whey

All the whey

| Green Card Gardener

Compared to one-third of all food that is being wasted worldwide, cringing over throwing out a heel of home-baked bread because it turned moldy might seem puny. Yet I found myself thinking of ways how I can prevent this from happening again. Yes, I am sort of a relentless food saver. Therefore I of course had to do something with the gallon of whey that I brought back from the instructional and fun mozzarella-making potluck at phoebe’s pure food last weekend.

I wanted to make dulce de leche. When looking for a recipe I found a booklet entitled, “Uses of Whey in the Farmstead Setting” (love that title!) from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture. It includes some bizarre ideas such as whey wine, whey beer and whey champagne. Whey, so I learned, can also be used as animal fodder. The booklet only mentions cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry, but when I fed our dog his pills with the curds I had strained from the whey, he slurped it up in seconds.

Using whey and sugar in a ratio 1:2 as the recipe said seemed outrageous. I decided to tinker with it and cook down the whey first to get it more concentrated, then mixed whey and sugar in a ratio 2:1 (that is one-quart of the suggested amount of sugar!) It worked – the result is a dulce de leche as sweet as it should be, but no more.

Now that I have recycled all the whey, the next question is: what in the world will the farmstead do will all that dulce de leche?

Dulce de leche

1 gallon strained whey

7 cups sugar, depending on the amount of reduced whey

1. Simmer the whey in a large, heavy pot, uncovered, for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally. It will curd a bit but don’t worry, the curds will disappear once the mix, after adding sugar, turns a caramel color.

2. Measure the liquid (I had 14 cups) and add half of that amount in sugar. Slowly bring to a simmer again and cook, uncovered, for 4 to 6 hours, or until the color turns caramel and the mixture thickens. Increase the frequency of stirring as the color darkens, and make sure to scrape over the bottom of the pot.

3. Towards the end, watch the cooking process more closely to prevent the mix from turning too dark. Keep in mind that it will solidify as it cools. Just like for jam and jelly, spoon a bit on a plate and see if it is still too runny. The more solid you want the end result, the longer it needs to cook.

4. Let cool slightly in the pot, then fill into sterilized jars. Only screw the lids onto the jars after the content is completely cooled to avoid condensation build-up. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month or freeze in plastic containers.

Makes 5 13-ounce jars

Oy whey

| Green Card Gardener

Last week it was apricots, this week it’s yellow plums that are at their peak at the local orchard. Fruits and veggies don’t care about editorial diversity. Soon I shall be writing about homegrown tomatoes twice in a row.

I bought The Essential New York Times cookbook a couple of weeks ago and I know it will be my main reading for the rest of the summer. As for cooking from it, I wanted to begin with something really easy so I made ricotta – for the first time. It was easy, though I am not sure I will make it again, for two reasons.

When it was all over, I had almost a gallon of whey left over. Being the thrifty cook that I am, I could not possibly just dump it down the drain. So I froze it in 3-cup batches, enough to bake 10 loaves of bread. I only bake bread about every ten days, so I quickly realized I would soon have nothing in the freezer chest but whey. Also, I must have drained the ricotta for a bit too long, although I did not squeeze it as the recipe instructed.

To use up the ricotta, I remembered the Ricotta Cheese Pie from The Joy of Cooking as very good. I took my cues from that filling, but modified it to a crustless pie. Because the yellow plums were so juicy, it did not matter that the ricotta was a bit on the dry side.

Whether I make ricotta again or not, and whether you call this baked custard or crustless pie, I got myself a new recipe for a quick and light summer dessert.

Crustless Ricotta Pie with Yellow Plums

1 tablespoon butter + more for the pan

Breadcrumbs

1 pound well-drained ricotta

2 eggs

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

2/3 cup sugar

Light brown sugar

8 ripe yellow plums

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Butter the bottom and sides a 9-inch pie pan and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Turn it upside down over the sink and knock off any excess crumbs.

3. Beat the ricotta, eggs, lemon zest and sugar with an electric mixer until well combined.

4 Pour it into the prepared pan and spread evenly with a spatula.

5. Halve the plums and remove the pits (this usually works best when twisting them slightly but sometimes the pit clings. In that case remove the pit with a small paring knife.

6. Arrange the plum quarters in circles on the filling. Dot with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar.

7. Bake 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the pie is set but still a bit wobbly, and lightly browned on top. Serve lukewarm or cold.