Also Known As

Dudh, Doodh, Full fat milk, Full cream milk

Description

Milk is an opaque white colored liquid which is consumed all over the world, very versatile and easily available from nature. It is obtained from the mammary glands of mammals and the flavor varies depending on the mammal. The various types of milk depend on the breed or the animal from which it is obtained. For eg; Cow's milk is obtained from cow of all breeds. Similarly other commonly known and used milks include Buffalo's Milk, Goat's milk, Human milk. Other types, which are not really consumed by us, include donkey's milk, water buffalo's milk, sheep, horse, yak's milk. Milk is the natural source of nutrition for all infant mammals, as well as it is consumed by humans of all ages as a food product derived from other animals. Many producers administer the recombinant bovine somaotropin hormone to the cows to increase the milk production.
The term milk also includes non animal substitutes like soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk and rice milk.

How to Select

Commercial dairy farming using various automated milking machinery produces vast majority of milk in developed countries. The largest producer of diary products is India followed by U.S. the two types of milk available in market include one, which you get directly from the milk man and second, is the processed milk available from the stores or the milkman. Always select the processed milk because unprocessed milk might include some bacteria built either on storing or while removing milk from the cow. Processing includes the process of pasteurization, microfiltration, creaming and homogenization. This helps in killing the bacteria, centrifuging the fat globules and thus increasing shelf life. Brands offering such milk include Gokul, Warna, Cow's milk, Nestle's Slim milk and are available locally in all dairy shops.

Culinary Uses

Humans use milk of other animals as a food product and continue to drink it beyond infancy.
Milk is used to make various dairy products such as
" Ice-cream, eaten as a desert or used in a milkshake.
" Yogurt or Curds, which is the fermented form of milk and very nutritive
" Milk Cream, is the collection of fat globules into a mass of cream, used to prepare ghee or used as topping in delicious subjis.
" Butter, obtained after milk processing, is used widely as a spread over breads, rotis, and also in preparing various recipes.
" Buttermilk, very tasty accompaniment with major meals, prepared from fresh curds with addition of salt and chas masala or jeera powder.
" Cheese is also a processed and fermented form of milk, used in pastas, pizzas, or as a topping for garnishing any baked or grilled food item.
" Paneer or Chenna is used in chopped, grilled,barbequed or cube form in a number of recipes and tastes yummy. You can make tasty Orange or mango Sandesh out of it.
" A vide variety of sweet dishes include milk and khoya made up of milk as a min ingredient.
" The Whey, which is left behind after removal of paneer can be used to bind dough or evn in soups or the gravy of subjis.
" Skimmed milk or even semi skimmed milk is used on breakfast cereals and also while cooking.
" Hot milk, which is the boiled milk can also be used in recipes. You can make delicious hot milk strawberry cake, wherein milk is boiled with butter and then egg, sugar, vanilla and flour are added. Once the cake is made , top it with mixture of vanilla whipped cream ans sliced strawberry for the filling.
" Cold Milk tastes best and its easy to let the milk remain cold, by allowing it to refrigerate every time you use it, starting from its pick up until you drink it. Try making cold milkshakes of many varieties such as apple or mango milkshake, chocolate milkshake, varyali milkshake, or a mock tail may be prepared using chill whole milk.
" Apart from the above uses, milk is considered as a skin cleanser and helps moisturize a dry skin.


How to Store

Milk is very susceptible to bacterial growth if kept at room temperature. The colder the milk is kept, the longer it lasts. Hence refrigerate milk under 40'F to avoid the growth of unwanted bacteria. This will last it for around 2weeks. Store it in the main compartment and not on the door. Other ways of storing milk include drying it into powder and then reconstituting once required. Deep freezing or cold storage is another option if you want to store it for around 1 month at least.

Health Benefits

Consuming milk and milk products on a daily basis has a lot of health benefits as it is said to be a complete food.
" Milk promotes strong bones, thanks to presence of calcium as well as Vitamin D, which help in bone formation. This is the reason why small children must drink milk at least 2 glasses daily.
" It helps in body building, increasing muscle mass and improving general heath due to the presence of good quality protein and great amino acid score.
" Also there are good amounts of vitamin A and other minerals like selenium, phosphorus, which play important function in our body.
" Researches show that consumption of milk decrease the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
" There is also scientific evidence showing that milk reduces the formation of certain types of cancer cells in our body.
" Warm milk helps induce sleep, due to the presence of tryptophan, which has the property of inducing sleep. Also the warmth of milk raises our body temperature and gives a sound sleep. Warm milk is the milk which is heated just to the extent that you can drink it comfortably.
" Milk consumption also protects against the development of type 2 diabetes mallitus.
" Apart from the above uses, milk is considered as a skin cleanser and helps moisturize a dry skin.