Beer to Biogas

My latest article in the Cornell Daily Sun here, about microbial communities in brewery waste digesters.

A diagram of an anaerobic digester, from an excellent description of the process.

Cardoon arrives

Think outside the box, the rennet box...

Thistle rennet.

Made from Cynara cardunculus, an enzyme found in the stamen of the thistle plant cleaves cheese proteins differently than animal-derived rennets most commonly used to make cheese. 

Traditionally used in some Portugese sheep's milk cheeses, the result can be ooey gooey slightly bitter bliss (especially when using moisture curds in the contemporary style).

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/01/serious-cheese-creamy-thistle-rennet-cheeses.html

A few friends and I have been helping Chef Dano develop some cheese for a homemade cheeseplate to be unveiled this summer.

He wanted something unique, and thistle-renneted cheeses can't be any more unique for American cheese, let alone the Finger Lakes region.

With no obvious commercial sources of thistle rennet available online, I naturally did what I've been know to do: impulsively buy plants with some marginal nutritive value (e.g., my dwarf meyer lemon and dwarf Gran Nain trees.)

Las Saturday, I found a vendor of live Cardoon plants online and for about $20, became an impatient to-be owner of a 4.5 inch cardoon plant.

It came yesterday, surviving a most unpleasant late March snow/sleet storm in Ithaca. 

Hope it will bloom this summer so we can make some CHEESE.

My 2-minute spiel on Listeria

This spring, I took the Science Communication Workshop (Comm 5560) with Dr. Bruce Lewenstein. Over the weekend, 14 graduate students and post-docs learned about science journalism, and how to effectively present our work to general audiences.

One of the class exercises was talking about our work...on camera. We were trained by some of Cornell's press office staff.

I'm pretty shy, but I liked the chance to practice. Here's my (boring) video on Listeria!

Maple Magic

This weekend, we drove to the Arnot Teaching and Research Forest for Maple Weekend.

Networks of trees are connected by sap lines. The collective network is called the "sugarbush."

We learned about maple sap and forests. Can you identify the trees? (Answers below)

Then we toured the Sugarhouse, where sap was being boiled into maple syrup in a large evaporator.

We tasted a sample of syrup made today in the sugarhouse. I was struck by the buttery notes...which got me thinking of fermentation.

Sequencing studies have explored the microbiota of maple sap. The predominant species are gram-negative rods: Pseudomonas and Rahnella. Lactic acid bacteria have also been detected. I wonder if we tasted the by-products of some fermentation in today's maple syrup.

Vince Razionale Visits

Saturday evening, Vince Razionale of the Cellars at Jasper Hill gave a guest lecture and led a tasting of six Jasper Hill cheeses.

The cheeses, wearing their traveling pants.

             

Steve and the other CCC leaders plated 60 plates for our 54 anticipated guests.

The crowd included (but wasn't limited to) students, cheesemakers, chefs, professors, and hockey fans.

On the cheese plate: 

12 o'clock - Weybridge, from Scholten Family Farm

2 o'clock - Landaff, from Landaff Creamery

4 o'clock - Cabot Clothbound Cheddar

7 o'clock - Oma, by von Trapp Farmstead

9 o'clock - Bayley Hazen Blue, by Jasper Hill Farm

The cheese missing from the plate was my favorite of the evening:  Winnimere, by Jasper Hill Farm.

This washed rind cheese breaks down so much during aging, it needs its pine wood shell just to keep it intact. 

To serve it, Vince cut off the top and our guests dipped (clean) spoons into the gooey center. Vince described this cheese is high in demand, and he often has to turn down requests for it. 

A highlight of my cheese-tasting year, it's best described as "a luscious bacon pudding with a hint of smoke and sweetness."

After the tasting, we took Vince out to my favorite restaurant in Ithaca, Just-a-Taste, and then capped the night with a sampling of beers leftover from our Beer & Cheese pairing. Our cherished bottle of Ommegang's Zuur had aged considerably in the month, becoming a less sweet and more roasty sour ale.

A big thank you to Vince from the Cheese Club at Cornell!

IL to NY to CA to IL and back to NY, in a box

My mom has a knack for finding one-of-a-kind decor.

She found a dozen gold-rimmed, bird-adorned glasses. She sent them to me...over 2 weeks ago, via UPS. The shipment history: Illinois to Buffalo to Gardena, CA, back to Illinois, back to Buffalo, finally to Ithaca.

 I asked her if perhaps she sent them via Pony Express instead of UPS.

Despite the long journey, they arrived without a scratch.
Thanks, Mom!

Plant Inspecting

Silin, a labmate and leader of the Environmental Sampling Plan Team (EnviroSamp?), and I walked around the processing plant today to consider potential sampling sites.

We've got a handle on all the drains (16 or more), and some suspicious cracks in the wall.

Silin also looked like a tiny person holding this GIANT wrench:

Jasper Hill Tasting

This Saturday, March 12, the Cheese Club at Cornell is hosting a special lecture and tasting with Vince Razionale of the Cellars at Jasper Hill (the "Blank at Blank" naming parallelism at its best).

Here's a preview of cheese we (hope we) will taste.

More info on the event.

What I'm most excited to try: the Moses Sleeper, a bloomy rind Ayrshire milk cheese.

Ithaca is SNOW

Last night, the biggest snow storm of the century my time here hit.

One look outside of my window, and I knew I wasn't driving. My landlord and his son-in-law were clearing the lot.

We walked up Buffalo.

Even the mayor helps with snow maintenance in Ithaca.

Cars were buried.

Does a gnome call Buffalo St its home?

Finally, we hit the Bowels of Ithaca: Collegetown.

Ithaca is (snowy) GORGES.

Through Central Campus.

.

Ran into Food Scientist Claire, pretended I was The Sartorialist.

Offered a ride by a friendly person.

Declined.

Some of us were more chipper than others.

Snow Art: guess that building!

Cornell owns Big Red plow trucks.

The Vanities of Stocking Hall

Dairymen humor me.