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Olive Oil

I found a way to turn unripe olives into a homogenised goo that smells really nice.

Bash them up with a stick and take the seeds out.

Put them in a high powered blender with some warm water. Blend. I think this is where I went wrong.

The Thermomix might be a little too high powered. It’s supposed to come out a paste. But I think my paste has a max particle size of about 10 microns. That’s to say it’s a very smooth and luxurious paste at this stage.

Put that goo into a cheese cloth and press.

Wait for it to seperate.

This where I have to stop. The oil hasn’t separated out. The liquid at the bottom is mostly water. The oil is floating on top. It has a lot of the olive still in it. This is where the over blending has caused a problem. I can’t separate out the oil.

Chewing Gum

Chewing gum. A guilt free way of eating sugar. The sugar is bound to the gum so you get all the flavour with no empty calories.

Chewing gum, the next “Super Food”. A guilt free way of eating sugar, because the sugar is bound to the gum so you get all the flavour, with none of the calories.

This is chewing gum.

It’s basically a mix of stuff you shouldn’t eat. It’s sugar in 2 ways, flavouring, and little balls of gum base. Taste so good.

You can tell it’s an American recipe by the fact that it uses corn syrup.

It’s not too hard to make, although it requires a fair amount of elbow grease not mentioned in the ingredients list.

Mix the corn syrup and gum base together.

Knead the gum into the confectioners sugar

I have to admit, before I say any more that I have a sweet tooth, but these were delicious. Such a throw back to when I was a kid. I will call them happy sticks.

Bringing Home The Bacon

This follows on from my original Bacon post

Here it is. After turning it over pretty much every day for 7 days. I took it out of it’s bag, washed it off and soaked it in water for an hour.

While I was making Cornflakes I started the coals for the Weber and set it up for smoking. The target temp in the grill was 110°c. Once I got it there it was time to put on the pork belly and finish its transformation into bacon.

Now that that is done, sit back and wait for the internal temp of the meat to hit 68°c.

Remove and let cool.

Slice

Enjoy. I was told that once you try your own bacon you will make it again, and this is true for me. I will be doing this again and again.

Cola

A drink loved all over the world. Some say the crusades uncovered the recipe for cola while looking for the holy grail, others say it was created by aliens. The truth is that back in the middle ages the Illuminati created it as a way of laundering their extreme wealth. It was a way that they could move large amounts of cash around the world without raising suspicion. They created a company to produce Coke, a drink they knew would be irresistible to the poor and simple minded. They do this by using money in one country to make coke and then import that to another country. It is then easily turned back into cash. When the mafia caught onto this they created Pepsi for the same purpose.

Today is cola

I’ve taken these raw ingredients (does anyone really know what chinese five spice is) and I have combined them in a way that makes one of the most refreshing mixers I have ever tasted. I had this on a hot summers day and I dropped at least 5 degrees.

You need to zest all those bad boys and put them in a big pot with their juices, the sugar, and water. Cook it down to extract the old from all that zest. After that add the other stuff and cook it some more. Once you think it is cooked enough take it off the heat and let it cool.

Once cool strain it and bottle it. Add it to some ice with some soda water and job done. Delicious refreshing cola.

Coffee Roasting in a Popcorn Popper

Popcorn Popping Roaster

Coffee.

One of the worlds most loved drinks. Whether it’s the flavour or for a kick, coffee is enjoyed by just about everyone. The only people that don’t drink coffee are either transcendent and have surpassed the everyday struggle us mere mortals live day by day, or society says they are too young, and therefore have no need for this elixir. The Ancient Mayans believed that if someone young enough was to drink enough coffee they would live forever.

I use a Mistral Party Fun Popcorn Popper to raost green coffee beans.

My plan. To put some coffee beans in, turn it on, and and take them out when they looked right. Thats right, I’m going by colour alone.

https://youtu.be/xQnMBihHabg

Apart from being amazed that it actually worked, the first roast was over in about four and a half minutes. Much faster than I thought it would take. Charff went everywhere and the beans popped, they actually popped. When in Rome. This I found out subsequently was called the first crack, it is when the moisture in the bean (not a bean) builds up pressure and splits making an audible crack.