Planting Peas And Broad Beans, A Turrón And Pumpkin Pudding And My First Batch Of Kefir Water.

Eventually our land dried out enough to be able to walk on it without all the mud oozing into the top of my wellies. It was time to soak the dried broad beans (habas) and peas (guisantes), ready for planting a few hours later. According to our moon diary, last Friday was an optimum day for getting these seeds in the earth.

What the moon diary didn’t tell us was that on Friday there would be gale force winds in the Valencian Community. Gusts as high as 100 km/h ripped through Benissa and surrounding areas, determined to dissuade us from venturing into our allotment.

Still, we must obey the moon diary. It stated that Saturday was not a good day for planting broad beans or peas so we had no choice but to get wrapped up and suffer the grotty weather. Luckily, come the afternoon the winds had dropped a tad, though not enough for my liking. I despise the wind. I’m starting to dislike the moon diary too!! I bought it for Pep for Xmas again though so I can’t really moan about it. But I no doubt will 😂.

Pep got to work with his rotavators. First he worked with the smaller one. He soon realised that he would have been there all day, so the larger rotavator was dragged out of the store. He dug narrow “surcos” (think they’re called furrows in English but not too sure. Please correct me if I’m wrong) with the “hazada” (hoe I think😬).

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This year Pep is trying a different strategy, one that he’s seen on various different sites. Normally Pep (as well as most other local farmers) plant the seeds quite close together, making a double line of seeds along the furrow (or whatever it’s called).

The diary recommends just one line though, spacing the seeds 15-20 centimetres apart. If we’d have planted all the seeds we would have had to use every inch of our land just for broad beans and peas!! And possibly some of our next door neighbour’s land too. Pep’s not too sure this method will be to his liking but time will tell.

My job was to plant the seeds in the furrows he made, whilst trying not to get blown to the other side of our plot at the same time. Pep raked the earth over the top of the seeds and the job was done.

Thankfully for me Pep didn’t need my assistance all the time. I came inside to light the fire and warm up, at the same time making some sort of sweet concoction in the kitchen. There was half a baked pumpkin in the fridge and an unused bar of bought “turrón de Jijona” in the cupboard. I’d bought the turrón to make a dessert for the night of the 3 Kings, which we always spend with Pep’s family.

Due to the current situation we couldn’t have our usual gathering so the turrón still remained untouched. I thought I’d invent a new pudding, using the turrón and some ingredients that I always have on hand. It was rather tasty and is pretty healthy, albeit quite calorific. Pep said it was delicious and told me to buy some more turrón as soon as poss as it’s no doubt on offer now😁. Here’s what I did.

First I ground up some chia seeds, approximately a quarter of a cup. You can skip this part if you want and just stir the whole seeds into the finished pudding. It just depends what sort of consistency you want your pudding to be. By grinding them the pudding is smooth and creamy.

In a blender I mixed 300 grams of baked pumpkin, 400ml of rice milk, 6 dates that I soaked in boiling water for about 10 minutes beforehand, the ground chia seeds and about 190 grams of the turrón. Whizz until you have a thick and creamy consistency. I then tipped the pudding into a bowl and stirred in 60 grams more of turrón that I’d chopped into small chunks. I divided the mixture between 7 small pots and placed it in the fridge to set. Easy-peasy.

Continuing in the kitchen. I spend a lot of my time there lately. They’re telling us to remain indoors as much as poss so I try and make the most of it. Experimenting in the “cocina” is one of my favourite hobbies, along with growing this blog, practicing the clarinet (which sometimes sounds like the bagpipes), yoga, walking, gardening, taking care of our cats, chickens and pond fish… And the list goes on and on 😁.

When I was a kid my piano teacher (a Dutch lady who used to make the most wonderful hazelnut meringue cake) gave me some milk kefir grains to make my own yoghurt-style drink. I couldn’t believe how these funny looking white granules, which at the time reminded me of cauliflower florets, could turn milk into a sort of yoghurt. They also grew. These things were alive and continued to multiply the more kefir you made. For an 11 year old, this was quite astounding.

Lately I’ve had the desire to make my own kefir water. I rarely consume dairy anymore so I won’t use the milk kefir grains. I hadn’t realised until 3 or 4 years back that you could make kefir with water. The grains are different but it’s still the same principle. With the water kefir grains you need sugar to activate and also feed them. The grains used for milk kefir feed off the naturally occurring sugar in milk, lactose.

I noticed that one of the online eco stores where I buy quite a few products had started selling water kefir grains. So without further ado I embarked on my water kefir adventure.

There are simple instructions on the back of the packet. First you need to activate the grains for a couple of days. Then you start making the kefir. But that was it as far as the packet instructions were concerned. I’d seen that you could do a further fermentation, one where you add different flavours (fruit juice, chopped up fruit, herbs). With this technique you obtain a fizzy beverage, one that is soooo much better for you than Coca-Cola, Fanta, etc.

So I investigated and found loads of info on how to make your own flavoured, bubbly water kefir. There is a great page here with all sorts of info, questions answered and tips on how to use and look after your grains. There are also different recipes using different fruit juices, etc here. So far I’ve made the grapefruit one and the lemon-lime one but I’ll soon be attempting others too. The orange and vanilla kefir water sounds divine. This guy’s amusing video on Facebook also inspired me to get cracking with my first batch.

Here’s how I made my water kefir, jam-packed with wonderful probiotics. First, activate the grains. To do this you need to make some sugar water. The sugar you’ll need should be of the raw variety, either a raw cane sugar or “panela”. It contains more minerals and makes the kefir grains so much happier 😁. In a large jar I dissolved 30 grams of “panela” in a small amount of hot water. I then added approximately 350 ml of cold water. You should use filtered water or spring water, not tap water as it has all sorts of nasties in it that make the grains quite grumpy 😔.

Making sure the sugar water is no hotter than 29ºC (I just make sure it’s more or less room temperature), tip in the kefir grains. Cover with a piece of cheesecloth or similar (I used bamboo kitchen towel) and secure it in place with a rubber band or some string. Leave on your counter for 1-2 days. I left mine for 2 days, it’s quite cool in my kitchen at the mo.

After the two days are up it’s time to get to work on the kefir water. Strain the grains using a plastic sieve. Discard the water. Now you need to make another batch of sugar water. The amount you need will depend on the amount of kefir grains you have. I had started with 5 grams of grains and the packet instructed me to use 30 grams of sugar and 600ml of water.

I dissolved the sugar in about 100ml of hot water and then added cold water to reach the 600ml level. Making sure the sugar water is around room temperture (it should be if you use these measurements) add the kefir grains. Cover with cheesecloth again and leave to sit on your counter for 24-48 hours, depending on the room temperature. You now have kefir water and can drink it if you so desire.

But now comes the exciting part, making that delicious fizzy drink. Strain the grains, reserving the kefir water. In a flip top bottle add 1 teaspoon of sugar, the juice of one lemon (or half a grapefruit) and your strained kefir water. Close the flip top bottle and leave the beverage to ferment on your kitchen counter for 1 to 3 days, “burping” (opening) the bottle at least once a day. We don’t want any explosions!! When you reach your desired fizziness (in my house approximately 48 hours) transfer the bottle to the fridge. Allow to cool and consume.

You then continue to keep your kefir grains alive by making another batch of sugar water and repeating the process. I now have just over 3 tablespoons of kefir grains (they gradually multiply) and I find this is just the right amount to make 1 litre of the delicious drink. But any questions you have you’ll be able to find the answers to on the link above.

Pep and I love the flavour of this kefir water. We sounded like wine connoisseurs when we first tried it. “Oh, I can taste rose water” and “there’s a definite hint of apple there” was heard from our dining room table (how embarrassing). It also reminds me of a non-alcoholic shandy, or even cider, especially the lemon/lime one. An added bonus is you’re getting quite a few strains of probiotics in your body which will help to keep your immune system strong. Definitely a good thing at the mo!!

Well, that’s my lot for now. Hope I haven’t bored you too much. One more thing before I go though (isn’t there always!). It would have been the Benissa Medieval Fair last weekend. I always go to buy a toffee apple (“manzana de caramelo”) as I explained in my post on Benissa. Unfortunately there isn’t a fair this year so I was most upset that I wouldn’t get my yearly far-too-sugary treat (big kid that I am).

Then I decided to make my own. Oh my goodness, they’re so much nicer than the ones you get at the fair. You can see the quality of the apples before you make them too, buying organic if you so desire (recommended). Wow, even Pep thought they were ok and he normally can’t stand them. I followed two different recipes, here and here. They’re great fun to make and I highly recommend doing silly things like this when we’re stuck indoors. Just a thought.

Right, I’m definitely off now. By the way, this is my 50th post!!! 50th!! How I’ve made it to half a century is beyond me. I can’t even write a diary!! I get impatient when I have to fill in forms!! I’d like to thank you all for reading and sending me lovely messages and comments, it makes all the time and effort worthwhile.

I’ll be back on Valley FM this Saturday if you fancy listening to me rambling on. Here’s the link to last week’s spot. I’m on around the half way mark. Any questions or suggestions feel free to get in touch, we’re always pleased to hear from you. Take care all of you. See you very soon no doubt. Lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx