Milk can

“ Ordinary milk cannot be kept good for a long time, especially in hot weather. If milk were concentrated in this country, and heated with the boroglyceride, carriage would be saved, and the milk might be kept good and fresh for a fortnight and more; all it would require would be to reduce it again to its original strength. If fresh milk be treated with this preservative it can be set for cream for several days, even in hot weather. The cream which rises will keep, and the skim-milk will remain sweet for several weeks; this I have tried in the dairy at Beaumont College. ”

“ How Increased.—However, the supply of milk can easily be increased in quantity and correspondingly improved in quality if the mother will drink freely of cow's milk, and use other substantial foods at the same time. If the milk is constipating, or rests heavy on the stomach, then a little lime water may be added to it in the proportion of one or two tablespoonfuls to a glass of milk. Regular exercise in the open air is also necessary in order that the general health may be kept in the best possible condition. ”

“ The milk, as fast as drawn, should be removed from the place of milking, lest it absorb odors from the droppings, the breath, or the exhalations from the cow's body—or even from the sweat and grime of the person and clothes of the milker—for milk is extremely sensitive to these influences. It is much more so than is popularly supposed, and should be put in a sweet atmosphere as soon as possible when drawn. Fine fancy goods, with the most delicious and delicate flavor, cannot be made from milk that has been exposed to the influence of a foul atmosphere. ”

“ Whole milk contains everything necessary for growth and maintenance, protein, fat, milk-sugar, salts, water, and the unknown but invaluable accessory substances. It is of such prime importance that each family should have this admirable food that I have suggested that no family of five should ever buy meat until they have bought three quarts of milk. The insistence by scientific men upon the prime importance of milk has probably had something to do with its rapid enhancement in price. ”

“ When the child is big enough to thrive on undiluted, unmodified cow’s milk, it should not only be allowed, but urged, to continue on a diet in which this, the best of all foods, is the most essential part. An excellent form in which to feed milk to the growing child is junket. Eaten slowly with a spoon as a pudding, it is exposed to the action of digestion much better than milk swallowed by the glassful in a hurry and even if it is cold there is no danger of defective rennet action in the stomach because such action has already taken place. ”

“ Is is not too much to say that a fitting supply of milk is at present too seldom secured even by families who can well afford to pay for it. The full value of milk as an article of diet is not yet sufficiently appreciated by people who ought to be aware of it. Many adults regard it mainly as food for children, and many believe that they can not digest it, and state that it "curdles on the stomach," and makes them "bilious." The ordinary milk-supply to many establishments is just sufficient to allow their tea and coffee to be colored with it. ”

“ It is a matter of great importance that the dairy should not be situated near a pig-stye, sewer, or water-closet, the effluvia from which would be likely to taint the milk. It is surprising how small a quantity of putrescent matter is sufficient to taint a whole churn of milk; and as it has been demonstrated that the almost inappreciable emanations from a cesspool are capable of conferring a bad flavor on milk, it is in the highest degree important to remove from the churn and milk-pail every trace of the sour milk. ”

“ Ripened with a pure culture of lactic acid bacteria, it makes a healthful, refreshing drink, like buttermilk. Only when it is allowed to sour without proper care or control does skim milk, as whole milk does, become unfit for food or drink. On a cold winter morning when men are going to work (or perhaps are looking for work which they cannot find) , and children are on their way to school, often underfed, a street-corner wagon or stand where boiling hot, fresh, sweet skim milk might be distributed at a cent or two a glass would be a blessing in any city. ”

“ Formulas for artificial food should follow the proportions found in mother’s milk by expert analysis. Plain cow’s milk unmodified is too rich in solids to be given to an infant. On the other hand, the nursing baby, or the baby fed on properly modified milk, does not require much plain [Pg 68] water, as it receives an ample supply of water in its feedings to quench thirst and keep the body in good condition.
For the baby which is to be artificially fed at one month or less, plain cow’s milk, boiled water, and malt sugar form the best possible combination. ”

“ If you have no cellar that can be kept warm and free from the smell of vegetables, set your milk on a shelf, in a warm closet, where, of course, you will keep no vegetables or meats, as nothing is so easily impregnated with odors of all kinds as milk. Cover the pans or bowls with a fine net, to exclude dust or motes of any kind.
Thirty-six hours is as long as milk should remain unskimmed, summer or winter. Every hour longer, even though the milk may taste sweet, is insuring bitter butter. As you skim off the cream, stir it well each time. ”

“ In cases where children, or adults, find that milk troubles the stomach, it is often owing to its richness, and water should then be mixed with it. Infants generally require diluted milk, a little sweetened, as cow’s milk is, when good, considerably richer than mother’s milk. The fact that oil is placed among the articles most difficult to digest, shows the mistake of many, who give diluted cream instead of milk, supposing it to be better for infants. ”

“ Elephant's milk is used in eye diseases, and mare's milk in rheumatism. Ass's milk is saltish, and is supposed to relieve cough in children. Camel's milk is laxative, and is used in dropsy, asthma, and scrofulous diseases. The properties of milk are said to vary according to the colour of the animal and the qualities of the pasture. The chief preparations of milk are Daclhi (curds) , a favourite remedy for diarrhoea ; Takra (whey) , which is refrigerant ; Navanita (butter) , used in constipation ; Ghrita (clarified butter) , is tonic, emollient, and cooling ”

“ The milk we have should be used as effectively as possible. The most economical way for a nation to use its milk so as to get the benefit of all the food in it, is, of course, as whole milk, or evaporated or dried whole milk. The next most economical way is in the form of whole-milk cheese, since all but the whey is used in it. ”

“ If artificial feeding becomes necessary, clean cow’s milk is the best substitute. Cow’s milk is made for the calf, whose stomach and digestion are much coarser, and development much more rapid, than the baby’s. As produced, it contains too high a percentage of protein and lime, too low a percentage of sugar and phosphorus, and the curd is too large and coarse for the baby’s digestion. It is difficult to produce perfectly clean, and to keep perfectly sweet until feeding. ”

“ When milk is allowed to stand for some time exposed to warmth and air, a spontaneous coagulation occurs, caused by fermentative changes in the sugar of milk, by which it is converted into lactic acid through the action of germs.
Milk is sometimes adulterated by water, the removal of more or less of the cream, or the addition of some foreign substance to increase its density.
The quality of milk is more or less influenced by the food upon which the animal is fed. Watery milk may be produced by feeding a cow upon sloppy food.
The milk of diseased animals should never be used for food. ”

“ In addition, sterilized milk is a different article from fresh milk, its chemical composition being altered by the process. The milk of the cow, when ingested, is changed upon encountering the gastric juices, into whey, a liquid, and into a tough mass of curd most difficult of digestion. To call milk a liquid food is absurd, for the solid matter in a pint of milk is equal to that in a half pound of meat, and in its dense coagulated form it is vastly more difficult of digestion. ”

“ In order to modify or “humanize” cow’s milk so as to make its composition nearly the same as that of mother’s milk, simple dilution with water is therefore not sufficient.
There are, however, various other methods which may be used to advantage. For instance, top-milk from a bottle of fresh milk which has stood 4 or 6 hours in ice water will contain 6 to 8% of fat. By diluting this with an equal part of water, the percentage of protein, fat and mineral matter will be about right, and sugar, either cane-sugar or milk-sugar, may be added to supply the carbohydrates. ”

“ Scientists agree that milk protects by providing in the best form those necessities which are often lacking in other foods. Milk supplies calcium so necessary for sound bones and teeth, phosphorus, [Pg 160] easily digested protein, butter fat and milk sugar. Most important of all are the vitamins found in milk. Milk acquires these properties from the cow, a living factory manufacturing milk from raw products, which are the foods the cow eats—the pasture grasses and the cured hay, supplemented with carefully blended grain rations. ”

“ There are important differences between human milk and the milk of all other mammals. For example, human milk contains certain substances which exercise a preventive influence against certain human diseases, but cow’s milk contains these substances in much smaller proportion, or not at all. It follows from this, that in the [126] nourishment of a human infant we cannot without danger replace human milk by the milk of any other mammal—and cow’s milk is an especially dangerous substitute for human milk. ”

“ The half-skimmed milk left when the top-milk has been removed after 3 to 6 hours’ setting will still contain 2% or more of butter-fat and is very good for drinking; even the skim milk from which the cream has been taken after 12 hours’ setting is still an excellent beverage, provided it is sweet. Perfectly skimmed, almost entirely fatless, milk may be used in various ways in cooking, to make up for lack of protein in many other food products. But care must be taken that it is pure and sweet, or rather, its condition, sweet or sour, must be under the perfect control of the housekeeper. ”

“ In the hospital or in the home it serves as a substitute for milk when a mild diet of easily digested food is temporarily required for a weak stomach. For such purposes it must not be allowed to become acid as in cheesemaking, but should be prepared as the chief product from sweet new milk or freshly separated skim milk. The sweet milk is set with rennet—one Junket Tablet, dissolved in cold water, to a quart of milk—at a temperature of 90° to 100° F. As soon as a firm curd is formed it is carefully broken up and transferred to a strainer of cheese-cloth. ”

“ A tumbler and a half of warm milk (of a temperature of about 90° Fahr.) , in which half an ounce of cane, still better milk, sugar has been dissolved, and a bottle of skimmed cow’s milk, are then added.
“The addition of the sugar is made for the purpose of remedying the small amount of lactine in cow’s milk; the water is added to make the milk, which is rich in casein, thinner, and thus to facilitate its agitation and emulsion. Skim milk is used because it contains less fat, an excess of which interferes with fermentation. ”

“ As has already been said, no food has so far been discovered which could be effectually substituted for milk. There is no food, however, which requires more attention in its selection and care. It is very susceptible to both odors and flavors, absorbing them both readily, as will be found if milk be placed in the same compartment with foods of strong odor and flavor, without being properly covered and protected. ”

“ As the milk teeth come through, other farinaceous matter may be gradually blended with the milk, and there is nothing better than to begin at about eight months with a teaspoonful of baked flour, well boiled in a pint of milk and water, or in the water, to be afterwards cooled with milk. Oftentimes a little salt, as well as sugar, will materially help its digestion. The child will do well on that food—the quantity being duly increased—until it has cut almost all its milk teeth, when it may eat bread and butter, rice, and egg puddings, and occasionally eat a boiled egg once a day. ”

“ The lesson of practicable importance that we learn from this is that the milk of one of the lower animals is not in its natural state quite suited to the delicate stomach of the growing infant, and that if it be substituted for the mother's milk it must be more or less altered, depending upon the age of the child. It is particularly important that sweet milk be taken slowly, as otherwise large curds, difficult of digestion, form as soon as it gets into the stomach. ”

“ Milk contains specifics for growth. Experiments with animals have taught us that there are two specific substances, known as vitamines, which must be present in the diet if a young animal is to grow. If either one is absent, growth is impossible. Both are to be found in milk, one in the cream and the other in the skim milk or whey. For this reason children should have whole milk rather than skim milk. Of course, butter and skim milk should produce the same result as whole milk. ”