88-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 21, 2000
If you are looking for a recipe but can’t find it, send
your recipe request to Lou Ann Good, Cook’s Question
Corner, in care of Lancaster Farming, P.O. Box 609,
Ephrata, PA 17522. There’s no need to send a self-ad
dressed stamped envelope. If we receive an answer to
your question, we will publish it as soon as possible.
Check your recipe to make sure you copy the right
amounts and complete instructions for making the reci
pe. Sometimes we receive numerous answers to the
same request, but cannot print each one.
Answers to recipe requests should be sent to the
same address. You ma; also e-mail questions and an
swers to lgood.cph@lnpnews.com
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QUESTION Mary Long would like to know
how to make a brine in which to preserve cu
cumbers during the winter months.
QUESTION Shirley Schwoerer, Wysox,
wants a recipe to make biscotti.
QUESTION Since October is Popcorn Pop
ping Month, N. Kring, Somerset County, would
like a recipe for kettle corn, which is a sweet
ened, salted popcorn sold at county fairs and
festivals.
QUESTION - Pat, Hancock, Md., would like
a recipe for Cookie Mix in a jar.
QUESTION S. Duggan, Swanton, Md.,
writes that she is embarrassed to ask for a rec
ipe for chocolate banana drink published in
this paper within the last several weeks. She
cut out the recipe and lost it. We are embar
rassed that we don’t know which recipe she
means. But if anyone clipped out the recipe,
please send it in to be reprinted.
QUESTION - Barbara Blank, York, would
like a recipe for homemade sauerkraut and the
best time to make it.
QUESTION Gerald Myers, Wellsvilie, is
looking for a recipe for preserving eggs.
QUESTION Fay Strickler would like a reci
pe for Ezekial bread.
QUESTION Linda Fletcher wants a recipe
for roasted sunflower seeds.
QUESTION Marsha Wagner, Mount Wolf,
wants a recipe for the “Snickers” dessert
served at Shady Maple Smorgasbord.
QUESTION Helen Kofron, Claymont, Del.,
wants a recipe for ground beef barbecue that
tastes like that served at Shady Maple patio.
QUESTION A reader requested an old rec
ipe for clear bean soup made with fresh pork.
QUESTION W. Elicker, Dillsburg, wants an
old-time recipe for sour pickles.
QUESTION Durwood Tuttle, Knoxville,
makes sweet pickles in a crock that he stores
in a cellar. About three weeks ago, a gray fuzzy
mold formed all over the crock. He washed the
Dairy Farmer Efforts Lead Scientists
To Endorse Dairy As A Healthy Food
ROSEMONT, IL Generation after generation, moms
have been telling kids to drink their milk to stay healthy.
The world’s leading nutrition scientists, dietitians and
nutritionists agree. According to Dairy Management
Inc.'", scientists are finding a positive relationship be
tween dairy foods and cardiovascular health, and are
sharing these findings with other scientists, health profes
sionals and the public.
“This array of positive scientific research is incredibly
significant,” says Greg Miller, vice president nutrition re
search, for Dairy Management Inc. '. “Most mainstream
nutrition scientists have moved from viewing dairy prod
ucts as a dietary risk to cardiovascular health to a more
enlightened view that dairy products are actually heart
healthy.”
Cook*
Question
Comer
crock thoroughly with bleach water but it
doesn’t keep the mold from forming again. Any
help would be appreciated.
QUESTION Rachel Musser is searching for
a spaghetti sauce recipe that tastes similar to
Prego pasta sauce (traditional).
QUESTION A Newburg reader would like
recipes for jams and jellies or fruit spreads
without sugar or artificial sweetener. She’d like
recipes that taste similar to brands such as Po
laner’s All Fruit, Spreadable Fruit, or Smucker’s
Simply 100% Fruit.
ANSWER Elaine Fyock wanted recipes
with farm-related titles. Here are a few favor
ites from Rachel Huber, Myerstown.
3 cups rice crispy cereal
1 cup shredded coconut
Vs cup light corn syrup
% cup peanut butter
Vz cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Bring peanut butter, brown sugar, and vanil
la to a boil. Stir into cereal and coconut. Let
cool. Shape into birds nests and fill with jelly
bean eggs.
Cowless Cow Patties
1 cup shortening
1 cup butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4Vz cups flour
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup pecan or nut pieces
2 cups crushed cornflakes
6-ounce packages chocolate chips
Cream shortening, butter, and sugars. Add
eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and
soda, mixing well. Add the remaining ingredi
ents. Mix and drop by large spoonfuls on cook
ie sheet. Spread each one slightly with back of
spoon. Bake at 350 degrees until done.
Cowboy Oatmeal Cookies
3 cups butter
1 1 /s cups granulated sugar
4 cups brown sugar
6 eggs
6 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 Vz teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons vanilla
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1 Vi cups M&M candies
Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and beat
well. Mix remaining ingredients. Drop by tea
spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at
350 degrees for 15 minutes or until done.
Makes 135 cookies.
ANSWER Elam Lapp, Myerstown,
wanted a recipe for making homemade hard
cheese similar to farmers’ cheese by using Jer
sey cow milk. According to numerous experts
in cheese making, milk from goats, sheep, and
all breeds of cows are interchangeable in
cheese recipes. The end result may taste a bit
different but milk from any source can be used
in the recipes. Here is a recipe from E. Weaver.
She writes that it is a basic recipe that can be
adjusted to suit your taste. If the cheese is too
soft, add only % cup milk or sour cream to
melted curds. Jersey milks works well for
cheese. To get sour cream, skim cream off milk
that has been clabbered before heating.
According to Dairy Management Inc.'", this scientific
shift didn’t happen overnight nor by accident. “Since
the early 1980 s, the dairy farmer-funded checkoff pro
gram has invested several million dollars annually to re
inforce, through sound science, how dairy products are
an essential part of a healthy diet,” says. Miller.
Miller says that, at the time, pro-dairy research results
were not readily accepted. “Ten years ago, few nutrition
scientists would have supported the position that dairy
products help reduce the risk of high blood pressure,” he
says. “We didn’t have independent research to back it
up.”
Over time, however, independent research such as
studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
and other groups added to the mounting body of science
Birds Nests
2 gallons milk, let set at room temperature
until it clabbers to a junket-like texture
(approximately 3 days).
Stir to break up curds using wooden spoon;
then heat slowly on lowest setting, stirring oc
casionally. Heat to 120 degrees then pour
through cheesecloth. Squeeze out whey until
no more comes out. Put in dish and add Vz cup
butter and Vz teaspoon baking soda. Crumble
curds fine mixing well. Put in double boiler and
melt. When melted, add 2 teaspoons salt and Vz
cup hot milk. Stir until well mixed. Cool and
slice.
ANSWER Don Love wanted a cottage
cheese recipe. Anne Wiegle writes that she
tried many recipes with no success. Curdling it
with rennet resulted in really tough curds. She
got all sorts of weird looking molds growing in
cheese she tried to ripen. The following reci
pes are proven, not from a book but from the
way it worked for Anne under farmhouse condi
tions.
Cottage Cheese
Use raw milk. If you can’t get raw milk, use
skim milk, but it will take a lot longer to clab
ber.
Chill one gallon milk and skim off cream. If
any cream is left in the milk, it will be washed
away with the whey.
Let the skim milk sit at room temperature,
covered, in an enameled or stainless steel pot,
until it clabbers. This process should take
overnight in the summer; longer in the winter.
When the milk is clabbered, it should appear
solid.
Cut the curd by running a long knife through
it. Cut into squares of one-inch for large curd
and half an inch for small curds. Cut length
wise, crosswise, and horizontally as best you
can.
Heat milk gradually to about 140 degrees. As
it heats up, the curds will shrink and the whey
will separate. Stir gently with a spoon occa
sionally as this happens. When the curds have
formed, pour into a colander lined with several
layers of cheesecloth. Catch the whey to use in
cooking, if you want. Let the curds drain, and
then rinse with cold water, using your hands to
mix them. Do not run water through the curds
this will break them up. Instead immerse the
cheesecloth with curds in a large bowl of cold
water and gently agitate to rinse off the whey.
The final rinse should be in salt water to salt
the cheese. Prepare a gallon of brine in a large
bowl. Lift the cheesecloth containing the curds
and dunk into brine. Mix well with your hands
to ensure the brine reaches all the curds. Then
lift out the cheesecloth and curds and place
back into the colander and let drain.
For creamed cottage cheese: Mix cream with
the curds. Serve with apple butter. Deliciousl
For Farmer Cheese: Press the curds into a
cheesecloth lined mold with holes in the bot
tom. Place a board on the top and weight it. Let
it press 24 hours while the excess moisture
drains out. Unmold onto a plate.
For Feta-type cheese: (Real feta is made
from sheep’s milk but this tastes about the
same): Gather curds into a piece of cheese
cloth and form fist-sized balls. Squeeze out ex
cess moisture. Let hang in cheesecloth for 24
hours; then tie up cheesecloth packages and
preserve in the brine. Prepare brine with non
iodized salt. Make it strong enough that a pota
to will float half way down, not sinking and not
floating. Bring to a boil and simmer 20 minutes
to ensure that no bacteria is living. Cool and
use to preserve the cheese balls. You can store
this in a crock in a cool cellar, but Anne puts
them in a plastic container pnd keeps in the re
frigerator.
validating dairy’s important role in a healthy diet. The
scientific community came to accept those findings sup
porting the health benefits of dairy foods.
“NIH now recommends that consumers follow the
DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet,
which includes three servings of lowfat dairy products
daily, along with ample amounts of fruits and vege
tables,” says Miller.
Dairy Management Inc.”' cautions, however, that sci
entific research, in and of itself, is not enough. “This
wealth of scientific research confirming dairy’s health
benefits fails to reach consumers if they me unaware it
exists,” says Miller. “That’s why Dairy Management
Inc.”' and National Dairy Council 31 works together to get
this science in the hands of health professionals such as
doctors, nurses and dietitians, as well as consumers.”
Hard Cheese