Difference between revisions of "Soured milk"

Latest revision as of 18:37, 13 October 2010

Soured milk is a food product, distinguished from spoiled milk, and is a general term for milk that has acquired a tart taste, either through the addition of an acid, such as lemon juice or vinegar, or through bacterial fermentation. The acid causes milk to coagulate and form a thicker consistency. Soured milk that is produced by bacterial fermentation is more specifically called fermented milk or cultured milk.^[1] Soured milk that is produced by the addition of an acid, with or without the addition of microbial organisms, is more specifically called acidified milk.^[1] In the US, the acids that may be used in the manufacture of acidified milk are acetic acid (commonly found in vinegar), adipic acid, citric acid (commonly found in lemon juice), fumaric acid, glucono-delta-lactone, hydrochloric acid, lactic acid, malic acid, phosphoric acid, succinic acid, and tartaric acid.

Sour milk in recipes

In recipes, soured milk created by the addition of an acid or by bacterial fermentation can often be used interchangeably. For example, 1 cup of cultured buttermilk, a soured milk produced by bacterial fermentation, can be replaced by 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make 1 cup. The chemically soured milk can be used after standing for 5 minutes.^[2]

Sour milk

Currently, sour milk commonly means (pasteurized) milk that has spoiled and is "in an unpalatable state".^[3] However, the meaning of sour milk can be ambiguous since it has been used in different contexts in different time periods.

Since the 1970s, sour milk has been used both for chemically and biologically soured milk.^[4][5][6][7]

Some older recipes list "sour milk" as an ingredient, but today it is unclear which dairy product was "sour milk". Pasteurized milk was not available in the US until the early 1900s. For example, the South Jersey Milk Company created a poster in 1930 entitled "What is pasteurized milk?" to educate the American public about the safety of its newly pasteurized milk.^[8] Thus, older recipes that use sour milk may have been written prior to the availability of pasteurized milk. Before pasteurized milk became widely available, sour milk may have been unpasteurized milk that had naturally acquired a sour taste through bacterial fermentation at room temperature.

At least until the 1920s, there was a clear distinction between sour milk and buttermilk,^[9] where buttermilk was the sour tasting thin liquid leftover from making butter.^[10] Today, in North America, either cultured buttermilk, also commonly known as buttermilk but not the same product as the aforementioned buttermilk, or milk soured by the addition of lemon juice or vinegar is often used when sour milk is needed in a recipe.

References

es:Leche agria pl:Zsiadłe mleko pnb:لسی ru:Простокваша

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} and they are also used for face when it is washed by sour milk. "TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS: CHAPTER I, PART 131 MILK AND CREAM". Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR). 2007-04-01. Retrieved 2007-11-18. 
2. ↑ Darling, Jennifer Dorland (ed.) (2002). Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (12th ed.). Des Moines, IA: Meredith Corp. ISBN 0-696-21290-0. OCLC 50779131. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
3. ↑ "sour". dictionary.com. Retrieved 2007-07-02. 
4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Suggestions' not found.
5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Suggestions' not found.
6. ↑ US patent 3625702, Exler, Heinrich, "PREPARATION OF SOUR MILK DRINKS", published 1971-12-07, issued 1971-12-07, assigned to Heinrich Exler 
7. ↑ US patent 3978243, Pedersen, Jens Kristian, "Process for preparing gelled sour milk", published 1976-08-31, issued 1976-08-31, assigned to Kobenhavns Pektinfabrik 
8. ↑ "Early Developments in the American Dairy Industry". The National Agricultural Library: Special Collections. Retrieved 2007-07-02. 
9. ↑ US patent 238248, Charles Peck, "Preparation of Sour Milk", published 1818-03-01, issued 1818-03-01, assigned to Charles Peck 
10. ↑ US patent 1356340, Norman P. Collis, "Method of Drying Buttermilk", published 1920-10-19, issued 1920-10-19, assigned to Collis Products Company