Milk of lime

“ By mixing with milk of lime, the acidity is neutralised, zinc oxide and calcium sulphite are thrown down, and a solution of neutral sodium hydrosulphite is obtained which is more stable and can be kept longer without decomposition. To prepare this, take 10 gallons of the acid liquor, as prepared in the manner described above, and mix it with 48 lb. of milk of lime, which is made from 2 lb. good quick-lime. Stir well together, allow all sediment to settle, or better, filter-press the mass. A liquor of 36° Tw. strength will usually be obtained. ”

“ The precipitated lime gives the mass a whitish colour, and the consistence of curdled milk. By allowing it to stand in a large trough, the precipitate, which is principally lime, subsides, and the superincumbent fluid, now an alkaline, instead of an earthy nitrate, is carefully removed and boiled for some time in iron kettles, till it is ready to crystallize. It is then removed again to a large trough, in which it shoots into crystals. ”

“ Lime Boil—In this operation, which is also known as bowking (Ger. beuchen) , the pieces are first run through milk of lime contained in an ordinary washing machine and of such a strength that they take up about 4% of their weight of lime (CaO) . They are then run over winches and guided through smooth porcelain rings (“pot-eyes”) into the kier, where they are evenly packed by boys who enter the vessel through the manhole at the top. ”

“ A small quantity of milk of lime is then added to the juice to remove mechanical impurities, and the skimmed and clarified juice, after being sufficiently concentrated by rapid evaporation in open pans, is transferred to coolers, and thence into upright casks perforated at the bottom, and so placed that the syrup, or uncrystallisable portion, may drain off into a tank or cistern from the newly formed sugar. During the period of crystallisation it is frequently agitated, in order to hasten the change, and to prevent the formation of large crystals. ”

“ It is a very interesting fact that goats’ milk contains ten times as much iron and nearly seven times as 298much lime as human milk, and also ten times as much iron and eight times as much lime as cows’ milk. On account of its nearer similitude to human milk than the cows’ milk, and also because of its being richer in valuable minerals, we will later on, in the chapter on the advantages of milk food, advocate its use in preference to cows’ milk. We will also show at the same time that milk must not be boiled, for by so doing very valuable ferments contained in the milk will be destroyed. ”

“ The lime must first be introduced into a stone vessel, to which should be added such a proportion of milk as will produce a mixture resembling thin cream. Next, the oil is to be gradually poured in; the whole being gently stirred, and the remainder of the milk added. The Spanish white must next be crumbled in, or scattered on the surface of the fluid, which it gradually imbibes, and at length sinks; when the whole should be briskly agitated. ”

“ But in order to make cow’s milk as like the mother’s milk as possible, you must dilute it with water and add some sugar. At first the proportions should be at least equal parts of milk and water, with a small quantity of sugar; if the milk be very poor, a dessert spoonful of cream may be added to each meal with benefit. As cow’s milk soon turns acid, a tablespoonful of lime-water in each bottle is often useful in making it agree better with the child. ”

“ The value of food in reference to its phosphate of lime is not merely a matter of percentage, as this salt may exist in a state of solution, as in milk, or as a solid very difficult of assimilation, as in bones. That retained in cheese is probably in an intermediate condition—not [135] actually in solution, but so finely divided as to be readily dissolved by the acid of the gastric juice.
I may mention, in reference to this, that when a child or other young animal takes its natural food in the form of milk, the milk is converted into unpressed cheese, or curd, prior to its digestion. ”

“ Where shall we get lime for our bones?
We can not eat lime; but the grass and the grains take it out of the earth. Then [73] the cows eat the grass and turn it into milk, and in the milk we drink, we get some of the lime to feed our bones.
In the same way, the grain growing in the field takes up lime and other things that we need, but could not eat for ourselves. The lime that thus becomes a part of the grain, we get in our bread, oat-meal porridge, and other foods. ”

“ Milk is the greatest source of calcium (lime) . Lime is one of the components of food that serves two purposes; it is both building material for bones and regulating material for the body as a whole, helping in several important ways to maintain good health. It is essential that everyone have a supply of lime and particularly important that all growing infants, children, and young people have plenty for construction of bones and teeth. ”

“ If we examine the effects on the fertility of the land, my milch cows, when on rich pasture, and averaging a yield of nine quarts per day, and reckoning one cow to each acre, will carry off in twenty weeks twenty-five pounds of nitrogen, equal to thirty of ammonia. The same quantity of milk will carry off seven pounds of phosphate of lime in twenty weeks from each acre. ”

“ One good recipe for modifying cows' milk is: One part milk, two parts cream, two parts lime-water, three parts sugar water, the sugar water being made by putting two even teaspoonfuls of sugar of milk in a pint of water.
Condensed milk, which is often used as a substitute for cows' milk, is not nearly so good, since it has lost in the process of condensation one of the most important elements, that which forms bone tissue. ”

“ It is well to fill the tank about half full of water, then put in the required amount of the copper sulphate, and after stirring well add the lime milk. It is a good plan to add an excess of lime as it minimizes the danger of burning and aids the mixture in sticking to the leaves well. If one is sure that he has at least as much lime, or an excess of lime, it will not be necessary to test the mixture, but if he is not, a simple test may be made with ferro-cyanide of potassium, obtained at a drug store. ”

“ Lime water may be bought at any druggist's, or easily prepared at home.
Lime Water. Pour two quarts boiling water over an inch cube unslacked lime; stir thoroughly and stand over night; in the morning pour off the liquid that is clear, and bottle for use. Keep in a cool place.
BUTTER COMPOSITION Butter of commerce is made from cream of cow's milk. The quality depends upon the breed of cow, manner of, and care in, feeding. Milk from Jersey and Guernsey cows yields the largest amount of butter.
Butter should be kept in a cool place and well covered, otherwise it is liable to become rancid ”

“ It contains an azotised matter, casein, nearly identical in composition with muscular flesh, fatty principles, and a peculiar sugar, and, lastly, various salts, among which may be mentioned phosphate of lime, held in complete solution in a slightly alkaline liquid.
“The white and almost opaque, appearance of milk is an optical illusion. Examined by a microscope of even moderate power, it is seen to consist of a perfectly transparent fluid, in which float about numbers of minute transparent globules ”

“ Among some of the less expert a composition of treacle and salt supplies the place of the annatto; but this mixture does not combine so well as the annatto with the milk. Pure milk is of a dull white colour, and a soft sweetish taste; adulterated milk is of a bluish appearance and thin consistence.
Cream receives a copious addition of skimmed milk, flour, starch, rice-powder, or arrow-root boiled together, to increase the “milk-merchant’s” profits. But arrow-root is the substance which is best adapted, and most employed for the purpose. ”

“ Six lemons, two ounces of cloves, two ounces of cinnamon, and two ounces of common sage, are sometimes added to the liquor, to preserve its flavor and quicken its action. If kept cool in a stone jar, it will keep sweet any length of time desired, and a uniform strength is secured while it lasts. Stir it before dipping off. To set milk, take of it enough to curdle milk firm in forty minutes; squeeze or rub through a rag annatto enough to make the curd a cream color, and stir it in with the rennet.” It will be seen that he adopts the practice of removing the contents of the stomach. ”

“ Those, then, who desire much cream, or who produce cream for the manufacture of butter, select food likely to increase the proportion of butter in the milk. On the contrary, where the principal object is the production of milk rich in curd—that is, where cheese is the object of the farmer—clover, peas, bran-meal, and other plants which abound in legumine—a nitrogenized organic compound, almost identical in properties and composition with caseine, or the substance which forms the curd of milk—will be selected. ”

“ Cows fed on turnips in the stall always produce butter inferior to that of cows living upon the fresh and aromatic grasses of the pastures.
Succulent food in which water abounds—the green grass of irrigated meadows, green clover, brewers’ refuse, distillers’ refuse, etc.—increases the quantity, rather than the quality, of the milk; and by feeding these substances the milk-dairyman studies his own interest, and makes thin milk, without diluting it with water, though, in the opinion of some, this may be no more legitimate than watering the milk. ”

“ Of course, we all know that wheat grown under certain conditions varies, and, as the climate and soil differ, so does the gluten, as is exampled between comparison with a soft and a strong flour. In the same way it applies to milk. The composition of fat in new milk is determined by the breed, climate, food and health of the cow. A really rich milk would produce as much as 3⁄4 ounce to 1 ounce of fat to the pint, especially just now, when the animals are kept up and fed pretty well. They give less milk, but it is much higher in quality. ”

“ Cream contains about 40 per cent. of fat and 55 per cent. of water; SKIMMED MILK is water, with sugar and caseine. Whey is merely a solution of milk sugar with a little albumen. Milk is best and most plentiful in spring, and richer but less abundant in dry seasons. The last milk drawn from the cow contains most cream. Koumiss, the use of which is rapidly increasing, is well skimmed milk, treated with a lactic ferment for 30 or 40 hours. It is very easy of digestion. Condensed milk is ordinary milk evaporated so that three pints are reduced to one. It soon spoils unless the air is excluded. ”

“ Many of the rude, wandering tribes of the East employ them as beasts of burden. The uncivilized—and, to some extent, the refined—inhabitants of Europe use their milk, not only as a beverage, but for making into cheese, butter, and curds—an appropriation of it which is also noticed by Job, Isaiah, and other Old Testament writers, as well as most of the Greek and Roman authors. The ewe’s milk scarcely differs in appearance from that of the cow, though it is generally thicker, and yields a pale, yellowish butter, which is always soft and soon becomes rancid. ”

“ By diluting with water to reduce the protein and salts, and adding sugar and a little cream, the proportions of these different substances may be made to approximate those in mother's milk. In both the sugar is the same—lactose, or milk-sugar; the fats are also much alike in each; but the albuminous matter of cow's milk differs somewhat from that of human milk, particularly in the way in which it coagulates in the presence of acids. Human milk forms into small, light, feathery curds; cow's milk into large, compact, not so easily digested masses. ”

“ Even here, however, it makes a difference, whether the warm milk from the cow is curdled alone, as at Gouda and Edam, or whether it is mixed with the milk of the evening before, as is generally done in Cheshire and Ayrshire. Many persons are of opinion that cream, which has once been separated, can never be so well mixed again with the milk, that a portion of the fatty matter shall not flow out with the whey and render the cheese less rich. ”

“ It is now universally conceded, that the flavor as well as the quality of the milk depends very materially upon the food of the cow. Coarse swamp-grasses and weeds do not produce as rich or sweet milk as clover, timothy and red-top, grown on dry upland soil; while swamp-water gives a ranker flavor than the sweet spring and brook-water of hilly regions. ”

“ The usual sophistication of milk is a liberal quantity of warm water, and to give consistence to the mixture, and correct the colour, a composition of flour and yolks of eggs is added; but should there not have been sufficient time for the operation, the immediate aid of the cock or the pump is invoked. But some of the more skilfully initiated “artistes au lait” dissolve the common cheese dye, annatto, which occasions a mixture of milk and water to assume the colour, and nearly the consistence of cream. ”

“ Instead of being at the trouble of boiling rice, preparing isinglass, adding sugar of milk and the whites of eggs, &c., I simply take some milk quite fresh, say that milked the same day, and add to it, drop by drop, glacial acetic acid, in about the proportion of one, or one and a half drachm, fluid measure, to the quart, which will separate the caseine, keeping the mixture well stirred with a glass rod all the time ”

“ Take balm, mint, carduus, angelica, rue, rosemary, and wormwood, of each half a pound, and sweeten them; distill them with two gallons of milk just taken from the cow, in a limbeck, with an iron pot; put in with the herbs a quart of water, first heat it, then carefully pour in the milk all round on the herbs, by a pint at a time, till all be poured in; this must be done in an iron pot covered with the still head, and shut close; when it boils lower the fire a little. ”