Maintaining Starters and Info on Nutrients

Firstly, I'd like to give a little advice on maintaining your sourdough starters. This is very easy but it does involve a committment. A starter is very much like a pet. You need to feed it regularly and make preparations for any time you happen to be away from home. I did hear on a food show a few months ago that there are now hotels that offer to look after your starter for you!!

As you know, to make a starter you simply combine equal parts of water and flour. Occasionally you can feed your starter something sweet like honey or sugar - just a little (a half to one teaspoon once a fortnight is enough). You may also be aware that starters last a lifetime if treated well, in fact many people travel to the likes of Italy to purchase hundred year old starters!!

Feeding dailiy initially is essential. Once it is maintained you can feed it daily to every other day and it should be fine. If you are going away for a long weekend/a week, you can feed it on the day you leave and pop it in the fridge. it will be fine for a week but a fortnight is a little too long to go without being fed. You may want to get someone to feed it for a couple of nights after the week, then refrigerate again for 4-5 days after.

A sourdough starter can easily last a lifetime if it is looked after. Please see other posts for how to use in breads.

Secondly I wanted to mention the fact that many of us think we're geetting enough nutrients from our fruit and vegetables but we are not - unless they have come from a small farm or local gardener. Any mass-produced fruit/veg has far less nutrients because the land is being over-farmed. The soil doesn't have time to replenish and so we acrtually need 2-3 times what we take!! This means our 5 a day minimum should possibly be a 12-15 a day!!! Growing our own is a solution to this, or going to smaller businesses who don't produce for supermarkets. Farm markets (if you are lucky enough to live near one) are the place to go! The other option is going organic, as mass produced non-organic veg tends to have less than half the nutrients of organic (and organic produce tends to be farmed on a smaller scale). Have a look at the Soil Association website for more information (products are not necessarily organic but if they have the Soil Assoc seal of approval then they are the genuine article).

Making a pot luck soup (whatever you have at the time, buing into a pot with stock, garlic, white pepper and blitz when cooked, is a good way to get a mixture of nutrients into you (and is, alas, still classed as 1 of your 5 a day).

Happy cooking!

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scotland about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback: The Island of the Mist is book 2 The Stone in the Sword is book 1 The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats: The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

Tesco and sourdough starter

Two things to discuss today. Firstly, Tesco are currently running ad campaigns to win customers back but they are not improving their customer services or their food standards quality.

Tesco have not apologised for the fact that there are pieces of horse etc in their meats. They simply blame their producers, rather than standing up, like the Co-operative has done, and saying yes, we made mistakes, we'll learn and it won't happen again.

To knock them further, a customer allegedly found a dead bird in their salad, according to many facebook postings. Yes, a whole, dead bird, in a salad!! This is beyond shocking and I truly hope it proves to be fake!

Rather than spending money on advertising campaigns they should be spending money complying with the Food Standards Agency and make sure they know exactly what is goin into everything on their shelves. This, to me, shows a complete lack of care for customers and for the rules governing British supermarkets!

The other thing I would liek to discuss is sourdough starters. These look complicated and long winded but are actually very easy to make. Why not have a try?

All you need to start one is an airtight container (I use a large sandwich box, big enough for a few pints liquid), flour, water and a hint of honey at the start.

mix into your container equal measures of flour and water - the back of my flour pack said 70g but measuring that out on my jug is difficult so Imeasure out 100g. On the first day, add a couple dashes honey as this will help feed the bacteria. Mix together then seal and keep somewhere warm overnight.

Then add the equal measures of flour and water each day for 7 days - keeping your starter somewhere warm.

After the 7 days it can be used in bread and can be stored in the fridge. Remember to feed it every few days and take out the night before you need to use it. It's that easy :D

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin