Re: Dandelion
- From: "Lilah Morgan" <wandhart@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 14:45:53 -0800
Ok I was slightly wrong, it's the giant purple thistle that is used for
clabbering milk for cheese. It usually curdles milk overnight. This is
directly from the Stocking Up(which I strongly recommend) book:
The giant purple thistle is a very tall-growing species of thistle,
possessing all over very cruel prickles, so that no animals can eat it, and
only the bees visit it and the goldfinches carry off the downtopped seeds
for their nests and for food. The stems and foliage are grayish, and the
flowerheads a rich purple, and of typical thistle shape. The part used are
the flowerets when the thistlehead and the flowerets of which it consists
have turned brown. When the thistledown begins to appear it is getting too
late for the gathering, and the flowerets are less strong and soon will be
carried away over the countryside by the wind. The flowerets should be air
dried, either in shallow baskets or perforated brown paper bags, and then
stored in jars to last until the next summer.
The herb, in carefully controlled quantity, has to be prepared for adding to
the milk. It should be pulverized with a mortar and pestle. The herb is well
pounded, then a little warm water(or whey), merely enough to cover it, is
added, then left to soak for 5 minutes, pounded again for 5 minutes, soaked
again, repounded, usually 3 times, at least until dark brown-colored liquid
forms. The herb is then strained and then a heaping teaspoon of the herbal
liquid is added to every quart of warm milk. If too much herb is used, it
tastes strongly in the cheese, and it will cause indigestion, being a very
potent herb. Therefore, be careful not to add too much.
(Instead of making a liquid from the herb, you can also dip the whole herb
in the milk to make it adhesive, press the flowerets together, and bind them
with coarse white cotton thread into a sort of rough plait, leaving the long
end of the cotton hanging out of the crock, so you can pull out the herb
when the milk curdles, which is approximately overnight. Do not ad the herb
loose into the milk, as it is then like having hairs in one's mouth when
consuming the delicious soft curds and whey.)
.
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