Oy Whey

Remember Miss Muffet, who sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey?

 Nowadays, we are interested mainly in curds - we call them cheese and value them highly. We are not that interested in whey, however,  and are quite prepared to leave it to the spider.  In my opinion this is a big mistake. Whey is really good for you. You can wash your face and hair with whey, you can drink it fresh or fermented, you can evaporate it and make the Norwegian cheese Gjetost ( http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/Gjetost/Gjetost.htm), or you can cook with it. I love using whey for making vegetable soups, hot and cold.   Here's my favorite recipe for a wonderful summer soup, Whey Gazpacho ( My Russian friends will immediately recognize okroshka in this recipe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okroshka. Unfortunately, good Kvass is difficult to find, and I haven't had much success making it at home.) 

2 quarts of whey;

2 cups of diced cucumbers;

1  cup of diced red radishes;

 1/2-1 cup of thinly chopped scallions,

1/2 cup of thinly chopped parsley ( I prefer flat leaf parsley);

1/2-1  cup of finely chopped dill,

salt/pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and chill. Serve cold.

Now, you can be really creative here. You can add diced boiled potatoes and eggs, or use nothing but green vegetables and herbs,  or make your soup as colorful as possible - it will be delicious anyway.