It's raining outside

It is raining outside, continuously and gently. Having collected milk this morning we bottled half a dozen litres and proceeded to make a batch of Havarti. Being in the kitchen and being too wet to work outside it was an ideal time to knock up a batch of chocolate bars in between cheese making steps.

Roasted peanut chocolate and coconut shred topping

Three small rounds of Havarti

With time on our hands we managed a brief visit to the pool for a little exercise. The temperature was 23 C and the sessions was very rapid and brief but useful.

The last of the coffee fruit was harvested this week and the dried beans all processed. It was only a matter of running the beans in the food processor with the plastic blade for another 30 minutes just too make sure all the husk material was removed. The roasting took place in a saucepan. It is a slow process and requires constant stirring but eventually the beans are dark enough in colour. After cooling the grinder was cleaned of the shop bought beans and a sample of our own processed and coffee made. Result was excellent. The bulk of the roasted beans (and there aren't that many) will be stored for 3 weeks to see if some aging changes the flavour.

Not much volume but they are ours

The Oats and Barley that have soaked for 24 hours are now draining. They should start to sprout in the next 24 hours and then we will see how the cattle will react to this new food.

We've been enjoying the odd beer as a pre dinner drink during the hot weather and stocks are running down. It seemed like a good time to start a couple of kit beers fermenting. European Larger and a British Bitter.