What Gil taught us at the farm is that it doesn't matter what kind of rice wash you use. You can get technical and experiment with different kinds of rice wash...but for him, it's starchy water (aka CARBS) that are important. There was an American at the seminar (I'm in the Philippines and the seminar was at Gil's farm) who asked if he could use potato wash since he doesn't prepare rice back home. Gil's response? "What do you think?" *wink* We Filipinos eat rice with every meal, so we get rice wash all the time. A woman in the seminar who was lactating even asked if she could use breast milk. Gil said breast milk is the best milk, and if she can afford to pump THAT MUCH milk to make lactobacilli culture, then go ahead...but of course he quipped, "Why deprive your baby of breast milk when you can use the cheapest pasteurized milk in the market for culturing lactobacilli?" He also said that he uses the curd on top of his culture for bread spreads. :) It's basically cottage cheese. When he's feeling "gourmet-ish", he'll pick some herbs in the garden and toss them in with the lactobacilli while it's fermenting and he'd have herb cheese. :)

I too would like to know how and when to safely transplant young castor bean plants that I am starting from seeds from last year's plant. I have soaked and planted 8 seeds in one large pot. Also...can I harvest the pods before they burst so I don't have to look for them all over the place? If so when do I know its time before they burst? I would like to put them in a plastic bag so they will burst in there. Lastly....how long can I keep the seeds? I still have many seeds left from last year and would like to save them. Thanks Terri

Since posting my freezing tips several years ago, I've found another fool-proof way to reheat frozen beans in small quantities. If all that is needed is enough for DW & me (about a pint of frozen beans) I just use a pot of hot water from the coffee maker. I pre-thaw the beans under running water, then place them in a large bowl, pour enough hot water to cover them, and stir. After about a minute, I quickly drain the water from the bowl, and repeat the process, until the water remains steaming hot after stirring. At that point, drain, season to taste, and enjoy. This method preserves most of the texture, they will almost taste like fresh picked. It works well for frozen zucchini as well.

We installed our plumbed in Miele CVA6805 in early 2023, thus been a couple of years and it’s great! Amazing coffee with lavazza espresso beans from Costco! To the commenter having problem with too bitter taste, also try setting grounds to be coarser. We installed a whole house water filter instead of individual filter for the coffee machine (we also got the steam oven plumbed in next to it). The whole house water filter IMO was a great addition. We got King brand filter (saw it sold at Home Depot online, but purchased directly from the manufacturer in consultation with their sales rep). Now after two years and typically every 2-3 weeks of putting the water container through the dishwasher, the plastic container is very worn, and surely we’re getting unhealthy plastic dose from it in our coffee! Just today a piece of plastic broke off from it. Has anyone else encountered this issue and concerned about it? It is time for us to buy replacement water container, just wishing there was a steel/glass option for it :(