Cheese Kits
With all the specialised ingredients and step by step instructions, Mad Millie kits are the perfect introduction to cheesemaking. Getting creative has never been so easy.
Beverage Kits
Brewing or infusing your own beverages from scratch can be incredibly satisfying, especially when sharing the finished product with friends and family. Ginger beer, kombucha or gin anyone?
Fermenting Kits
Make your own homemade fermented foods with Mad Millie kits. Whether you are a sauerkraut lover, kombucha drinker or kefir consumer, your gut will thank you for it!
Vegan Kits
At Mad Millie we strive to support more sustainable choices in the best way we know how. The Mad Millie vegan range ensures you don’t miss out on some of the best things in life, namely cheese and chocolate!
Fresh from our blog
Choose to reuse this Plastic Free July
If there’s ever a time to get started with the zero-waste movement, it’s now! This July, we want to encourage you to be part of a global movement to reduce single-use plastic waste. To help you get started, here are some tips for reducing and reusing single-use plastics this July, and from now on! If there’s ever a time to get started with the zero-waste movement, it’s now! This July, we want to encourage you to be part of a global movement to reduce single-use plastic waste every day – at home, work, school, and even at your local café. If you want to participate but don’t know where to start, we’ll be sharing some tips for reducing and reusing single-use plastics this July, and from now on! Plastic Free July was created in 2011 in an to raise awareness around reducing single-use plastics. The movement has grown from strength to strength and in 2019, there were over 250 million participants. On the Plastic Free July website, you can pledge to participate in many ways: - Choose to observe the challenge for a day, a week, a month or beyond - Avoid single-use packaging or choose to go completely plastic-free - Make changes on a personal level, at work, at school, in your community or anywhere else you are involved. Now, avoiding plastic for an entire month may seem difficult or maybe near impossible, but it’s important to remember that Plastic Free July is not about being perfect, it’s about reducing plastic waste in a way that fits into your lifestyle. With the world still facing the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be difficult to find the substitutions you’re looking for, so don’t be hard on yourself. Remember, the health and safety of you and your loved ones come first and foremost. If the month can help open your eyes to the plastic pollution epidemic, then you can consider it a success. There’s no better time to get involved. But, where do I start? 1. Say no to the “Big Four” Replace single-use plastic bags, water bottles, takeaway coffee cups and straws with reusables. Most of us can simply say no to straws but for the others, think shopping bags made from organic fibres, metal or glass water bottles and a ceramic mug or metal thermos for your daily grind. 2. Start Building Up Your Reusable Collection Take things a step further by reducing more single-use plastics like produce bags. You can easily make your own or buy them from your local supermarket. Better still, if you only need a couple of onions or lemons, try skipping the bag entirely. Another idea is to stash a set of metal utensils - a knife, fork and spoon - in your bag and use a reusable container for lunches, storage, takeaways, and shopping. You can also start hoarding glass jars; use these for everything; storing and shopping for bulk foods and making food (like fermented sauerkraut). Lastly, invest in some beeswax wraps to avoid that sticky plastic film we’ve become all too familiar with. 3. Eat the Real Stuff There are many ways to cut out processed foods that are most commonly purchased in plastic packaging. We’d recommend sticking to natural, simple foods. For recipe inspiration, take a look at our recipes for homemade versions of your favourite foods. We bet they'll even taste better than their packaged, processed counterparts. Or, get your hands on one of our kits and start fermenting yoghurt, making cheese, brewing kombucha and more. We even have something for our vegan friends too! 4. Ask, Ask and Ask Some More Not sure if your local takeaway fills reusable containers? Just ask! Most places won’t know what you’re talking about, so hand over your container and ask the server to put food in it. Maybe even throw in why you’re doing this to raise awareness. 5. Do It With a Friend By taking the challenge with a friend, partner or colleague, you'll be able to enjoy the support of other like-minded individuals – and have fun while doing it. There is power in numbers! 6. Google It If you can’t think of an alternative to your regular single-use plastic item, ask Google for a ‘life hack’. There is tons of information out there; it’s up to us to find it! By making a small change, you can be part of the solution to plastic pollution. Help play your part towards cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities. Best of all, this Plastic Free July will help you find alternatives that can become new habits forever. How will you be taking part this July?
Apple Ginger Beer for Father's Day
Father’s Day is just around the corner if you call the US or UK home. It’s one of those days where you don’t want to spend a fortune, but a little bit of acknowledgment for everything your Dad or father figure has done is always appreciated. Gifting something you’ve made yourself is the best way to win him over, you’ll be the favourite in no time. We’ve come up with a new Apple Ginger Beer recipe that we highly recommend you try out. It’s the perfect refreshing beverage, the strong, spicy notes of ginger with a slightly sweet, more complex apple base. If you’re like us and prefer it to be heavier on the ginger, don’t be scared to throw in a few more chunks of the good stuff. If you want to try some different flavours change the apple juice for an alternative; pear, cranberry or pineapple. Just make sure the sugar content is the same as the apple (around 10g/100mL on the nutrition panel). If it is more or less then adjust the added sugar and water levels accordingly. Too much sugar may cause speedy fermentation resulting in more alcohol and exploding bottles. If you’re based in NZ or Australia now is a great time to start practising your recipes so they’re perfect in time for September. Alcoholic Apple Ginger Beer Ingredients 400 g (14.1 oz) brown sugar 3.25 L (3.4 US qt) water at 35oC 20 g (0.7 oz) dried ginger or 2/3 cup (1.3 oz) of fresh ginger juice ½ cup (125 mL) lemon juice 1 packet Mad Millie Ginger Beer Yeast 1 L (1 US qt) Apple juice White sugar for carbonation Method Dissolve the sugar in 1 L (1 US qt) of water, mix in the ginger and lemon juice. Add to the fermenting jar. Add the apple juice and remaining water to the fermenting jar. Add the yeast and carefully swirl to mix. Half fill the airlock with water and fit to the top. Ferment for 1 week at room temperature (20oC/68oF). After 1 week sanitise 6 x 750 mL glass bottles, a jug and a funnel with boiling water. Use the 0.75 scoop on the 3-way sugar measurer to add 1 scoop of white sugar to each bottle. Pour the ginger beer into bottles. Seal and ferment for 2 weeks at room temperature (20oC/68oF) then enjoy!
Why cheese needs milk
World Milk Day has been celebrated this week which gave us a timely reminder of why we really do love the creamy white stuff. More and more, milk is getting a bad reputation as we shift to an environmentally focused lens on our food and beverages. While we wholeheartedly agree that we need to reduce our consumption of certain products, we do think some things are still ok in moderation. Milk is one of these, with its nutritional benefits it’s a product that is hard to beat. Plus, without milk we can’t make cheese!! We have had a few questions from time to time enquiring if our Fresh and Italian Cheese Kit recipes can be made with plant-based milks. The answer is no and let us explain a bit more as to why. There are various different steps in cheese making, depending on what type of cheese is being made. However, the important ones where your milk really comes into play is the ripening and then separating your milk into curds and whey. Ripening This is your step where you are heating the milk up to a nice warm temperature and adding your culture. The culture is predominantly lactic acid bacteria which turns the lactose sugar naturally present in the milk, into lactic acid. Lactose is the sugar that some people have trouble digesting and are therefore lactose intolerant. This is why the alternative of plant-based milks works well for lactose intolerant people, it contains no lactose. Separating into curds and whey The addition of rennet and the separation of curds and whey involves the acid produced by the bacteria (which requires lactose) as well as the milk proteins and fats. The rennet enzymes work together with the acid and create a tangled structure of milk proteins and fats, this is your curd. The leftover moisture and soluble proteins in the milk create the whey. Once you have the curd you’re in business with your cheese making! So for those asking, no you can’t use our Fresh or Italian Cheese Kits with plant based milk BUT you can take a look at our Vegan Cheese Kit. This little wonder has been developed for those that are specifically avoiding milk but don’t want to miss out on the delights of cheese. Using raw nuts as the base there are recipes for Marinated Feta, Soft Mozzarella, Firm Mozzarella, Halloumi, Ricotta, Cream Cheese and Mascarpone. Each recipe is made to try and give our plant-based friends the best cheese possible, with the bonus of nutty goodness. We hope you enjoy your milk or nutty cheese journey and make sure you get in touch with any questions or feedback on our kits. We love to hear what you think!