The 1918 Fanny Farmer Cookbook

Protein, 3.5%

Mineral matter, .75%

Fat, 4%

Water, 87.25%

Lactose, 4.75%

Boston Chemist.

The value of milk as a food is obvious from the fact that it constitutes the natural food of

all

young mammalia during the period of their most rapid growth. Milk should constitute the

principal protein food of children. It is rich in calcium (which is necessary for the building of

bones) and vitamines (growth−promoting substances). Adults as well as children should be

furnished a liberal milk supply. A quart for each child and a pint for each adult, daily, is a

desirable allowance. Hot milk is often given to produce sleep.

When milk is allowed to stand for a few hours, the globules of fat, which have been held in

suspension throughout the liquid, rise to the top in the form of cream; this is due to their lower

specific gravity.

The difference in quality of milk depends chiefly on the quantity of fat therein: casein,

lactose,

and mineral matter being nearly constant, water varying but little unless milk is adulterated.

Why Milk Sours. A germ found floating in the air attacks a portion of the lactose in the

milk,

converting it into lactic acid; this, in turn, acts upon the casein (protein) and precipitates it,

producing what is known as curd and whey. Whey contains water, salts, and some sugar.

Milk is preserved by sterilization, pasteurization, and evaporation. Fresh condensed milk a

form of evaporized milk, is sometimes sold in bulk, and is preferred by many to serve with

coffee. Various brands of condensed milk and cream are on the market in tin cans,

hermetically

sealed. Examples: Nestle’s Swiss Condensed Milk, Eagle Condensed Milk, Daisy Condensed

Milk, Highland Evaporated Cream, Borden’s Peerless Evaporated Cream. Malted milk

evaporized milk in combination with extracts of malted barley and wheat −is used to a

−

considerable extent; it is sold in the form of powder.

Thin, or strawberry, and thick cream may be obtained from almost all creameries.

Devonshire, or clotted cream, is cream which has been removed from milk allowed to heat

slowly to a temperature of about 150° F.

In feeding infants with milk, sterilization or pasteurization is recommended only to avoid

danger

Chapter I − FOOD