50. NECESSITY FOR CARE IN THE HOME.--If milk of good quality is bought,
and, as has been suggested, this should be done whenever it is possible,
the next thing to do is to care for it in such a way that it may be fed
to the family in the same condition as it was when delivered. It is, of
course, of prime importance that the dairyman deliver clean fresh milk,
but this is not sufficient; the milk must remain in this condition until
it is used, and this can occur only when the housewife knows how to care
for it properly after it enters the home. It is possible to make safe
milk unsafe and unsafe milk positively dangerous unless the housewife
understands how to care for milk and puts into practice what she knows
concerning this matter. Indeed, some of the blame laid to the careless
handling of milk by dairymen really belongs to housewives, for very
often they do not take care of milk in the right way after delivery. As
too much attention cannot be given to this matter, explicit directions
are here outlined, with the idea of assisting the housewife in this
matter as much as possible.
51. KEEPING MILK CLEAN IN THE HOME.--Immediately upon delivery, the
bottle containing the milk should be placed in the coolest place
available, never being allowed to stand on the porch in the sun or where
such animals as cats or dogs may come in contact with it. When the milk
is to be used, the paper cap should be carefully wiped before it is
removed from the bottle, so that any dirt that may be on top will not
fall into the milk. If not all the milk is used and the bottle must be
returned to the cool place where it is kept, it should be covered by
means of an inverted drinking glass or, as shown in Fig. 6, by a glass
or porcelain cover. Such covers, or _sanitary milk_ _caps_, as they are
called, are very convenient for this purpose and may be purchased at a
slight cost.
52. Another precaution that should be taken is never to mix stale milk
with fresh milk, because the entire quantity will become sour in the
same length of time as the stale milk would. Also, milk that has been
poured into a pitcher or any other open vessel and allowed to stand
exposed to the air for some time should never be put back into the
bottle with the remaining milk. Such milk is sure to be contaminated
with the germs that are always present in the dust constantly
circulating in the air. It is sometimes necessary to keep milk in a
vessel other than the bottle in which it is delivered. In such an event,
the vessel that is used should be washed thoroughly, boiled in clean
water, and cooled before the milk is poured into it.
[Illustration: Fig. 6]
53. Particular care should be taken of the empty milk bottles. They
should never be used for anything except milk. Before they are returned
to the dairyman to be used again, they should first be rinsed with cold
water, then washed thoroughly with hot, soapy water, and finally rinsed
with hot water. If there is illness in the home, the washed bottles
should be put into a pan of cool water, allowed to come to a boil, and
permitted to boil for a few minutes. Such attention will free the
bottles from any contamination they might have received. The dairyman,
of course, gives the bottles further attention before he uses them
again, but the housewife should do her part by making sure that they are
thoroughly cleansed before they are collected by him.
54. KEEPING MILK COOL IN THE HOME.--As has been pointed out, milk
should, upon being received, be kept in the coolest place available,
which, in the majority of homes at the present time, is the
refrigerator. In making use of the refrigerator for this purpose, the
housewife should put into practice what she learned in _Essentials of
Cookery_, Part 2, concerning the proper placing of food in the
refrigerator, remembering that milk should be placed where it will
remain the coolest and where it is least likely to absorb odors. She
should also bear in mind that the temperature inside of a refrigerator
varies with that of the surrounding air. It is because of this fact that
milk often sours when the temperature is high, as in summer, for
instance, even though it is kept in the refrigerator.
55. In case a refrigerator is not available, it will be necessary to
resort to other means of keeping milk cool. A cool cellar or basement is
an excellent substitute, but if milk is kept in either of these places,
it must be tightly covered. Then, too, the spring house with its stream
of running water is fully as good as a refrigerator And is used
extensively in farming districts. But even though a housewife has none
of these at her disposal, she need not be deprived of fresh milk, for
there are still other ways of keeping milk cool and consequently fresh.
A very simple way in which to keep milk cool is to weight down the
bottles in a vessel that is deeper than they are and then pour cold
water into the vessel until it reaches the top of the bottles, replacing
the water occasionally as it becomes warm. A still better way, however,
so far as convenience and results are concerned, is that illustrated in
Fig. 7. As shown, wrap the bottle in a clean towel or piece of cotton
cloth so that one corner of it is left loose at the top. Then place this
end in a pan of cold water that stands higher than the bottle. Such an
arrangement will keep the cloth wet constantly and by the evaporation of
the water from it will cause the milk to remain cool.
[Illustration: FIG. 7]