Best Kale extraction method

[Mash]

I currently boil mine and use the strained water.

Heard some people blitz it. With or without boiling?

Looking to get the most out of it. Don't care about the mess.

Has anyone done any trials to establish the best method to release the nutrients?

Googe! Googe! Googe!

[packapoo]

I've done boil but more usually just washed, quick under cold water, and blitzed.
No fails.

[Anavrin]

I've thought about this, people say if you boil your veg too long it looses all its goodness, maybe because it's goodness goes into the boiling water, away from the food you want to eat, in our case that's good if you only want the water!

Next time I might boil the tits off of it, then bend, then chuck it all in, anything to try and speed the ferment up a little, it ferment slowly but surely, just not quickly!

[Easydrinker]

My mother used to boil the life out of all green veg, for what seemed like all day, then strain them, and drink the cooking liquid herself, telling me that there resided the goodness!
These days I try to eat green veg. as a hot salad, crispy and hot, but suspect that boiling the bejesus out them is better for feeding a wash

Robert.

[Icefever]

Good this needs to be kicked about a bit...the last time I simmered for around 5mins...let it cool a little..into a colander to drain into the bucket, then squeezed the last drops out.

I have read somewhere (can't remember) a guy blitzed it and added to the wash, only to find he had to filter when the time came to still.

A thought....what about..simmer to get the juice, then pop what's left into a hop bag and hang in the wash??

[Myles]

If you are going to be doing this on a regular basis it might be worth thinking of convenience.

Cook up a big batch of leaf in the smallest amount of water that you can, and then put the concentrated liquid into ice cube bags and freeze till required.

Just calculate number of ice cubes per 100 gm of leaf.

Simply pop out a green ice cube or two when needed.

[Mash]

I currently boil and use the juice.
Thinking..
Maximise the usability of the nutrient
Minimise the mess to prepare
Minimise the straining.

But am I missing something? I am looking to try a 200g yeast pitch so it seems logical to add more nutrient.

[Myles]

My gut reaction is that it may not be necessary.

Yeast does extract nutrients from yeast, and I boil yeast specifically to liberate those nutrients. My understanding is that nutrients are particularly important in the initial stages because we tend to pitch at less than optimum density.

In most fermenter's there is an initial growth phase followed by a fermentation phase. I invariably use a starter culture to accommodate this growth phase (started 24 hours before pitching into the fermenter) and so that I am pitching a larger volume of yeast which is already active.

It may be that with the higher qty of yeast you are using, the extra nutrients are not needed. And also you can have TOO much nutrients, which can cause problems.

[Mash]

Maybe just a wee smidgen of olive oil then.

[Benoit]

Would freezing the kale first work? In the same way some of us freeze fruit to make juicing easier? It would take less heat then to get the rest of the goodies out & less chance of denaturing the vitamins / minerals? I have been in the pub all afternoon that logic may be well off the mark

[Easydrinker]

Don't expect much in the way of use able advise after telling us you were in the pub all afternoon

[Mash]

Would freezing the kale first work? In the same way some of us freeze fruit to make juicing easier? It would take less heat then to get the rest of the goodies out & less chance of denaturing the vitamins / minerals? I have been in the pub all afternoon that logic may be well off the mark

Hmm. Thats a good thought. Really surprised it didn't dawn on me as an option. I freeze all sorts of things.

[packapoo]

[quote="Icefever"]Good this needs to be kicked about a bit...

I have read somewhere (can't remember) a guy blitzed it and added to the wash, only to find he had to filter when the time came to still.


Blitzed kale will drop out of suspension when fermentation completes.

[googe]

Good question!, I've done minimal research on it, couldn't find much specifically on kale, but what I read indicated some vegetables actually realise certain vitamins once cooked, something I didn't know!. Some blend it, boil it, strain it. I've tried boiling it and using the water but didn't seen to work as well, but it did for others. I always just blitz it, easiest way, but I'd like to find out if it's the best way to get all the goodness available!. Found this, mentions kale, 9th paragraph down. http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... healthier/ . Can't find bugger all else though lol. Just found this, mentions fermentation, but guessing they mean stomach fermentation lol. http://livluna.com/why-you-should-steam-kale/

[Myles]

In the gardening circles there is a crop (Comfrey) that is grown as both a food crop for animals and as a fertiliser because it has such a good carbon / nitrogen ratio, and is loaded with nutrients.

It is converted to a liquid fertiliser by making a cold water "tea". Not suggesting that the method is replicated because it is not sterile (and takes a few weeks), but making a concentrated liquid extract by using a large quantity of plant in a small volume of water does seem to be an option.

Cook up a pan full of Kale in minimal water (in a pressure cooker perhaps?) then dump it into a jam bag, put it in a small table top fruit press (or between two boards and clamp it up tight to squeeze out the liquid.)