes.
What comes next is very important because this is the point where the final quality of the ricotta is assured. Ladle the curds gently into draining forms (no cheesecloth should be needed if you were patient in the previous step). Let the curds drain for 15 minutes up to several hours.
For a fresh, light ricotta, drain them for a short while (until the free whey drainage slows) and chill to below 50F. For a rich, dense, buttery texture, allow them to drain for an extended period of time (several hours) before chilling overnight.
Move to a refrigerator or cold room. Consume within 10 days.
