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This is a brilliant time to spend some hours at home making all of the yummy things we can think about! We recently came across a very old and traditional way of making pickled olives at home. Since we love them and since we know very well Signora Rosa who gave us the recipe, we decided to give it a try. It is not difficult at all, but it can take a bit of time, so arm yourself with some patience! You will need water, vinegar, herbs, spices and good jars (Italian “Quattro stagioni” ones or wide neck little demijohns are her favourite!). A lot of people just use a salt and water brine, but this method with vinegar makes a nice savoury treat too! PROCEDURE: Get some raw green olives that have some signs of ripening, wash them properly and rinse them. Crack them with a fruit/veggie press to make sure that the water gets in and removes bitterness. Cover them with water and white vinegar (ratio is 2 cups of white vinegar in 2 L of water, work with your quantities accordingly!). Olives should stay in there from 3 to 7 days (depending on the size), with the mixture being changed every 24 hours. Make sure they stay under the water level using some retaining discs with some weights. The olives will start losing the bright colour and turn into the colour we all know: try one and when they are not bitter anymore, it is time to brine! Drain them and wash the jars. Make a brine using 10g of salt every 100ml of water and add white vinegar with the same ratio as the initial stage (or a bit less if you don’t want the vinegar flavour to be as strong). Mix well. Put the olives back in the jars and add the brine mix. It is time to add some spices and herbs and seasoning as per personal taste (Rosa does different jars depending on the relative/friend who is going to eat the olives!). You can add lemon or lime, garlic, thyme, pepper, chili, bay leaves. Cover the olives with some oil to protect them from air and oxidization and close the jar properly. They should be ready in 4 to 10 weeks to taste. Some people don’t like the vinegar flavour too much: for them, open the olives when they are almost ready and after washing them and replace with a brine made of water and salt and put them back in a jar until ready. Keep olives in a dry, cool place. You can enjoy them in any possible way! On cured meats and cheese platters, chopped them in your dishes or as a sneaky snack out of the jar!

No matter what the season or the temperature, our creative artisans minds regularly turn to beer making and all of its delicious possibilities of what we can create next! Beer making is the right balance of science and cooking and an exciting hobby that will reignite your passion and heighten your appreciation for beer. A lot of people, however, are afraid that it might be too much of an effort and too time consuming, when really it only takes a few hours with the right equipment, right attitude, some drive and creativity, and a little patience. Not only are home brewed beers less expensive over time but they give you a chance to prove to your mates that you really can make a better brew than the piss that’s on tap at your local pub. In fact, home-made yeast/bottle carbonated brews last much longer and are less likely to go flat as opposed to commercial brews which may only last a year. If you are just an amateur at the very beginning of your brewing experience, a safe place to start is with “tins”. They are pre-hopped liquid malt extracts that come with yeast. They are very simple to make at home and a great starting point for anyone wanting to dive into the world of malt and fermentation. A few months ago, we had dinner at a German restaurant that was serving some awesome house brews using their full-grain nano brewery. This late-night drinking session of such prime German brews was the inspiration for our home-craft brew recipe. Therefore, with our artisans’ ingredients purchased and fermenter sterilized, we would soon be knocking steins and beer mugs with our own quick to make European Lager! Artisan's European Lager You will need: 1 can of Morgan's Blue Mountain Lager OR Cooper’s European Lager 1kg of Light Malt Mix or Morgan’s Liquid Brew Enhancer Tin 12g of Hersbruker Hop Pellets (boiling/mix phase) 1 Packet of Premium Yeast (US-05, Nottingham, S-04, Morgan’s European Lager) 12g of Hallertau Hop Pellets (Added as dry hop method on day 4-6 of ferment) Procedure: Follow your usual cleaning and sanitizing procedures. Bring 2-4 litres of water to a gentle boil and steep hops for 10 minutes (you are essentially brewing a hop tea). Combine the hop tea, Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager tin and the Light Malt/Brew Enhancer in your fermenter. Top up fermenter to 23 litres. With a sterile large spoon or whisk, vigorously stir the beer until the top foams. Ensuring the temperature is less than 28 degrees; sprinkle the yeast satchel over the beer. Fermentation will start soon and you will notice air bubbles in the airlock. Measure specific gravity with your hydrometer regularly, to ensure fermentation is constant until all sugar is gone. Towards the lasts days of ferment (or even bottling day) add the optional 12-25g of hops in the provided strain bag which will give the beer a more aromatic hop finish with less bitterness. When fermentation has finished, bottle the beer adding some priming sugar (or carbonation drops) accordingly and let the bottle rest for at least 5-6 weeks in a dry, dark and warm place (16*C - 22*C). Occasionally, give the plastic bottle a squeeze and if well firm, time to refrigerate to 4*C and crack a few open with friends to enjoy the spoils of the home brewer legend, that is YOU! Wanting more of a challenge? If you’re looking to be a bit more creative and take of the training wheels, you can try your hand at making a brew from raw ingredients (i.e. malted grains and hops). If this is for you, then we have you covered with a full set of options for mini mashing systems such as the Grainfather, as well as basic components to create your own simple system. Shop here on our online store or see us in store for more tailored advice, or even keep an eye out for one of our upcoming brew workshops at https://weteachme.com/artisansbottega. Here are some products that we recommend to get you started on your brewing journey! A Flash Conical Fermenter with multiple valve ports, temperature control and all the modern accessories. The shape of the conical fermenter allows for settlement on the bottom and will allow you to flush out all the nasty yeast sediment, to allow your brew to mature and bottle cleaner beers. To keep that Fermenter heated we also recommend a Heater Belt! For great craft, pub quality beer, we suggest Fresh Wort Kits 15L carboys! What’s this you ask? We have done the hard work of a 3-hour grain boil for you. Just add 5lt of fresh warm water to gain a 1045-1055 specific gravity, pitch your yeast and hops and get going! Save hours bottling long necks to prepare for a party and get yourself a 134 Litre Kegmaster Keg storage and carbonating fridge and have beer carbonated and ready in 24 hrs. You get fresh beer on tap, plus, you can add a spare keg for sparkling wine, cider or water! Don’t forget a Digital thermometer to keep a close eye on the temperature in your fermenter and allow it to keep perfect temperature for optimum brew quality.