“The time has not come to say that the use of milk and eggs should be
wholly discarded.”
“But because disease in animals is increasing, the time will soon come
when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream or butter.”
“If milk is used, it should be thoroughly sterilized; with this
precaution there is less danger of contracting disease from its use.”
State Boards of Health and Experiment Stations declare that from
fifteen to thirty per cent. of the cows from which our cities draw
their milk supply are affected with tuberculosis. In one locality it
was found that 65 per cent. of the best milk that was presented was
tubercular.
“Examination has determined that cream has from 10 to 500 times as many
bacteria in a given quantity of milk as mixed milk. The bacteria nearly
all rise to the top with the cream.”--_“Life and Health,” April, 1909._
In considering the question of appendicitis, a writer in the _American
Medical Journal_ says: “The chief sources of tuberculosis infection of
the alimentary tract are the ingestion of milk, butter and cheese from
tuberculous cows....
“These authors (of the Experiment Station in Washington) consider that
a very large amount of butter infected with tubercle bacilli is daily
consumed by our people....
“Measure for measure, infected butter is a greater tubercular danger
than infected milk.... Tests show that in the ordinary salted butter of
commerce the Koch bacillus ‘may live and retain virulence practically
four and a half months or longer.’”
=To Pasteurize Milk=
Place a dairy thermometer, or one in an unpainted tin case, in the
milk; heat, preferably in double boiler, as quickly as possible, to a
temperature of not less than 140 degrees F. and keep it there for 40
m., or raise to 158 degrees F. for 10-20 m. Cool rapidly. The rapid
heating and cooling are necessary because a warm temperature is most
favorable for the development of germs and the spores of germs which
(spores) are not destroyed by this treatment of milk.
When milk is to be kept for several hours it should be heated in
air-tight bottles or in bottles which have stoppers of sterilized
cotton, by starting them in cold water and keeping them at a
temperature of 149 degrees F. for a half hour after bringing the water
to that point.
Pasteurizing milk does not give it the cooked taste that a higher
temperature does.
When it is not possible to carry out these directions, just bring milk
to the boiling point, or set bottles of milk or cream in cold water,
bring the water to boiling and boil for 10-20 m. Of course the bottles
should have something underneath them, to keep them from touching the
bottom of the vessel in which they are standing.
=To Sterilize Butter=
Boil butter in a generous amount of water thoroughly. Cool, remove from
the top of the water and drain.
=Sterilized Butter=
Pasteurize sweet cream the same as milk, cool quickly, let stand
covered in a cold place for at least 4 hrs; whip or beat in a deep
vessel, the inner cup of a double boiler or a pitcher, (some think it
easier to shake the cream in a tightly corked, wide mouthed bottle
or jar) until like whipped cream; then set the dish in slightly warm
water, to raise the temperature of the cream enough to cause the butter
to separate but not enough to make it oily. Remove the dish from warm
water just as soon as butter begins to separate; pour off buttermilk
and pour pure cold water over the butter. Work a little and pour water
off; next pour on water with a little salt (1 teaspn. to the quart)
and let it stand from 10 to 15 m. Remove butter to cold dish, add salt,
about ½ tablespn. to the pound, if unsalted butter is not preferred;
work a little, cover with a cloth wrung out of salt water, and let
stand a few hours in a clean airy place. Then work a little and shape
as desired. Do not work enough to spoil the grain and make the butter
oily.
This is the method with which I have had the best success. The regular
temperature for churning cream is from 58 to 60 degrees by the
thermometer. Sterilized butter should be made fresh every day.
“Protein is the most costly of the food ingredients and the one most
likely to be lacking in inexpensive meals, and is the nutrient which
skim milk supplies in a cheap and useful form.”--_R. D. Milner, Ph. B.
Farmers’ Bulletin, 363, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture._
“Sour milk is the safest form to use if milk is not Pasteurized,
as the acid of the milk kills all the germs except the lactic acid
germ.”--_Dr. Rand._
“People who cannot digest fresh milk or in whom it produces a feeling
of heaviness and discomfort, can eat large quantities of curdled milk
without inconvenience.”--_W. Brown, M. B., Ch. B., in Edinburgh Medical
Journal._
“Lactic acid precipitates the casein (clabbers the milk) but does not
affect the fats and salts. Its effect on the casein is to improve the
digestibility of this important compound, the meat element, which is
the most valuable constituent of milk.... As a matter of fact, sour
milk is really a more healthful food than sweet milk, digesting more
rapidly and more completely.”--_W. M. Esten, in Storr’s Bulletin, No.
59._
Directions for making artificial buttermilk come with the tablets and
preparations sold for that purpose.
As milk is a hearty food it should not be taken with other heavy foods
such as nuts, legumes or eggs, but with bread, zwieback, crackers or
rolls, parched or popped corn and other cereals.
Clear milk is coagulated by the gastric juice and should be taken
slowly, in small amounts, so that the acid may have a chance to mix
with it and form the curd in small particles. When drank rapidly, the
curd will form in large pieces and be difficult of digestion, often
causing distress and disease.
Some can digest sweet milk better if an acid is taken with it, but,
as a rule, such individuals would better take nut milk and cream,
preferably nuts, and plenty of juicy fruits.
In fact, considering the increase of disease among animals, it were
better for us all to be learning more and more how to prepare foods
without milk and eggs, _educating_ ourselves and others _away_ from
them.
The next thing to copper or re-tinned vessels for heating milk to the
boiling point without scorching, is a nice clean iron frying pan or
round bottomed iron kettle. I have used a stone milk crock.
Brush the inside of whatever dish milk is to be heated in with oil or
butter, as a still further precaution against scorching, for scorched
milk is unusable.
Wash all utensils used for milk first in cold water, then with warm
soapsuds, and then scald with perfectly boiling water. Wipe with clean
dry towels and if possible put them in the sun.
When hot water is poured into vessels before they are washed clean, the
casein is glued into the crevices, ready to make mischief with the next
lot of milk.
Condensed milk, containing cane sugar, is thought by many physicians
to be the cause of the great increase of diabetes, especially among
children.
A pinch of salt added to rather thin cream will cause it to whip up
light. Whip cream in a pitcher, the inner cup of a double boiler or
even in a tin can, something deep and small around. Of course the cream
and utensils should be very cold. Stop whipping while cream is smooth,
before it begins to have any rough appearance.
=Scalded, Devonshire or Clotted Cream=
Let milk stand undisturbed in a cool, well ventilated place for 12
hours in summer, 24 in winter. Then set the pan carefully in some place
over the fire where it will heat very slowly almost to the boiling
point; it must not boil. (It is better to set the pan in water which
will come up on the sides as high as the milk.) Let stand again in a
cool place for 12 hours or until thoroughly cooled. Divide with a knife
into squares, and skim by folding these squares over and over in rolls.
Set in a cool place. This is a most delightful substitute for butter on
bread, and it may also be used with cereals and fruits.
The cream may be placed by skimmerfuls in layers on a plate instead of
being rolled.