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Old July 12th 16, 04:30 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
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Default AG: Twenty-first Century Switchel

On 7/9/2016 10:55 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:


8 July 2016

A while back I bought some Orzo salad, and thought that it would have
been much better if it had been made from real rice. Rice cooked the
way I usually cook it would be too sticky; I thought that I'd cook it
like pasta: boil in an excess of water, taste at intervals, drain
when al dente.

Today, needing exercise, I set off to ride to Pierceton's vestigial
farmers' market (one table fewer and it would have been a "farmer's
market"). The plan was to go out by Pierceton Road, and come back
through Sprawlmart, where I would (among other things) buy feta cheese
so that I could make rice salad.

The predicted rain didn't arrive and it was bright and sunny the whole
time I was out -- with a high of 85F. At four in the afternoon, the
traffic on Pierceton Road required too much attention to allow me to
sip constantly as the weather demanded, and on the way home I
frequently felt almost nauseated from drinking too much too seldom --
and from being dehydrated.

I reflected that water went down faster with a little something in it
-- I'd drunk diluted lemonade on the way out -- and thought that this
was an excuse to buy some of the fresh ginger I'd seen in the grocery.
I could cook ginger root in my drinking water; nineteenth-century
haying hands all agreed that putting ginger in your drinking water
kept it from upsetting your stomach.

Then I remembered that "boil whole grains, drain" was exactly the
recipe that I used to use to make barley water when
complex-carbohydrate drinks were all the rage. (I gave it up when I
learned that the carbs in the water coagulated when the drink was
frozen, and the curds clogged the valve of my bottle.)

Doctors put rice in drinking water for babies with cholera, to make
the water go into the dehydrated child instead of passing through.

So I think I'll boil my ginger in rice-cooking water.

I wonder whether rice water coagulates when frozen?

I just put all the remaining Black Japonica Rice in the fridge to soak
for three days -- this switchel is going to look like root beer. I'll
buy ginger root on my way back from tomorrow's farmers' markets.

I think I'll use fresh lemons instead of vinegar, and honey instead of
molasses.

We'll be well into July before I get it made, but we have all of
August to go.


9 July 2016

Grumble, gripe. I was reaching for the ginger root when I noticed
that it was USDA organic.

Principles can be inconvenient sometimes. I was tempted, but reflected
that even though I can't stop the amalgamation of church and state,
that's not a reason to help it along. This is not as big a pain as
passing up the only cultured butter I've ever seen: dried ginger is
what the haymakers had in mind anyway, and I already have some.

I think that I'll boil a lemon with the rice. Lemon would be good in
the salad. Boiling with acid might make the rice sweet, so I may
chicken out. [Definitely will chicken out: I like my lemons raw.]

The rice will be ready to boil on Monday. Grump. Sunday is for
walking, I'm washing clothes on Monday, and Weather Underground says
the rest of the week will be rainy.

Not rainy enough: the corn I got a close look at on the way home
yesterday appeared to be on the verge of curling.


Speaking of rice and cycling:

http://www.bonappetit.com/entertaini...e-cyclist-food


--
- Frank Krygowski
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