Sour milk

“ The milk is therefore heated as soon as it is withdrawn from the animal; and, when warm, it is poured into a large skin bottle, with which the poorest hut is furnished, and in which there is always a remnant of sour milk sufficient to sour the new milk, after it has been stirred with a stick kept for the purpose. Those bottles are never washed or cleaned: they are therefore always incrusted with cheese and dirt, and the smell admitted by them is sufficient to show what they contain. But it is precisely in this that the secret for making the milk undergo the vinous fermentation consists. ”

“ MILK and various dairy products have been used by the human race for ages. There is evidence to show that at least 50,000 years have elapsed, probably a much longer period, since man began to use cow's milk for his own purposes. Savages who have no historical records consume milk—sweet, sour and fermented—to a large extent and have made use of the preservative properties of sour milk for keeping meat from putrefaction. ”

“ The sugar is turned into lactic acid, which combines with the casein and when this process has continued for a certain length of time the result is clabbered milk or sour milk. The length of time varies with the temperature and the care given the milk. If milk remains sweet for a long time during warm weather, discharge the milkman and patronize one whose product sours more quickly, for milk that remains sweet has been subjected to treatment. All kinds of preservative treatment cause deterioration. ”

“ The various forms of sour milk which have been described in the foregoing pages may be said to be of the traditional kind, and with the light of modern knowledge, it has been possible to determine exactly what constitutes the active principle in use in the milk consumed in these countries, and, as we shall see, this principle has been applied so that, at the present day, a pure fermented milk may be obtained in any country, and there is every reason to believe that should such be adopted as a general article of food, it would contribute to the prolongation of human existence. ”

“ There is no great difficulty in making soured milk at home: the necessary operations are quite simple, but at the same time they must be conducted with precision and care, otherwise the results may be unsatisfactory and disagreeable; there may even sometimes be danger in badly prepared sour milk. It is always an advantage in such matters to understand the reason of things, and a few notes on the surrounding conditions, and what has to be accomplished, may be of assistance to the would-be experimenter. ”

“ For children it should be flavored with fruit juice or vanilla rather than with cocoa.
3. Uses of sour milk.
Do not throw away any sour milk that is clean and not stale. Milk that has soured enough to set, is a delicious dessert, with cream and sugar. The acid is very pleasant, being the same as that of buttermilk. Sour milk is better for griddlecakes and muffins than sweet milk. (See Chapter XI.) Another excellent use for sour milk is to make it into cottage cheese. (See below.)
154
Matzoon and other similar preparations are essentially soured milks, prepared under controlled conditions. ”

“ Every one is familiar with the souring of milk, but perhaps it is not so generally known that there are great differences in the results obtained in accordance with the conditions under which the souring takes place. The skilled butter-maker, by keeping the milk in a cool and cleanly dairy, obtains a sour milk of a characteristic and agreeable aroma and taste, which beneficially affect the flavour of the butter produced. ”

“ Sometimes the milk is so carelessly handled that it becomes poisonous and at other times the fruit is tainted, but generally bad combinations and overeating are the factors that cause trouble when the fruit and milk combination is blamed.
Buttermilk and clabbered milk are more easily digested by many than is the fresh milk. In Europe sour milk is a more common food than in this country. ”

“ Milk derived from vegetable foods may perhaps be more liable to go sour, but I am far from considering sour milk an unwholesome food; whole nations have no other food and are none the worse, and all the array of absorbents seems to me mere humbug. There are constitutions which do not thrive on milk, others can take it without absorbents. People are afraid of the milk separating or curdling ”

“ This is also an employment confined to women, and one of a very laborious nature. The curds are formed by boiling the milk, and then putting some curds made on the previous day into it and allowing it to stand. When the sheep no longer give milk, some curds are dried, to be used as a leaven on a future occasion. This preparation, called leben, is thick and acid, but very agreeable and grateful to the taste in a hot climate. The sour milk, or sheneena, a universal beverage amongst the Arabs, is either buttermilk pure and diluted, or curds mixed with water. ”

“ The good housewife finds it indispensable to keep a little sour milk at hand in order to hasten the coagulation. Women residing in towns do their churning in earthen vessels or pitchers, called meta, always using sour milk. ”

“ Milk.—Milk will take the flavor of any strong smell near it. Stale milk added to fresh will turn the whole of it sour. Sour milk need not be wasted. You can use it for baking or cooking, by adding bicarbonate of soda. Sour milk will clean ink or fruit stains, and in washing it bleaches linen. Yellowed linen should soak in it, so should spoons and forks. Sour milk cleanses oil-cloth as well as women's faces and hands. Chickens and turkeys get fat and lay better for being fed on it.
To weigh roughly, tie a loop of strip to your package of tea, sugar, etc., and pass it on to your first finger. ”

“ The cow's milk, on the contrary, both on account of the cheesy matter which it contains and its disagreeable taste, becomes unpleasant to drink when it sours; and, in persons not accustomed to it, induces colics and diarrhoeas, although the Kalmucks [pg 141] themselves experience no inconvenience from it, unless they have neglected to boil it. This they do, in the first place, and never use it until it has undergone this operation, without which they would be exposed to the inconveniences with which sour milk affects Europeans. ”

“ When the recipe calls for sweet milk or cream, and you do not have it, you may use in place of it sour milk or cream, and, in that case, baking powder or cream of tartar must not be used, but baking-soda, using a level teaspoonful to a quart of sour milk; the milk is always best when just turned, so that it is solid, and not sour enough to whey or to be watery. ”

“ The taste and flavour should be pleasantly acid and agreeable, and both are distinctive enough to give a good idea of the purity of the product. In many places a more concentrated article is made by boiling down the milk to one half or one third of its bulk, and then fermenting it in the ordinary way. A kind of thick pudding is thus obtained, which is highly recommended both as an agreeable article of food and as a stronger medium for the support of the germs it is the purpose of the 136 sour milk treatment to introduce into the digestive system. ”

“ Put a pan of thick sour milk over a stewpan of hot water, and heat almost to the boiling point. When the pan has been over the water for about six minutes, turn the thick milk gently with a large spoon, getting the hot part on top. When the whey becomes so hot that it cannot be touched by the finger, turn the mass into a strainer and let the whey drain off. When the curd is free from whey, season it with salt and butter, allowing one teaspoonful of salt and one tablespoonful of butter to every four quarts of sour milk. A gill of thick, sweet cream, also, may be stirred into the curd. ”

“ Never mix sweet and sour milk.
When fruit is to be used, it is always better to pick it over, slice or stone, and, if need be, wash and dry it, the evening before, covering it over closely, to keep from the heat and air.
Everything being now in readiness, put the butter into a deep [Pg 454] earthen dish. Stir it with a wooden spoon till soft, then add sugar, and beat until light and white, like thick cream. Next add the yelks of the eggs well beaten, then a little of the flour, and very gradually the milk, beating the batter steadily ”

“ This mass continues to grow sour and tough until all the milk sugar is converted into lactic acid, so that the longer the milk stands, the more acid it becomes. Sour milk, however, is useful in the preparation of various dishes, such as hot breads and griddle cakes. ”

“ But the average figures are approximately these:—12 qt. of milk should give 1 qt. of cream, and 1 qt. of cream should afford 14 oz. of butter. Morning milk is richer than evening milk, and the last portion drawn from the cow at each milking, is richer than the first. Autumn milk is best for butter, summer milk for cheese.
Milk to be sold fresh as such should be cooled immediately it is drawn from the cow, because while warm and exposed to the air, the sugar present undergoes oxidation with consequent liberation of lactic acid, which is indicated by the milk turning sour. ”

“ Many races living in hot countries deliberately sour all the milk directly after milking, by putting sour milk into it, because, when soured, it will keep {309}fairly wholesome for several days, while if not soured it would entirely spoil and become unusable within twenty-four hours. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The quantity of milk and butter is considerably increased, and the quality improved, by this practice. The milk is injured by remaining in the udder through the heat of the day, and the cow is made uncomfortable, which, of necessity, diminishes her usefulness. When cows are milked but twice a day in hot weather, the udder becomes too much heated and feverish, and the milk is in a similar condition—the cream seems to be melted, the milk soon becomes sour, the cream does not rise well, and the butter is soft and oily. ”

“ The milk that is richest in these constituents is sheep’s milk, next comes goats’ milk, and last of all cows’ milk. Although of little value to us, sugar of milk claims our attention for a moment on account of the change it undergoes to the great detriment of the milk itself. Little by little, especially when exposed to the heat of summer, this sugary matter sours and becomes an acid. That is what makes milk sour if kept too long. ”

“ What has just been said concerning water applies equally well to milk. When taken alone it very frequently agrees with patients much better than does solid food, but when mixed with the latter is prone to produce indigestion, just as does water. Fermented milk in the form of buttermilk is a very popular beverage in some parts of the world, but it may be well doubted as to whether it deserves the reputation for wholesomeness generally accorded it; being a liquid, and at the same time acid, it is peculiarly prone to increase acidity, and is not tolerated by persons who suffer with sour stomach. ”

“ Milk is almost as sensitive to atmospheric changes as mercury itself. It is a question among many as to what depth milk should be set to get the most cream. It does not make so much difference as to the depth as it does the protection of the milk from acid or souring. As soon as the milk begins to sour, the cream ceases to rise. ”

“ Next, all the utensils—pails, strainers, pans, skimmers, churn, butter-bowl, and ladles—must be kept as sweet and clean as scalding water and a hot sun can make them. The cream, even in the coldest weather, must not be allowed to remain on the milk over thirty-six hours, and in warm weather even less. In hot days remove the cream as soon as the milk begins to sour: none will rise after the milk changes. Although it will, of course, become thicker by souring, it does not follow that it will be any better ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is then ready to strain through two thicknesses of cheese-cloth and care must be taken to squeeze well so as to obtain as much of the whey as possible, which is very important. Add one tablespoonful of sugar to sweeten. Pour into nursing bottles, the amount being according to the age of the baby. A sufficient number of bottles are prepared for 24 hours’ feeding. Care should be taken to keep the milk in a cool place as it will sour the same as fresh milk. Every time the baby is fed the milk must be warmed by placing the bottle in a pan of water and heating to the right temperature. ”