The Milk Maid

Paul and I had to move to India to realize that we are in fact "Foodies." We never really considered ourselves "into" food, of course we appreciate good food and a nice restaurant. However, after moving your family to a developing country you begin to realize all the different ways you are in fact a food snob. For instance, we are "coffee, peanut butter, chocolate, wine, beer, cheese, meat, and now . . . milk snobs. "

Back home in Michigan, we enjoyed drinking Horizon Organic milk. The taste is in fact much better than the local dairies, and with the ultra-pasteurization we were able to keep milk longer in the house.

Milk is a tricky commodity here in India. One can buy boxed milk. It is packaged like soy milk located in the regular aisle of any store. This boxed milk scares us as we do not understand how it can sit out unrefrigerated. So we decided to brave our stomachs against parasites, and buy our milk from the local Indian dairies.

Here is how to make milk in India --

1. Purchase fresh milk from your local store or have the milkman deliver it to your house. We prefer Amul brand milk for its taste. Taaza just means fresh.

2. Buy a good steel vessel to boil your milk.
3. Add heat from your gas cooking range to heat the milk inside the vessel.
4. Bring the milk to a gentle boil, as shown below.

5. Remove the vessel from the heat. Then, gently skim the top cream layer from the milk.
6. Wait a few minutes and repeat the process to remove more cream.
7. Cool the milk completely and cover the vessel with the lid. Then refrigerate and enjoy for 3 days.

It's really quite tastier than Horizon Organic. Now, if we could only find that Jif Peanut Butter!