The cooking issues blog from the FCI inspired me to buy a centrifuge. I ended up with an un-refrigerated Jouan C412 that does about 4000 g’s and can hold three liters.
So far I have been using it to de-wax the single varietal honeys we use on the bar, produce clarified grain infused whiskeys (flaked rye aromatized bourbon), and clarify fruit juices for liqueur production.
I have also been using the ‘fuge to make nut milks and nut creams. I was not raised on nut milk or even nuts in general so they are all very new to me, but I have really been enjoying them.
So far for all the nut milks I have been using the ratio of 25% by weight nuts to water. The nuts and water are blended well and then run through the ‘fuge for twenty minutes.
Spinning produces three separate layers. The bottom is the nut solids, followed by the nut milk and then a layer of nut fats that also contains (depending on the type of nut) nut shell fragments.
The results are fun but so far I have only consumed them on their own or in cocktails. To make the milks consistent and intuitive to use, hydrometer testing seemed like it might be helpful.
Upon testing with the hydrometer the most recent hazelnut milk rang in at 1.018 @14C while the cashew milk rang in at 1.020 @20C
Comparison to cow milks can be found here.
At the temperature tested, the hazelnut milk supposedly compares to “light cream” while the cashew compares to “half and half”. The sensory experiences unfortunately do not seem to correlate to the bovine comparisons which is making me wonder… maybe a hydrometer can be used to keep the nut milks consistent, but cannot help to make them compare to their cow derived counterparts.
Alas, I need to scheme on some food recipes to test drive them with. Maybe a custard or two or a panna cotta?
::update!::
I used a pistachio nut milk to make some french toast using the modernist cuisine method and the results were spectacular. The french toast was paired with a nice, hot strawberry syrup (400g/l).
Homogenizing these creams seems like a bit of challenge. I’m considering buying a colloid mill to help. I think with the mill I might also be able to make shaving cream from the nut solid by-products (cashew-quinine shaving cream!).
If I use the centrifuge to separate the nut fats I can then collect the fats and make decadent nut “heavy creams” and even cream cheeses.
I can also use the high fat content creams to make preserved-stabilized cream liqueurs.
I just finished my first draft of “advanced nano-distilling basics” and I aspire to have my next book be “advanced liqueur production basics” with a target audience of small rural growers that want to make alcoholic tourist souvenirs (publishers.., a few thousand dollar advance for the colloid mill would really help out!).
***future project. do something with this info… cream liqueur solely from nut derived fats?
NUTRITIONAL VALUES OF BAILEYS
| Energy (Kcal/100ml) | 327 |
|---|---|
| Energy (kJ/100ml) | 1361 |
| Protein | 3g |
| Total Carbohydrate | 25g |
| Fat | 13g |
| Saturated Fat | 8g |
| Cholesterol | 0.04g |
| Sodium | 0.08g |
| Dietary Fibre | Nil |
| Sucrose | 20g |
| Alcohol | 13.5g |
* Values are per 100ml of Baileys
I gather you bought a colloid mill. Could you please tell your experience with it ? Brand and price. Thank you, Kind regards
Hi Fernando.
I have an old 115 volt model which is probably from the 1970’s. I’ve had to do some upgrades like changing the valve to something more modern. I’ve done a lot with it, but I strongly recommend one with more power. And best case, a three phase electricity model like used in modernist cuisine. The one I have doesn’t even have enough power to crush nuts. I have to blend them with a blender blade before I put them through the mill. That being said I still use it for a lot of tasks and it can do high volumes because of the pass through nature of the bowl. Hopefully I will use it more at the distillery this summer.
If you let me know what you want to do with it, I can probably give you some more advice. I bought this one before some new Chinese models became available in the U.S. market.
cheers! -Stephen