MILK AND OTHER DAIRY PRODUCTS.
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Pro- Carbohy- Calories
Water tein Fat drates Ash per lb.
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Whole milk 87.00 3.3 4.0 5.0 0.7 325
Cream 74.00 2.5 18.5 4.5 0.5 910
Buttermilk 91.00 3.0 0.5 4.8 0.7 165
Butter ..... ... 82.4 ... ... 3475
Cheese, whole milk 33.70 26.0 34.2 2.3 3.8 1965
" skimmed milk 45.70 31.5 16.4 2.2 4.2 1320
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The dairy products vary greatly. Some cows give richer milk than others.
Butter may be almost pure fat, or it may contain much water and salt.
The cheeses are rich or poor in protein and fats according to method of
making. Cottage cheese may be well drained or quite watery. Therefore,
this table gives only approximate contents.
Milk is not a beverage. It is a food. A quart of milk contains as much
food and fuel value as eight eggs or twelve ounces of lean beef. That
is, a cupful (one-half of a pint) is equal to two eggs or three ounces
of lean beef. This shows that milk should not be taken to quench thirst,
but to supply nourishment. Milk is one of our most satisfactory and
economical albuminous foods, even at the present high prices. In many
foods from 5 to 10 per cent of the protein goes to waste. In milk the
waste does not ordinarily amount to more than about 1 per cent. This
fluid generally leaves the stomach within one or one and one-half hours
after being ingested.
In spite of its merits as a food some writers on dietetics advocate that
adults stop using it, giving it only to the young.
Milk is an excellent food when properly used. When abused it tends to
cause discomfort, disease and death, and so does every other food known
to man. Milk is given in fevers and in other diseases, when the
digestive and assimilative processes are suspended. This is a serious
mistake and has caused untold numbers of deaths. When the digestion has
gone on a strike all feeding is destructive. Milk and meat broths, which
are generally given, are about the worst foods that could be selected
under the circumstances, for they decay very easily, and are excellent
food for the numerous bacteria that thrive in the digestive tract during
disease. These foods must decay when they are not digested, for the
internal temperature of the body during fevers is over one hundred
degrees Fahrenheit.
When bacteria are present in excess they give off considerable poison,
which makes the patient worse. If circumstances are such that it is
necessary to feed during acute disease, which is always injurious to the
patient, let the food be the least harmful obtainable, such as fruit
juices. Even they do harm.
In our country cow's milk is used almost exclusively, and that is the
variety that will be discussed in this chapter. In other lands the milk
of the mare, the ass, the sheep, the goat and of other animals is used.
Human milk is discussed in detail in the chapter on Infancy.
The objection voiced against cow's milk is that it is an unnatural food
for man, only fit for the calf, which is equipped with several stomachs
and is therefore able to digest the curds which are larger and tougher
than the curds formed from human milk. It is said that the curds of
cow's milk are so indigestible that the human stomach can not prepare
them for entry into the blood. This is probably true, but it is also
true of other protein-bearing foods. The digestion and assimilation of
proteins are begun in the stomach and completed in the intestines, and
the protein in milk is one of the most completely utilized of all
proteins.
To call a food unnatural means nothing, for we can call nearly all foods
unnatural and defend our position. A natural food is presumably a
nutritious and digestible aliment that is produced in the locality where
it is consumed, one that can be utilized without preparation or
preservation. So we may say that a resident of New York should not use
figs, dates, bananas and other products of tropical and semi-tropical
climates, for they are not natural in the latitude of New York. We can
take the position that it is unnatural for people to eat grains, which
need much grinding, for the birds are the only living beings supplied
with mills (gizzards). We can further say that it is unnatural to eat
all cooked and baked foods. But such talk is not helpful. The more a
person uses his brain the less power he has left for digestion and
therefore it is necessary to prepare some of the foods so that they will
be easy to digest. Man is such an adaptable creature that we are not
sure what he subsisted on before he became civilized and are therefore
unable to say what his natural food is. We know that in the tropics
fruits play an important part in nourishing savages, while in the frozen
north fat flesh is the chief food. Perhaps there is no natural food for
man.
Some of those who advocate the disuse of milk have a substitute or
imitation to take its place, nut milk made from finely ground nuts and
water. Like all other imitations, it is inferior to the original. It is
more difficult to digest than real milk and the flavor is quite
different.
The objection that milk is indigestible is not borne out by the
experience of those who give it under proper conditions. It is true that
milk disagrees with a few, but so do such excellent foods as eggs,
strawberries and Concord grapes, and many other aliments which are not
difficult to digest. This is a matter of individual peculiarity. Some
can take boiled milk, but are unable to take it fresh, and vice versa.
Outside of the few exceptions, milk digests in a reasonable time and
quite completely. It is easier to digest than the legumes (peas, beans,
lentils) which are rich in protein. It is also easier to digest than
nuts, which contain much protein. The milk sugar causes no trouble and
cream is one of the easiest forms of fat to digest, if taken in
moderation. The protein in milk will cause no inconvenience if the milk
is eaten slowly, in proper combinations and not to excess. The rennet in
the stomach curdles the casein. The hydrochloric acid and the pepsin in
the gastric juice then begin to break down and dissolve the clots, and
the process of digestion is completed in the small intestines.
Those who overeat of milk in combination with other foods will derive
benefit from omitting the milk. They will also be benefitted if they
continue using milk and omit either the starch or the meat. When foods
disagree, in nearly every instance it is due to the fact that too much
has been eaten and too many varieties partaken of at a meal. Some may
single out the milk or the meat as the offenders. Others may point to
the starches, and still others to the vegetables with their large amount
of indigestible residue. They are all right and all wrong, for all the
foods help to cause the trouble. However, such reasoning does not solve
the problem. If the meals cause discomfort and disease, reduce the
amount eaten, take fewer varieties at a meal and simplify the cooking.
Those who eat simple meals and are moderate are not troubled with
indigestion.
Those who eat such mushy foods as oatmeal and cream of wheat usually
take milk or cream and sugar with them. This should not be done, for
such dressing stimulates the appetite and leads to undermastication.
Neither children nor adults chew these soft starchy foods enough. The
result is that the breakfast ferments in the alimentary tract. After a
few months or years of such breakfasts, some kind of disease is sure to
develop. Mushy starches dressed with rich milk and sugar are responsible
for a large per cent. of the so-called diseases of children, which are
primarily digestive disturbances. Colds, catarrhs and adenoids are, of
course, due to improper eating extending over a long period of time.
Nothing should be eaten with mushy starches except a little butter and
salt. After enough starch has been taken, a glass of milk may be eaten.
If parents would only realize that they are jeopardizing the health and
lives of their dear ones when they feed them habitually on these soft
messes, which ferment easily, there would be a remarkable decrease in
the diseases of childhood and in the disgraceful infant and childhood
mortality, for several hundred thousand children perish annually in this
country.
Milk is often referred to as a perfect food, and it is the perfect food
for infants. The young thrive best on the healthy milk given by a female
of their own species. Every baby should be fed at the breast. The milk
contains the elements needed by the body.
The table at the head of this chapter shows that milk contains all
essential aliments. The ash is composed of the various salts necessary
for health, containing potassium, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, iron,
silicon and other elements. For the nourishment of the body we need
water, protein, fat, carbohydrates and salts, so it will be seen that
milk is really a complete food. However, as the body grows the nutritive
requirements change and milk is therefore not a balanced food for
adults.
It may be interesting to note that there is no starch in milk and that
infants fed at the breast exclusively obtain no starchy food. Many
babies get no starch for nine, ten or even twelve months, and this is
well, for they do not need it. They grow and flourish best without it.
Milk is an emulsion. It is made up of numerous tiny globules floating in
serum. The size of the globules varies, but the average is said to be
about 1/10,000 of an inch in diameter. These globules are fatty bodies.
There are other small bodies, containing protein and fat, which have
independent molecular movement. The milk is a living fluid. When it is
tampered with it immediately deteriorates. Without doubt, nature
intended that the milk should go directly from the mammary gland into
the mouth of the consumer, but this is not practicable when we take it
away from the calf. However, if we are to use sweet milk it is best to
consume it as nearly like it is in its natural state as possible.
It is quite common to drink milk rapidly. This should not be done. Take
a sip or a spoonful at a time and move it about in the mouth until it is
mixed with saliva. It is not necessary to give it as much mouth
preparation as is given to starchy food. If it is drunk rapidly like
water large curds from in the stomach. If it is insalivated it
coagulates in smaller curds and is more easily digested, for the
digestive juices can tear down small soft curds more easily than the
large tough ones.
Milk should not form a part of any meal when other food rich in protein
is eaten. Our protein needs are small, and it is easy to get too much.
Whole wheat bread and milk contain all the nourishment needed. On such a
diet we can thrive indefinitely. This is information, not a
recommendation. The bread should be eaten either before or after
partaking of the milk. Do not break the bread into the milk. If this is
done, mastication will be slighted. Bread needs much mastication and
insalivation. When liquid is taken with the bread, the saliva does not
flow so freely as when it is eaten dry.
Fruit and milk make a good combination, but no starchy foods are to be
taken in this meal. Take a glass of milk, either sweet or sour, and what
fruit is desired, insalivating both the fruit and the milk thoroughly.
If you have read that the combination of fruit and milk has proved
fatal, rest assured that those who made such reports only looked at the
surface, for other foods and other influences were having their effects
on the system. Many people die of food-poisoning and apoplexy. These bad
results are due to wrong eating covering a long period and it is folly
to blame the last meal. It would be queer if fruit and milk were not
occasionally a part of the last meal.
In winter, figs, dates or raisins with milk make an excellent lunch or
breakfast. These fruits take the place of bread, for though they are not
starchy, they contain an abundance of fruit sugar, which is more easily
digested than the starch. Starch must be converted into sugar before the
system can use it.
On hot days milk and acid fruit make a satisfying meal. Many believe
that milk and acid fruit should not be taken in the same meal, because
the acid curdles the milk. As we have already seen, the milk must be
curdled before it can be digested. If this step in digestion is
performed by the acid in the fruit no more harm is done than when it is
performed by the lactic acid bacteria. Fruit juices and milk do not
combine to form deadly poisons. If fruit and milk are eaten in
moderation and no other food is taken at that meal the results are good.
However, if fruit, milk, bread, meat, cake and pickles make up the meal,
the results may be bad. Such eating is very common. But do not blame the
fruit and the milk when the whole meal is wrong.
Likewise, if a hearty meal has been eaten and before this has had time
to digest a lunch is made of fruit and milk, trouble may ensue. All the
foods may be good, but a time must come when the body will object to
being overfed. In summertime much less food is needed than during the
cold months. Nevertheless, barring the Christmas holidays and
Thanksgiving, people overeat more in summer than at any other time of
the year. Picnics often degenerate into stuffing matches. We should
expect many cases of serious illness to follow them, and such is the
case.
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. Here many do not know how excellent it is. Two glasses of milk,
or less, make a good warm-weather lunch.
Those who have a tendency to be bilious should use cream very sparingly.
Bilious people always overeat, otherwise their livers would not be in
rebellion. The fat, in the form of cream, arouses decided protest on the
part of overburdened livers.
A theory has found its way into dietetic literature, sometimes disguised
as a truth, to the effect that boiled or hot milk is absorbed directly
into the blood stream without being digested. This is contrary to
everything we know about digestion and assimilation, and although it is
a fine enough theory it does not work out in practice. I have seen bad
results when nothing but a small amount of the hot milk was fed to
patients with weak digestive power. Perhaps others have had better
results. When the system demands a rest from food, nothing but water
should be given. Boiled or natural milk is then as bad as any other
food, and worse than most, for in the absence of digestive power it soon
becomes a foul mass, swarming with billions of bacteria. The system is
compelled to absorb some of the poisons given off by the micro-organisms
and the results are disastrous.
Every food we take must be modified by our bodies before entering the
circulation, and milk is no exception.
When milk is allowed to stand for a while the sugar ferments, through
the action of the lactic acid bacteria. 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. If
extraordinary care is taken with the milk and it is kept at a
temperature of about forty-two degrees Fahrenheit, it may remain sweet
five or six weeks, provided it is not exposed to the air, but such care
is at present not practicable in commercial dairies. The milk contains
unorganized ferments which spoil it in time without exposure to
bacterial influences. These ferments cause digestion or decay of the
milk.
Fresh butter is a palatable form of fat, which digests easily. Like all
other milk products, it must be kept clean and cold, or it will soon
spoil. Butter absorbs other flavors quickly and should therefore not be
placed near odorous substances. It is best unsalted and in Europe it is
very commonly served thus. When people learn to demand unsalted butter
they will get good butter, for no one can palm off oleomargarine or
other imitations under the guise of fresh unsalted butter. Unsalted
butter must be fresh or it will be refused by the nose and the palate.
Salt and other preservatives often conceal age and corruption of foods.
Butter combines well with starches and vegetables, in fact, it can be
used in moderation with any other food, when the body needs fat. Butter
should not be used to cook starches or proteins in. Greasy cooking
should be banished from our kitchens.
Milk is a complex food, highly organized, and therefore is easily
injured or spoiled. The general rule is that the more complex a food is,
the more easily it spoils. It is rather difficult at present to get
wholesome milk enough to supply the people of our large cities. When it
is boiled, the milk keeps longer, but boiled milk is spoiled milk. The
fine flavor is lost, the casein, which is the principal protein of milk,
is toughened, the milk, which is normally a living liquid, is killed,
the chemical balance is lost, the organic salts being rendered partly
inorganic. Milk that is unfit to eat without being boiled is not fit to
eat afterwards, for the poisonous end products of bacterial life remain.
The milk is soured by the bacteria it contains. The lactic acid bacteria
are harmless. When there is a lack of care and cleanliness, other
bacteria get into the milk, and these are also harmless to people in
good health, and most of them are not injurious to sick people. The
bacteria (germs) do not cause disease, but when disease has been
established, they offer their kindly offices as scavengers. Bacteria
thrive in sick people, especially when they are fed when digestive power
is lacking. Boiling retards the souring of milk, but when fat and
protein are boiled together the protein becomes hard to digest. Milk is
rich in both fat and protein. Excessive heat turns the milk brown, the
milk sugar being carameled.
Babies do not thrive on boiled milk. They may look fat, but instead of
having the desirable firmness of normal children, they are puffy.
Children fed on denatured milk fall victims to diseases very easily,
especially to diseases which are due to lack of organic salts, such as
rickets and malnutrition.
Pasteurization of milk is very popular. This is objectionable for the
same reasons that boiling is condemned, though not to the same extent.
Pasteurization is heating the milk to about 140 to 150 degrees
Fahrenheit. This kills many of the bacteria, but many escape and when
the milk is cooled off they begin to multiply and flourish again. It is
estimated that pasteurized milk contains one-fourth as many bacteria as
natural milk. So nothing is gained, and the milk is partly devitalized.
The advocates of pasteurization give statistics showing that milk so
treated has been instrumental in decreasing infant mortality. But please
bear in mind that previously a great deal of milk unfit for consumption
was fed to the babies. Those who pasteurize milk generally are careful
enough to see that they get a good product in the first place.
If we can't get good milk we can do without it, for it is not a
necessary food, but we can get good milk if we make the effort. If the
milk is filthy, boiling or pasteurizing does not remove the dirt.
Gauthier says of pasteurization: "Sometimes it is heated up to 70
degrees (Centigrade) with pressure of carbonic acid. But even in this
case pasteurization does not destroy all germs, particularly those of
tuberculosis, peptonizing bacteria of cowdung, and the dust of houses
and streets, etc."
Even boiling does not kill the spores of bacteria unless it is continued
until the milk is rendered entirely unfit for food. To kill these spores
it is necessary to boil the milk several times. The spores are small
round or oval bodies which form within the bacterial envelope when these
micro-organisms are subjected to unfavorable conditions. The spores
resist heat and cold that would kill almost any other form of life. When
conditions are favorable they develop into bacteria again.
After heating, the cream does not rise so quickly nor does it separate
so completely as it does in natural milk. This is due to the toughening
of the casein in the milk.
Heating partly disorganizes the delicately balanced salts contained in
the milk. The result is that they can not be utilized so easily and
completely by the body, for the human organism demands its food in an
organic state, that is, in the condition built up by vegetation or by
animals. We may consume iron filings and remain anemic, in fact, the
effect the iron medication has is to ruin the teeth, digestive organs
and other parts of the body as a consequence. But if we partake of such
foods as apples, cabbage, lettuce and spinach, the necessary salt is
taken into the blood.
Heating milk also makes it constipating. True, normal people can take
boiled milk without becoming constipated, but how many normal people are
there? We are sorely enough afflicted in this way now. Let us have a
supply of natural milk or go without it. It is not my desire to convey
the impression that it does any harm to scald or boil milk occasionally,
but if done daily it does harm, especially to the young. Scalded milk
has its proper place in dietetics. Occasionally we find a person who has
persistent chronic diarrhea. If he is in condition to eat anything, this
annoying affliction is usually overcome in a reasonable time if the
patient will take boiled or scalded milk in moderation three times a
day, and nothing else except water.
How are we to obtain good milk? We can do it by using common sense, care
and cleanliness.
It is well to remember that there are bacteria in all ordinary milk, and
that if the milk is from healthy cows and is kept clean and cold these
bacteria are harmless. Most of them are the lactic acid bacteria, which
change the milk sugar into acid. When the milk has attained a certain
degree of acidity, the lactic acid bacteria are unable to thrive and the
souring process is slowed up and finally stopped. Most of the other
bacteria in milk perish when lactic acid is formed. This is why stale
sweet milk is often harmful, when the same kind of milk allowed to sour
can be taken with impunity.
If the milk is kept in a cold place the bacteria multiply slowly. If it
is kept in a warm place they increase in numbers at a rate that is
marvelous, and consequently the milk sours much sooner. Even if the milk
is kept cold, bacterial growth will soon take place, but it will perhaps
not be lactic acid bacteria. It may be a form that causes the milk to
become ropy and slimy or one that gives it a bad odor.
Bacteria are like other forms of vegetation, such as grass, weeds,
flowers and trees, in that some flourish best under one condition and
others under dissimilar conditions, and they struggle one against the
other for subsistence and existence. Like flowers there are thousands of
different forms of bacteria and they vary according to their food and
environment.
Peculiar odors in milk generally come from certain kinds of food given
to the cows, such as turnips; from bacterial action; or from flavors
absorbed from other foods or from odors in the air. Milk should not be
exposed to odorous substances, for it becomes tainted very quickly.
Sometimes yeast finds its way into milk and causes decomposition of the
sugar with the formation of carbon dioxide and alcohol.
A count of the bacteria in milk often serves a good purpose, for it
shows whether it is good and has had proper care. The consumers have a
right to demand milk low in bacteria, for if no preservatives have been
used, that means clean milk. If we could live in our pristine state of
beatific bliss, if such it was, we would not have to use milk after
childhood is past, but our present condition demands the use of easily
digested foods and to many milk is almost a necessity.
The milk in the udder of a healthy cow is almost surely free from
bacteria, but the moment it is exposed to the air these little beings
start to drop into the fluid.
The bacterial standards given by various city health departments vary.
Those who are mathematically inclined may find the following figures
interesting: In some great cities they allow 500,000 bacteria to the
cubic centimeter of milk. A cubic centimeter contains about twenty-five
drops. In other words, they allow 20,000 bacteria per drop. This may
seem very lively milk, but these bacteria are so small that about 25,000
of them laid end to end measure only about an inch, and it would take
17,000,000,000,000 of them to weigh an ounce, according to estimates.
These are the tiny vegetables we hear and read so much about, that we
are warned against and fear so much. Truly the pygmies are having their
innings and making cowards of men. The bacteria multiply by the simple
process of growing longer and splitting into two, fission, as it is
called, and the process is so rapid that within an hour or two after
being formed a bacterium may be raising a family of its own.
Some of the milk brought to the cities contains as many as 15,000,000
bacteria per cubic centimeter, that is, about 600,000 per drop. This
milk is either very filthy or it has been poorly cared for and should
not be given to babies and young children. The filthiest milk may
contain several billion bacteria to the cubic centimeter.
By using care milk containing but 100, or even fewer, bacteria per drop
can be produced. From the standpoint of cleanliness this is excellent
milk. Of course, the dairyman who takes pride enough in his work to
produce such milk will sell nothing but what is first-class, and if he
has business acumen he can always get more than the market price for his
product.
The talk about germs has been overdone, but no one can deny that the
study of bacteriology has made people more careful about foods. The
filthy dairies that were the rule a few years ago are slowly being
replaced by dairies that are comfortable, well lighted and clean. Do not
allow the germs to scare you, for if ordinary precautions are taken no
more of them will be present than are necessary, and they are necessary.
They thrive best in filth, and they are dangerous only to those who live
so that they have no resistance.
Wholesome milk can be produced only by healthy animals. Bovine health
can be secured by the same means as human health. The cows must be
properly fed and housed. They must have both ventilation and light. They
must not be unduly worried. If a nursing of an angry mother's milk is at
times poisonous enough to kill a baby, you may be sure that the milk
from an abused, irritated and angry cow is also injurious. If the
animals are kept comfortable and happy they will do the best producing,
both in quality and quantity. It may sound far-fetched to some to
advocate keeping animals happy in order to get them to produce much and
give quality products, but it is good science and good sense. Happy cows
give more and better milk than the mistreated ones. The singing hens are
the best layers.
Cows should have fresh green food all the year, and this can be obtained
in winter time by using silage. It is a mistake to give cows too much of
concentrated foods, such as oil meals and grains. Cattle can not long
remain well on exclusive rations of too heating and stimulating foods.
When fed improperly they soon fall prey to various diseases, such as
rheumatism and tuberculosis. It is the same with other domestic animals.
The horse when overfed on grain develops stiff joints. The hogs that are
compelled to live exclusively on concentrated, heating rations are
liable to die of cholera. Young turkeys that have nothing but corn and
wheat to eat die in great numbers from the disease known as blackhead.
It is the same law running all through nature, applying to the high and
to the low, that improper nourishment brings disease and death.
When cattle roam wild, the green grasses (sundried in winter) are their
principal source of food. Man should be careful not to deviate too much,
for forced feeding is as harmful to animals as it is to man.
The following excellent recommendations for the care of milk are given
by Dr. Charles E. North of the New York City Milk Commission:
"No coolers, aerators, straining cloths or strainers should be used.
"The hot milk should be taken to the creamery as soon as possible.
"The night's milk should be placed in spring or iced water higher than
the milk on the inside of the can. It should not be stirred, and the top
of the can should be open a little way to permit ventilation.
"The milking pails and cans will be sterilized and dried at the
creamery, and should be carefully protected until they are used.
"Brush the udder and wipe with a clean cloth; wash with clean water and
dry with a clean towel.
"Whitewash the cow stable at least twice yearly.
"Feed no dusty feed until after milking.
"Remove all manure from cow stable twice daily.
"Keep barnyard clean and have manure pile at least 100 feet from the
stable.
"Have all stable floors of cement, properly drained.
"Have abundant windows in cowstables to permit sunlight to reach the
floor.
"Arrange a proper system of ventilation.
"Do not use milk from any cows suspected of gargot or of any udder
inflammation. Such milk contains enormous numbers of bacteria.
"Brush and groom cows from head to foot as horses are groomed.
"Use no dusty bedding; wood shavings or sawdust give least dust.
"Use an abundance of ice in water tank for cooling milk."
Perhaps some will take issue with the doctor on the first paragraph of
his recommendation. If straining cloths are used they should be well
rinsed in tepid water, washed and then boiled. However, if his
recommendations are carried out in letter and spirit no straining is
necessary.
Herr Klingelhofer near Dusseldorf, Germany., runs a model dairy. The
cows, stables, milkers, containers, in fact, all things connected with
the dairy are scrupulously clean. The milkers do not even touch the milk
stools, carrying them strapped to their backs. The milk is strained
through sterilized cotton and cooled.
The cows are six and seven years old and are milked for ten or twelve
months and they are not bred during this time. The first part of the
milk drawn from each teat is not used, for that part is not clean,
containing dirt and bacteria.
This milk is practically free from bacteria, for without adding
preservatives it will remain sweet, for as long as thirteen days. If
ordinary milk fails to sour in two or three days it shows that it has
been treated.
According to the Country Gentleman, it will cost from one cent and a
quarter to one cent and three-quarters extra per quart to produce clean
milk. Healthy adults can take milk teeming with bacteria without harm,
but for babies it is best to have very few or none in the milk. At
Dusseldorf the babies used to die as they do here when fed unclean milk.
Herr Klingelhofer says that when fed on his product "sterben keine."
(None die.)
This is submitted to those who advocate pasteurizing the milk. Denatured
milk makes sickly babies. Clean natural milk makes healthy babies. The
extra cost of less than two cents a quart is not prohibitive. Most
fathers, no matter how poor, waste more than that daily on tobacco and
alcoholics. The extra cost would be more than saved in lessened doctor
bills, to say nothing of funeral expenses. The recompense that comes
from the satisfaction of having thriving, sturdy, healthy children can
not be figured in dollars and cents.
Dr. Robert Mond, of London, after investigating for years, has come to
the conclusion that sterilized milk predisposes to tuberculosis, instead
of preventing it. He believes that milk so treated is so inferior that
he would not personally use it. That sterilized milk predisposes to
tuberculosis, as well as to other diseases which can attack the body
only when it is run down, is natural. Any food that has been rendered
inferior can not build the robust health that comes to those who live on
natural food. Adults who use sterilized milk should counteract its bad
effects by partaking liberally of fresh fruits and vegetables.
If the milk is clean, put into clean containers by careful milkers and
is then kept cold until delivered, it will reach the consumers in good
condition. Do not let the fact that when you consume a glass of milk you
are also engulfing some millions of bacteria bother you, for bacteria
are necessary to our existence. If all the bacteria on earth should
perish, it would also mean the end of the human race.
Today the progressive farmer is coming to the fore. He is a man who is
justly proud of his work, so it will probably not be long before all
city people who desire clean milk can get it.
The milk cure consists in feeding sick people on nothing but milk for
varying periods. Generally the patient is told to either take great
quantities three or four times a day, or to take smaller quantities
perhaps every half hour. The milk cure has no special virtue, except
that it is a monotonous diet. The body soon rebels if forced to subsist
on an excessive amount of but one kind of food. The individual loses his
desire for food and even becomes nauseated. If the advocates of the milk
cure would prescribe milk in moderation, instead of in excess, they
would have better success. (It is fully as harmful to partake of too
much milk as it is to eat excessively of other foods.)
The benefit derived from the milk cure comes from the simplicity, not
from the milk. A grape cure, an orange cure or a bread and milk cure
would be as beneficial. The milk cure is ancient. It was employed
twenty-five centuries ago.
_Clabbered milk_: Clabbered milk or sour milk needs no special
preparation. Put the milk into an earthen or china dish. Do not use
metal dishes, for the lactic acid acts upon various metals. Cover the
dish so as to keep particles of matter in the air away, but the covering
is not to be airtight. Put the dish in a warm place, but not in the sun.
Milk that sours in the sun or in an air-tight bottle is generally of
poor flavor. Clabbered milk is a good food. It does not form big, tough
curds in the stomach, it is easy to digest, and the lactic acid helps to
keep the alimentary tract sweet. The various forms of milk may be used
in similar combinations.
_Buttermilk_: The real buttermilk is what remains of the cream after the
fat has been removed by churning. It is slightly acid and has a
characteristic taste, to most people very agreeable. The flavor is
different from that of artificially made buttermilk. In composition it
is almost like whole milk, except that it contains very little fat.
Many people make buttermilk by beating the clabbered milk thoroughly,
until it becomes light. The buttermilk made from sweet milk and the
various brands of bacterial ferments obtainable at the drug stores is
all right. These ferments have as their basis the lactic acid bacteria,
and if the manufacturers wish to call their germs by other names, such
as Bacillus Bulgaricus, no harm is done. It is unnecessary to add any of
these ferments, for the milk clabbers about as quickly without them.
Buttermilk is an excellent food. The casein can be seen in fine flakes
in the real buttermilk. Adults usually digest buttermilk and clabbered
milk more easily than the sweet milk. The lactic acid seems to be quite
beneficial. Metchnikoff thought for a while that he had discovered how
to ward off decay and old age by means of the lactic acid bacteria in
milk.
Milk can be clabbered quickly by adding lemon juice to sweet milk.
_Junket_: Add rennet to milk and let it stand until it thickens. The
milk is not to be disturbed while coagulation takes place, for agitation
will cause a separation of the whey. The rennet can be bought at the
drug stores.
_Whey_ contains milk sugar, some salts, and a little albumin. It is
easily digested, but not very nourishing. It is what is left of the milk
after the fat and almost all of the protein are removed.
_Cottage cheese_: This is sometimes called Dutch cheese or white cheese.
It is a delicious and nutritious dairy product that is easy to digest.
Put the clabbered milk in a muslin bag, hang the bag up and allow the
milk to lose its whey through drainage. In summer this bag must be kept
in a cool place. After draining, beat the curds. Then add enough
clabbered milk to make the curds soft when well beaten. A small amount
of cream may also be added. Cottage cheese made in this way is superior
in flavor and digestibility to that which has been scalded. No seasoning
is needed. A little salt is allowable, but sugar and pepper should not
be used. Fruit and cottage cheese make a satisfying as well as
nutritious meal.
Delicious cottage cheese is also made by using the whole clabbered milk.
Hang it up to drain in a bag until it has lost a part of its whey. Then
beat it until the curds are rather small, but not fine. No milk or cream
is to be added to this, for it contains all the fat that is in the whole
milk. Do not drain this cheese so long that it becomes dry.
_Other cheeses_: The various cheeses on the market are made principally
from ripened curds, with which more or less fat has been mixed. The
ripening is a form of decay, and it is no exaggeration to say that some
of the very ripe cheeses on the market are rotten. The flavors are due
to ferments, molds and bacteria, which split up the proteins and the
fats.
The mild cheeses are generally good and may be eaten with fruits or
vegetables or with bread. Two or three ounces are sufficient for the
protein part of the meal, taking the place of flesh. Use less if less is
desired.
When cheese becomes very odorous and ripe, no one with normal nose and
palate will eat it. People who partake of excessive amounts of meats or
alcoholic beverages are often fond of these foul cheeses. One perversion
leads to another.
Cheese of good quality, eaten in moderation, is a nutritious food,
easily digested. Gauthier says of cheese: "Indeed, this casein, which
has the composition of muscular tissue, scarcely produces during
digestion either residue or toxins."
Because good cheese is concentrated and of agreeable flavor, it is
necessary to guard against overeating. An excess of rich cheese soon
causes trouble with the liver or constipation or both.
Cheese should not be eaten in the same meal with fish, meat, eggs, nuts
or legumes, for such combining makes the protein intake too great.
There is nothing incompatible about such combinations, but it is safest
not to make them. The course dinners, ending up with a savory cheese,
crackers and coffee, are abominations. They are health-destroyers. They
lead to overeating. As nearly everybody overeats, and because overeating
is the greatest single factor in producing disease and premature death,
it is advisable not to eat cheese and other foods rich in protein in the
same meal. The greater the variety of food, the more surely the diner
will overeat.
The term, "full cream cheese" is misleading, for cheeses are not made of
whole cream. The cream does not contain enough protein (casein) for the
manufacture of cheese. Some cheeses are made of skimmed milk. Others are
made of milk which contains part, or even all, of the cream. Some have
cream added. The cheeses containing but a moderate amount of fat are the
best.
The popular Roquefort cheese is made of a mixture of goat's milk and
sheep's milk. The savor is due to bacterial action and fat
saponification, which result in ammonia, glycerine, alcohol, fatty acids
and other chemicals in very small quantities.
The peculiar colorings which run in streaks through some cheeses that
are well ripened are due to molds, bacteria and yeasts. Gentlemen who
would discharge the cook if a moldy piece of bread appeared on the
table, eat decaying, moldy cheese with relish.
The best cheese of all is cottage cheese. People of normal taste will
soon weary of the frequent consumption of strong cheese, but they can
take cottage cheese every other day with relish. Occasionally put a few
caraway seeds in it if this flavor is agreeable.
Cottage cheese may be eaten plain or with bread, or with fruit or
vegetables. It may be used as dressing both on fruit and vegetable
salads.
Cheese should play no part in the alimentation of the sick, with the
exception of cottage cheese, which may be given to almost anyone who is
in condition to eat anything. The other cheeses are too concentrated for
sick people. In acute disease nothing is to be fed.
_Skimmed milk_ is about the same in composition as buttermilk. It is
inferior in flavor, but a good food. It is used a great deal in cooking.
Milk should not be used very much in cooking. When cooked it does not
digest very readily and it has a tendency to make other foods
indigestible.
_Sour cream_ or clabbered cream is best when it is taken from clabbered
milk. It may be used as dressing on fruits and salads. Sweet cream will
clabber, but it is not as delicious as when it clabbers on the milk.
_Clotted cream_ is made by putting the milk aside in pans in a cool
place until the cream rises. Then, without disturbing the cream, scald
the milk. Put the pan aside until the contents are cold and remove the
cream, which has a rich, agreeable flavor. This may be used as a
dressing.
Whipped cream and ice cream are so familiar that they hardly need
comment. Cream is such a rich food that it must be eaten in moderation.
Otherwise it will cause discomfort and disease. Ice cream is made of
milk and cream, in varying proportions, flavored to taste and frozen. It
is not necessary to add eggs and cornstarch. If eaten slowly it is a
good food, but taken in too large quantities and too rapidly it may
cause digestive troubles. It is not best to chill the stomach. Those
with weak digestion should be very careful not to do so.
Buttermilk is sometimes flavored and frozen. This ice is easy to digest.
Some doctors recommend this dish to their convalescents. It is an
agreeable change, and can be eaten by many who are unable to take care
of the rich ice cream.