Is there a Science To Cooking?

  I always like to cook, and I like especially to cook things that are complex. I am amazed at how much science there is in cooking. For example, when you make bread, the yeast has to develop and reproduce, as well as get rid of its waste, and in that process, good food comes about.
  There is another process in cooking, very similar to the yeast process, and this process is called 'fermentation'. Some examples of fermented foods would be kombucha, sourdough and yogurt or kefir. Lately, I have been making sour cream, buttermilk, Greek yogurt and kombucha. I also made cultured butter which was cool. All these things you can make at home and save money by using the particular culture over and over again.
   Kombucha is interesting to make. You take this flat, dehydrated mushroom, and place it in a mixture of tea, vinegar, and sugar for a month. Then you make another batch of tea and take some of the starter and the mushroom, and add it to the new batch of tea, then wait for that to ferment and develop. The mushroom should develop a baby mushroom (I have never heard of a mushroom having a baby) and the baby mushroom should cover the top of the new batch of tea. I will see it when I believe it! The first batch of kombucha tasted strange. It was tart and powerful. I added some sweetener to it and it helped to balance the taste. Kombucha is supposed to be full of probiotics, which are necessary for us to have in order to digest our food properly.
  I made the sour cream with both the raw milk and pasteurized, and the pasteurized milk takes longer to process. I had to leave my pasteurized culture out a lot longer than I did the raw one.
   I made a batch of cream cheese the other day, and it turned out well. Whenever I make this, I end up with a lot of whey, which is supposed to be good for you.
  I tried my hand at making mozzarella, and when it was at the stage where you are supposed to pull it like taffy, it fell apart. There was no cohesiveness to it, so obviously, I couldn't pull it. It had the taste of mozzarella, but not the texture. Good mozzarella is easy to slice and has a nice, sweet taste to it, and stretches. There was no stretch in my mozzarella : (   .
  If you do make a lot of different foods using cultures, you have to keep them separated while they are developing, because the cultures actually do travel in the air and can end up in the containers of the various cultures you have on your countertops and it will weaken the cultures.
   Next step is to try making cheddar cheese. I won't add coloring at this time, but I like the orange color of cheddar cheese. Cheddar cheese is like a comfort food. Maybe I should get a cave like the ones that the first cheddar cheese was made in.
  Another idea that might be a little better tasting than kombucha, is kefir, but kefir made with coconut water instead of milk. Coconuts are an excellent food for nourishment and making it into a fermented food would be even better.
   So, my little kitchen is like a science lab right now. I have to keep some of the cultures in other rooms because I don't want them to blend together and become weak! What a fun way to learn about science, and about food.
   Bon Apetite!    Guten Apetit!

Cultured Butter Snowman

I've always wanted to make molded butter for Thanksgiving, but never was able to do that until today. I took 2 cups of raw cow's cream and added about a fourth of a cup of buttermilk to it. The directions said to let it sit for about 24 hours then chill it. After about 6 hours then you take that mixture and mix it until it turns into butter. I shaped mine after it was finished and here's what it looked like.