On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:37:07 -0700, "Paul M. Cook" >
shouted from the highest rooftop:
>
>"bob in nz" > wrote in message
>news
>> On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:02:04 +0200, "Giusi" >
>> shouted from the highest rooftop:
>>
>>>
>>>"bob in nz" ha scritto nel messaggio
>>>Gloria P > shouted from the highest rooftop:
>>>>
>>>>>Paul M. Cook wrote:
>>>>>> So lunch was caprese. I got some decent fresh mozzarella from TJs,
>>>>>> sliced >> the tomatoes and arranged them in a ring with the mozz and
>>>>>> leaves of fresh
>>>>>> basil from my garden picked seconds earlier. Salt, pepper and EVO.
>>>
>>>>>It's one of our favorites. If I don't have fresh mozzarella at home
>>>>> >>it's also good with mild goat cheese as a substitute or feta in a
>>>>> >>real
>>>>> >>pinch.
>>>>
>>>> Sometimes I'll add some black olives (Greek or Spanish depending on my>
>>>> mood) to the feta, maybe some thinly sliced red onion and, if I'm
>>>> taking it to eat on the beach, a few anchovies.
>>>
>>>I love Greek salad, and that's just what I eat in Greece, as you
>>>described.
>>>It can't be Caprese, because they do not have feta in Capri.
>>
>> Sadly, caprese - as described by Paul - isn't an option in the part of
>> New Zealand where we live because fresh mozzarella isn't available
>> outside of the big cities ... and we live in a remote coastal area.
>> But considering how much I love cheese, that may be a good thing.
>>
>
>Mozzarella is quite easy to make, I've done it myself a few times. New
>Zealand has some of the best milk in the world so I would think you could
>make a darn fine cheese. All you need is milk, salt, rennet and a stove.
New Zealand *used* to have some of the best milk in the world and I
*used* to make my own cottage cheese and yogurt, etc.
But all that has well and truly changed.
Thanks to all the regional (and local) dairy co-op factories being
bought, closed and/or amalgamated and put under the control of a
couple of major players there is virtually no such thing as whole,
fresh, unadulterated milk in NZ anymore.
These days, huge stainless steel tankers full of fresh milk leave the
farm and deliver it to a network of high-tech factories that process
the raw milk to remove everything that can be used for other purposes.
What we now get in New Zealand is "reconstituted" milk.
There are a few small, independent dairy factories that haven't been
taken over by the big players like Fonterra, but the closest one to us
is almost a two hour drive away and they don't sell raw milk.
However, they do make very good cheese, including Mozzarella and I'll
pick up some next time we're up that way.
http://www.mahoecheese.co.nz/
BTW - home delivery of real, whole, un-reconstituted, un-homogenised
milk (with the cream still on top) in re-usable bottles stopped
sometime in the late eighties. The degradation of milk began shortly
after that so-called "upgrade."
I also used to get fresh, raw goat's milk from a neighbouring farm
back in the late-seventies and the owner made a decent income from
sending the bulk of production to a specialist factory that turned the
milk into powder. But her small, local diary farm closed down a few
years later when coastal land values increased dramatically and
farming became less viable than selling or developing the land.
In fact, thirty-five years ago there were dairy farms all around this
part of the coast and you had to plan your drives in order to avoid
the milk tankers on our narrow (then unsealed) rural roads.
These days there is not one dairy farm left in the area. But in the
fertile inland areas where there used to be twenty or so small dairy
farms next to one another, now there is one much larger dairy farm.
--
una cerveza mas por favor ...
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