The Bacillus of Long Life / A Manual of the Preparation and Souring of Milk for Dietary Purposes, Together with an Historical Account of the Use of Fermented Milks, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, and Their Wonderful Effect in the Prolonging of Human Existence

by Loudon M. Douglas

Charles G. Addison states: "A supper was brought in on a round tray. In the centre was a huge pilaff of rice, and around it several small dishes of stewed meats, grilled bones, sour clotted milk called yaoort,[7] bits of meat roasted, etc....

"We retired into a tent to breakfast, where we found an immense bowl of delicious fresh camels' milk, with thin hot cakes of unleavened bread, baked upon the ashes, ready prepared for us. The principal food of the Bedouins consists of flour and some camels' milk made into a paste, boiled, and eaten swimming in melted grease and butter; boiled wheat and beans dried in the sun and prepared with butter are a favourite dish. They are all remarkably fond of butter and grease; the butter is made in a goat-skin, suspended to the tent pole, and constantly shaken about by the women."[8]

Burckhardt[9] says: "The provisions of my companion consisted only of flour; besides flour, I carried some butter and dried leben (sour milk), which would dissolve in water. It forms not only a refreshing beverage, but is much to be recommended as a preservative of health when travelling in summer. These are our only provisions." With regard to the inhabitants of the Houran, Burckhardt relates that the most common dishes of these people are bourgoul and keshk. "In summer they supply the place of the latter by milk, leben, and fresh butter. Of the bourgoul I have spoken on other occasions; there are two kinds of keshk—keshk-hammer and keshk-leben. The first is prepared by putting leaven into the bourgoul and pouring water over it. It is then left until almost putrid, and afterwards spread out in the sun and dried, after which it is pounded, and, when called for, served up mixed with oil or butter. The keshk-leben is prepared by putting leben into the bourgoul instead of leaven; in other respects the process is the same. Keshk and bread are the common breakfasts. Towards sunset a plate of bourgoul, or some Arab dish, forms the dinner."

Again, Taylor[10] says: "I received a small jug of thick buttermilk, not remarkably clean, but very refreshing."

These references particularly refer to the East, from which it would appear that soured milk was universally known in ancient times as it is at the present day, and this remark applies not only to Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia, but throughout Turkey and the Balkan States, where the consumption of soured milk is equally common. It seems curious that the use of this commodity should have been confined for centuries to the East, as we shall see later on that its dietetic value is so great that it is really a wonderful thing that no one has taken the trouble to introduce its use to the Western nations until quite recently.

The Handling OF Milk in the Pyrenees

The handling of milk in the Pyrenees is, more especially in the villages, conducted in goat or sheep skins, in a similar way to the methods which prevail in Eastern Europe, and the picture shows a skin of milk on a small farm in the Pyrenees. The churning is very often performed by simply rocking the skin between the knees, acidity being induced by remnants of the previous day's milk; souring of milk is induced by the same method.

A curious example of how the virtues of such an article may be independently discovered by another nation is to be found in Lapland, where reindeer's milk is the article used. "The reindeer's milk," says Acerbi,[11] "constitutes a principal part of the Laplander's food, and he has two methods of preparing it, according to the season. In summer he boils the milk with sorrel till it arrives to a consistence; in this manner he preserves it for use during that short season. In winter the following is his method of preparation: The milk, which he collects in autumn till the beginning of November, from the reindeer, is put into casks, or whatever vessels he has, in which it soon turns sour, and, as the cold weather comes on, freezes, and in this state it is kept. The milk collected after this time is mixed with cranberries and put into the paunch of the reindeer, well cleaned from filth; thus the milk soon congeals, and it is cut out in slices, together with the paunch, to effect which a hatchet is used, for no smaller instrument would perform the office of dividing that lump of ice. It is then separated into small pieces and eaten throughout the winter every day at noon, which is the Laplander's dinner-hour. It must be presumed, as it is served up without being brought to the fire, that this is ice-cream in the greatest perfection: here are flesh and fruit blended with the richest butyraceous milk that can be drawn from any animal; but, notwithstanding the extraordinary fatness, which may be supposed to resist in a great degree the effect of cold, this preparation, as our good missionary remarks with a degree of feeling, as if his teeth still chattered whilst he delivered the account, chills and freezes the mouth in a violent manner whenever it is taken. The milk which is drawn late in the winter freezes immediately after being drawn. This is put into small vessels made of birchwood, and is considered by the Laplander as such an extraordinary delicacy, that he reserves it as the most acceptable present he can offer even a missionary. It is placed before the fire and eaten with a spoon as it is thawed. When put by, it is carefully covered up, because if the cold air gets to it afterwards, it turns of a yellow colour and becomes rancid."