Agricultural Science: Silver Spoon Anime

Well, you probably didn't see this coming, did you? An anime? How professional is that? In this case, very. Silver Spoon (Gin no Saji in Japanese) is probably one of my favorite animes. Other than the fact that it's a fabulous manga-ka (artist), the anime adaptation of the manga books is great and the entire theme is agriculture, which doesn't show up much in anime.

Plot:
Yuugo Hachiken is studious, hard-working, and tired of trying to live up to expectations he just cannot meet. With the ushering in of a brand new school year, he decides to enroll in Ooezo Agricultural High School, a boarding school located in the Hokkaido countryside, as a means to escape from the stress brought upon by his parents.

Initially convinced that he would do well at this institution, Hachiken is quickly proven wrong by his talented classmates, individuals who have been living on farms their entire lives and know just about everything when it comes to food, vegetables, and even the physiology of livestock! Whether it be waking up at five in the morning for strenuous labor or to take care of farm animals, Hachiken is a complete amateur when it comes to the harsh agricultural life.

Commentary:
The thing I love about this show is that it covers a lot of ground. Sometimes it's a bit romanticized, but a lot of times it pretty accurate. The general concept is that we the viewers are like the main character Hachiken, who has zero agricultural experience and yet has elected to go to an agricultural high school. He goes from the smartest kid in the class to average but realizes that the other students have skewed information. They are super smart in topics related to animals and growing vegetables, but don't know who the tenth emperor is, things like that. Hachiken is a great character because he constantly tries, even when he doesn't want to get up at 4am or finally figures out where eggs come from and has a nervous breakdown as his brain tries to get over that fact. I also love how many different themes we see in the show.

Chickens:

He's introduced to chickens by being told that the students are slaves to the chickens and that for each broken egg it's a day of suspension. Then He realizes where eggs come out of the chicken and can't eat eggs for a few episodes until he gives in and eats it. He also gets a brief intro to meat processing by learning about smoked chicken.

Cattle:

A calf starts all the mischief in this series as Hachiken tries to 'catch' the baby when it wanders off during his first morning class. Throughout the show we learn about the different types of cattle farms in Japan and how farmers deal with problems like sickness, debt, and cosigning. 

Part of the discussion with cows leads us to raw milk consumption and cheese making. We learn all about sterile environments, temperature and renets. We also learn to be patient while the cheese ages.

I've made a simple chevre (Goat cheese) by literally scalding raw goats milk in a pan, adding a teaspoon of lemon juice and two tbs of salt, stirring until curdled, and then pouring through cheesecloth and twisting to remove the moisture. Then leave it to drip drain for a few hours in the refrigerator. Works great. Here's another recipe for Farmer's Cheese.

Ingredients for Farmers Cheese:

1 gallon whole milk (preferably organic), room temp*
35 oz (large tub) full fat Greek yogurt, room temp*

2 Tbsp sour cream

How to Make Farmers Cheese Day 1:

In a large stainless steel pot, whisk together 1 gallon milk, 35 oz Greek yogurt and 2 Tbsp sour cream. Cover and place in a warm 100˚F oven for 1 hour until luke-warm. (For many ovens, the lowest temp setting is 170˚F, so if that is the case for you, keep an eye on the mixture and take it out of the oven as soon as it's just warm).

Place the covered pot in a warm room for 24 hours (I put it next to a heating vent on the floor). When it’s done, it should become the consistency of sweetened condensed milk and pulls when you lift it up with a spoon. DO NOT STIR.

Farmers Cheese Day 2:

Place on the stove again over low heat for 40 minutes or until warm. DO NOT STIR. Heat it slowly, since high temperatures destroy the nutritious protein. Remove from stove and place in a warm room for another 24 hours. It should be consistency of regular yogurt.

Farmers Cheese Day 3:

Place on the stove over medium/low heat 40 minutes or until hot. The cheese will separate from the whey. Turn off the heat and let it sit covered for an hour (this helps for the curds to separate as well). DO NOT STIR.

Place 2 layers of very fine mesh cheesecloth over a large colander set inside a large bowl. Pour cheese mixture over cheesecloth. Keep the leftover liquid - this is called whey - refrigerate it and use instead of water for making the best bread you've ever had!

Tie a knot with your cheesecloth. To squeeze out excess liquid, place a cutting board either in a baking dish or in the sink. Place tied bag of cheese on top. Set another cutting board on the cheese and place a heavy weight over the top (i.e. a heavy cast iron pot or a large jug of water) and let stand 8-10 hours.

Farmers Cheese Day 4:

Unwrap your cheese and it's ready to enjoy! Refrigerate if not using right away. Here are some of our favorite farmers cheese recipes and I have 2 more really really good ones coming soon!
Notes

*Bring milk and Greek yogurt to room temp by leaving them on the counter 4 - 6 hours.

Pigs:

Probably the most important animal in the show is Pork Bowl (butadon). Pork Bowl is the runt of the litter that Hatchiken names and then cares for until slaughtering time (3 months later). His internal issues lead to some thought provoking questions among his classmates. Deciding that he really can't take the idea of someone else eating 'his' pig, he buys the carcass, turns it into bacon, and manages to eat it.

Other animals and topics: horses and eating horse meat, marketing, expansion and foreclosures of farms, vegetable sales, hunting (or hitting with cars), and veterinary practices. 

"What does it take to become a vet?"

There is also a live-action version, which I haven't seen, but seems to stay pretty true to the anime. Here are a few pics from that. Anyways, I hope this makes you more interested in the show. Go watch it if you can, you won't be disappointed.

Discussing pig jaws.