CHAPTER V

MILK COOKERY 154 Soups 155 —Cream Soups 155 —Cereal Cream Soups 157 —Milk Chowders 158 —Milk Stews 158 Milk Cereals 159 Luncheon and Supper Dishes 159 —Creamed Dishes 160 —Souffles 161 —Cheese Fondu 161 —Milk Toast 162 Cheese Dishes as Meat Substitutes 162 Cheese Salads 166 Cottage Cheese 167 Milk Breads and Biscuits 170 Desserts 172 Junkets 179 Milk Beverages 181 Miscellaneous Suggestions 184 The Thermometer 184 Weights and Measures 185

End Notes 187

Bibliography 188

INTRODUCTION

The conception of this “Story of Milk” dates many years back. In his life-long study of problems connected with dairy farming and milk industries in two of the world’s greatest dairy countries, Denmark and the United States, the author has felt the need of a concise handbook covering this interesting subject. In his forty years of work in the manufacture and distribution of dairy and milk-food preparations he has been brought constantly into contact with men and women interested in the production of milk and has found a persistent demand for a book that might be consulted by anybody in regard to questions related to these greatest of all foods, which are, or ought to be, a most important part of the daily diet of children and adults alike, at all times, everywhere.

There was a time during the war when, frightened by the soaring of the price which had remained remarkably low for many years, much too low in fact compared with the cost of other food, people began to cut down the consumption of milk to an alarming extent. Even the National Food Administration for a short time recommended saving in the wrong place, forgetting that, at the highest figures reached during the temporary shortage, milk was still one of the cheapest of foods and that it was absolutely indispensable for growing children and exceedingly beneficial for men and women who were called upon to exercise their physical and mental powers as never before. But with men like Dean Russell of the Wisconsin Agricultural College in the Department and Dr. Graham Lusk of Cornell University representing the United States on the Inter-Allied Council of Alimentation, the Food Administration could not long maintain this mistaken attitude but quickly joined the College authorities and the representatives of the dairy industry in advocating a liberal use of milk. And the Department of Agriculture sent out over the country a large force of demonstrators to show the people how to use milk in making cottage cheese and many other ways, and Agricultural Colleges, Farm Bureaus and Home Economics Agents worked hand in hand with Washington in disseminating the knowledge of handling and utilizing milk.

A genuine interest has been aroused in our country in the economy and conservation of food, and in “The Story of Milk” the author hopes to place at the disposal of the student of Domestic Science a comprehensive book of reference which may open the eyes of many to the fact that there is no more interesting subject than “Milk” in connection with the study of the welfare and physical improvement of humanity, and that milk and its products should be used to a much greater extent than heretofore.

It would make a long list of references if the author should mention the sources on which he has drawn for information beyond his own life-long experience in the dairy and related industries. He desires to express his sincere appreciation of the kindness and ready response of institutions and friends to whom he has appealed for photographs and cuts which have enabled him to illustrate the text so liberally. In the back of the book will be found a brief bibliography of standard dairy literature in which students may find material for further information.

Many interesting data and several excellent illustrations have been obtained from the bulletins and collections of the Department of Agriculture in Washington and the Dairy Schools at Ithaca, N.Y., Madison, Wis., and Ames, Ia.

The Chapter on Milk Cookery was written and classified by the author’s wife, whose practical experience will make it useful alike to housekeepers and students of Domestic Science.

J. D. FREDERIKSEN.

Little Falls, N.Y.,

April, 1919.

HISTORICAL

Milk and its products have been known and used from time immemorial. In the Bible milk and milk foods are mentioned in some thirty places. In Gen. 18:8 we read: “... and he (Abraham’s servant) took butter and milk and set it before them ...”; 1 Sam. 17:28: “And Jesse said unto David, his son: ... bring these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand and look how thy brethren fare....”; Prov. 30:33: “For the churning of milk bringeth forth butter,” etc.

Though in some of these passages butter is mentioned it is hardly probably that this product was really made or used at the time under the climatic conditions in Palestine. More likely it was various kinds of curd and cheese which the translator called butter. At any rate, the Hebrews of that far-off day coveted milk and its products among their most valued foods. From Egyptian, Greek and Roman history it appears that knowledge of cheese goes back to the most ancient times and that it was made from the milk of sheep, goats, cows, asses, mares, in fact from all domestic animals; in the far North, Lapps and Eskimos still make it from the milk of the reindeer, the Arabs use camel’s milk, Llama cheese is famous in the Cordilleras and Zebu cheese in Ceylon and India.

Even in ancient times the great food value of dairy products was recognized. Plinius tells of Zoroaster that for twenty years he lived exclusively on cheese, and Plutarch calls cheese one of the most nourishing of foods.

As time went by, the cow excelled all other domestic animals in capacity for the production of milk and by constant use through centuries for the one special purpose,—by care in feeding, breeding and selection,—special breeds of cattle were developed which gave milk in extraordinarily large quantities.

In the cold climate of the northern countries where butter will keep for a long time it has been made for centuries. The illustration above is from a mural painting in an old church in Finland. Evidently at the time when that was built the devil already played havoc with the churn and even up to the days of our grand-fathers his Satanic Majesty was often accused of preventing the butter from “coming.”

Not until the middle of the nineteenth century did dairying take its place among the important industries of the world and science begin to be applied in its development. Between 1860 and 1870 Thomas R. Segelcke, the “Father of Scientific Dairying” in Denmark, introduced the thermometer in churning instead of the rule of thumb and started the keeping of records in the manufacture of butter. N. J. Fjord started a series of experiments in the creameries, continued through the next decades, and which became models for similar work throughout the world, covering pasteurization, ice houses and cold storage, comparison between various systems for raising the cream, separators, feeding rations, etc., and Denmark developed its agriculture and dairy industry to an enviable position. About the same time Dr. Schatzman applied scientific methods in cheese making in Switzerland and Jesse Williams started the first American cheese factory near Rome, N.Y., while L. B. Arnold, X. A. Willard, Harris Lewis, Harry Burrell and many other progressive dairymen made Herkimer County cheese famous.

From New York, dairy farming spread rapidly westward through Ohio to Michigan and Northern Illinois, where butter making was developed around Elgin, and to Wisconsin, where Governor Hoard preached the gospel of progress, Babcock invented and gave to the world the famous test that bears his name and Russell made a specialty of dairy bacteriology.

J. H. Monrad, Assistant Dairy Commissioner of Illinois, student, writer and lecturer on dairy subjects, collected and indexed one of the most complete and valuable libraries of dairy literature found anywhere, which after his death in 1915 was taken over and installed in special rooms by Chr. Hansen’s Laboratorium in Copenhagen, where a librarian is keeping it up to date and it is open to the public.

In Canada, Dairy Commissioners Jas. W. Robertson and J. A. Ruddick, D. M. McPherson, the “Cheese King,” and others contributed to an enormous development of the manufacture of high-class cheese, and in New Zealand and Australia similar progress was made.

Business and science have vied with each other in increasing the output of dairy products and improving their quality. In the table below, showing estimates for 1917, some interesting figures are given of the amount of milk produced in the United States and the uses to which it is applied.[1]

_Uses to which milk is put (calculations based on estimates)_

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Item Lbs. of Milk Per Cent ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Product of 22,768,000 cows at 84,611,350,000 ── 3,716 lbs. per an. Disposition of milk product: ───── 1,650,000,000 lbs. of butter 34,663,850,000 41.0 (at 21 lbs. milk) 420,000,000 lbs. of cheese (at 4,200,000,000 5.0 10 lbs. milk) 975,000,000 lbs. of condensed 2,437,500,000 2.9 milk (at 2½ lbs. milk) 210,000,000 gals. of ice cream 3,150,000,000 3.7 (weighing 6 lbs. to the gallon, 10% fat) 100,000,000 persons; 45% at 36,500,000,000 43.1 0.7 lb. a day (cities) farms with dairy cows, 30%, 1.5 lbs. per day; other farms and small towns, 25%, 1 lb. a day, approximately 17,500,000 calves, whole milk 3,660,000,000 4.3 (estimated) requirement ───── Total 84,611,350,000 100.0

Although the table accounts for all the milk produced, it does not tell the whole story, since the preparation of a number of products results in the formation of vast quantities of by-products that are not used to the fullest advantage for human food.

New York City alone consumes 1,600,000 quarts of milk a day, but even this enormous quantity means only 0.6 pint per capita. The consuming public has been slow to realize the value of milk and its products, and too much emphasis cannot be laid upon the fact that even at the largely increased cost of all dairy products they are still some of the cheapest and the most healthful of foods, especially for growing children, and should be used in much larger quantities.

THE STORY OF MILK

THE STORY OF MILK