Milk, milk, milk, and cheese, yogurt, paneer, buttermilk...

[Vanessa]

I learned some very interesting information in the book Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, by Anne Mendelson. Great history and recipes, plus very level-headed discussions about organic milk and pasturization and homogenization.


Before ice or refrigeration people who lived in hot places would milk their animal, then the hot milk would almost instantly start to ferment into some form of yogurt. The naturally occurring good bacteria in the milk would start to work before the putrifaction bacteria would settle in from the air. People got clabbered (cultured) milk, yogurt, sour cream, etc. If they made butter it would be cultured butter.


Anyway, people who cannot drink sweet fresh milk, can often drink buttermilk, or yogurt, or other cultured products. The lactic-acid bacteria have broken down the lactose already. Goat yogurt is naturally thinner and drinkable.


I learned how to make my own great yogurt from this book ? heat milk, mix in a bit of live yogurt after it?s cooled to 110 degrees F, then keep it at about that temperature for 4-6 hours. Drain whey if you want it less sour. A similar process with some starter buttermilk and room-temperature fermentation gives you cultured buttermilk. Yum! Especially good with cream-top milk fresh from a local dairy.


Rippetoe, thanks for giving me a good excuse to consume plenty of milk! It makes a great post-workout drink and my children love it after gymnastics.


Beastmaster and others with milk trouble, I wonder if some fresher local milk which has been low-temperature pasteurized but not homogenized might be more digestible? Or yogurt of some kind. (Pure whey protein can be very irritating to the gut!) But you won't starve if you can't drink milk, just keep your calories up!

[Mark Rippetoe]

I really think Big Milk owes me money.

[Ian Kovtunovich]

I really think Big Milk owes me money.

Yeah, why haven't they put you in one of those milk-mustache ads you see in magazines? Scowling out from under the bar, a half-empty open jug of milk by the rack..."DRINK YOUR FUCKING MILK."

I bet that'd be a hit with the Better Homes & Gardens demographic.

[tommo]

Did it say anything about the link of milk to multiple sclerosis / autism / all that crap ? whats the deal with all that, is it fiction ? I've read that some people create anti-bodies to casein or some such.. I dont like that idea since I love milk.

[Stevo]

The Fart Industry owes you big, too.

[tryn2improv]

Yeah, why haven't they put you in one of those milk-mustache ads you see in magazines? Scowling out from under the bar, a half-empty open jug of milk by the rack..."DRINK YOUR FUCKING MILK."

LOL! Priceless picture

[Mark Rippetoe]

Did it say anything about the link of milk to multiple sclerosis / autism / all that crap ? whats the deal with all that, is it fiction ? I've read that some people create anti-bodies to casein or some such.. I dont like that idea since I love milk.

Look at the number of case of MS/A/ATC vs. the number of people drinking milk. What do you think?

[Ian Kovtunovich]

Come on, everyone knows autism is caused by vaccines, not milk!

[Stevo]

Yes, vaccines cause Autism...thank you Dr. Jenny McCarthy & Dr. Ace Ventura.

[RT-]

Look at the number of case of MS/A/ATC vs. the number of people drinking milk. What do you think?

Hmm, but look at the number of cases of lung cancer vs. the number of people who smoke. Most risk factors only ever affect a percentage of people who engage in them.

I'm not saying there's a link between milk and 'all that crap', though (there was some very, very weak evidence linking casein-free diets with small improvements in autistic individuals which I remember reading, but you'd be left with nothing to eat if you took any notice of all the world's badly designed studies).