Also down on the farm, the cows are out and spring just might be here. It doesn’t seem to be able to make up its mind. When it does, the grass will shoot up – as will the herd’s milk yield. As discussed (that’s a ‘royal’ discussed) several times before, despite fairly buoyant demand, the organic milk market has become so fragmented that there is no one prepared to collect (and pay for) surplus milk from relatively small farms like Riverford. So the nightmare is that we’re going to have a surplus of short shelf life milk with nowhere to go. Extending the shelf life is a partial answer and hopefully a reduced price will increase sales so for May and, hopefully, June we’re offering Riverford Organic Dairy’s Kefir for 25% off what was already a bargain price of £2.25 NOW £1.70.
If the weather ever does makes up its mind, our kefir based mango lassi will be back on the menu – with a discount. There are few things more refreshing and our canned Alphonso mango pulp is as good as it gets. If you want to make your own (view recipe here) we use one part each of kefir and mango and let it down with an equal amount of yoghurt whey but more kefir, skimmed milk or, even water, will probably do. We add a few bashed cardamom pods and a pinch of green mango powder, briefly simmer, cool, strain into the kefir/mango mix. I think that’s all the secrets – apart from the ones I haven’t told you.