[Sca-cooks] Cream

[Stefan li Rous]

  Holly Stockley gave some interesting comparisons between modern and 
medieval milk products including:
> The CLOSEST would be heavy cream.  But even that isn't quite the same
> animal.  Two problems with modern dairy products....  One, they're
> standardized for butterfat content.  Whole milk at 4 percent, heavy 
> cream at
> 35-40, etc.  Largely because it's not the same coming out of the cow.  
> The
> super-volume modern holsteins are lucky to top 3.8%.  Guernseys and 
> Jerseys
> have been know to make it to 8%.  The dairy industry has created 
> categories
> to ensure a consistent product.

I'm curious how these set fat ratios are achieved these days, 
particularly since the amount of fat differs from breed to breed, cow 
to cow and even season to season.

Do they have a method for removing the fat, so that they just pour all 
the milk together making an average amount of fat, and then remove 
various amounts to make the various milk products? Or do they end up 
mixing X amount of Holstein milk with Y amount of Guernsey milk to 
create a certain percentage? How do they take care of individual 
differences or season differences? Although I guess if you are dealing 
with large enough quantities you can test and then mix. 4 1/2 tankers 
of Holstein milk with 1 1/3 tankers of Guernsey milk etc.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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