Kurma

I was sent these pictures of the Auricchio Cheese Factory in Napoli, Italy. These are serious balls of fresh Provolone, being tended to by hand rather than machine.

The big soft balls of cheese are taken out of the whey and shaped.

The lumps of cheese are then formed into logs before continuing on their long journey to the dinner table. To my knowledge this company coagulates much of their milk, if not all, using a non-animal rennet.

That's serious cheese-making.

This letter was sent exactly one year ago. Guavas are in the shops everywhere in Sydney. So it's timely to 'run it by you one more time':

C. Schneider from the Gold Coast asked:

"...what recipes can you share that use guava fruit as an ingredient? I have some home grown guava and would like some interesting ideas for cooking with it."

I replied:

Well of course you can eat them fresh, or puree the flesh and make a smoothie with yogurt or milk and a sweetener as follows: Blend 300g (10 ounces) guava flesh (seeds included) with 2 cups chilled full-cream milk, 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar, 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk and some ice cubes.

You could also make a Fool, and old English fruit cream. This is my favourite. Pass two cups of ripe guava flesh through a seive, fold through the strained juice of two limes and two cups of lightly whipped cream. Pour into tall dessert glasses and serve immediately.

Or you could make a guava jam or chutney.

"Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth."

-Shirley Chisholm