Yerba Maté Espresso … Not Bad.
15 Apr 2009 Leave a Comment
in Food Tags: Drink, Espresso, review, stovetop, Yerba Mate
So, I’ve had this 1kg bag of yerba maté, for at least 3 years…. Bought on the cheap in the not-as-nice area of town. It’s been sitting in my cupboard because I find it has a bitter quality to it that I’m not overly enthused about.
For those of you not in the know, Yerba Maté is an energizing tea (supposedly not caffeine, but some other stimulant) made from the twigs and leaves (yeah, twigs – sounds appetizing, doesn’t it) of the yerba mate shrub. It is traditionally served by pouring hot water (not boiling) over leaves that have been placed in a gourd. It is then sipped through a type of metal straw. The gourd is refilled with water as the tea is drunk.
The straw is hollow (obviously) with a sieve-like end (or other design) placed into the maté. It is made in such a way as to act as a filter for the maté leaves.
You don’t need a straw or a gourd to enjoy it. Just use whatever you use for loose tea leaves (tea ball, french press, just loose…). My maté came with large and very fine particles. I had recently enjoyed Roobios Espresso (more on that in another post), and figured I could use the same technique for maté.
Now, I’ve only got the little stove-top espresso pot. I put in a few scoops of the maté, leaving a bit of room at the top for expansion of the leaves. I placed my pot on stove and proceeded as normal. The first shot was nice and strong. I subsequently refilled the water reservoir of my pot and made a couple of other shots with the same leaves. The next couple of shots were, understandably, weaker but still good.
Give it a shot, you might enjoy it!
Goaty Goats Milk :| — Now what?
13 Apr 2009 Leave a Comment
in Food, Food Tip Tags: Food, Goat Milk, Goaty, how to use up, review
I usually have oatmeal in the morning with a splash of milk to help thin it out and cream it up. In the past, I’ve mixed in soy milk, rice milk, tofu milk…. All fairly acceptable. Having decided to try Goat’s milk as an alternative to regular milk, I put that in my oatmeal, expecting nothing too mind altering . With that cute little goat on the label, how could it be bad? …It was like eating a milky lamb stew with my oatmeal in the morning.
Bleeech! Definitely something I was not ready for.
It is horribly “goaty”. Don’t get me wrong. I love goat meat, lamb meat, goat cheese (which, really isn’t goaty)… The distinctive lamb/goat taste is something I like…. But, not in my milk.
Now I am left with the rest of the “goaty” 2L container of goat milk. Great. What to do…. What to do….
After spending some time searching for a way to use this up, here is what I found:
- Good Goat’s Milk should not taste Goaty, Off, or Gross. It should taste slightly sweeter than cow milk, maybe even slightly buttery; otherwise, it is old, or the hygiene practices of the farm are bad.
- Suck it up and just drink it was the answer many of goat milk lover’s gave. In light of the above finding though, I don’t think they have experienced the goaty version. Or, the goaty version was not the version they were first introduced to…. With their love of what they know the milk can and should taste like, these people just “suck it up” and attribute it to a bad batch of milk. For the uninitiated, this goaty version of goat milk is rather … revoltingly, stomach churningly, sickening.
- Try to use up the goaty milk in a savoury dish. Not sweet. <– This is the option I am considering.
- Turning it into cheese. Sounds a little involved, and am not sure if I am up to it. Besides, would I just be making goaty cheese, or will the goat flavour mellow in cheese form?
- Or use it to make some beauty product (ie. soap). This involves cooking, curing, soap molds, lye…. So, unless you’re already a soap making enthusiast….
I don’t generally use alot of milk in my savoury dishes, if any. Does anyone out there have any recipe suggestions? Perhaps another suggestion as to what to do with it? I could freeze it, but then what? It seems like such a waste to watch it go bad in my fridge, and then chucking it out… My other half is all for throwing out the vile liquid. Immediately.
UPDATE: Chocolate Milk Mix makes it a bit better. Chocolate hides a multitude of sins!
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