The New York Times food news feed is filled with dairy related articles this weekend.
The dairy industry will no longer be able to make weight loss claims for a diet containing low fat dairy products. Frankly, the claims did seem really silly to me, but what do I know.
All of this plays into the ongoing difference of opinion between dairy promoters and dairy detractors.
There are lots of things to object to in the American way of dairy. The cramped cows, the subsidized feed, the methane, the hormones. The Meatrix II - the mootrix? Is it really necessary to suggest three servings of dairy per day for everybody as the new food pyramid (which is so much better in other ways than its predecessors) does?
At the same time, adolescents and women of a certain age have been told just how great their calcium need is to grow/maintain healthy bones.
There seems to be a bit of a sea change, though. This year when I saw the nurse practitioner who provides my women's health care, she didn't harp on calcium in my diet, but vitamin D. Sunscreen and aging both reduce the amount of it one makes from sunshine - and that's assuming one gets away from the computer and climate-controlled auto and house interiors and gets some sunshine. Doctors and nutritionist are advocating a lowering of the calcium recommendations (to 600 or 700 mg per day), but vitamin D supplements for older folks. And it is possible, with care, to get the calcium from non-dairy, even non-soy, non-fortified sources.
I probably eat too many dairy products, even though I do not drink milk. No football fan, I'm still a cheese head. Cheese, bread and wine - those three great combos of natural processes and human ingenuity. Why do we bless God for bread and wine and not cheese? My challenge is to limit myself to 1 ounce of good cheese worth eating (not low fat) per day. I've always loved ice cream, but can convince myself that low (not non) fat yogurt and fruit "sundaes" are just as good, maybe better. And sometimes I want a breakfast egg cooked in a little butter. So, not eating meat, dairy is the major source of saturated fat in my diet.
In other dairy news, Stonyfield Farms will be bringing an organic yogurt product to Europe. I have to say that I've been finding good prices on local organic yogurt here lately and really enjoying it. It doesn't have that extra stuff added to make it stiff, and it tastes good.
But I have a reuse problem - the one quart yogurt containers. I follow the rule of thumb of using plastics five times before putting them in the recycling. I reuse pint containers all the time to freeze portions of soups, stews and chilis. When there's no more room left to write the contents on the lid, in the recycling they go. They are usually a little weird by then anyway. But I don't freeze large portions, so the quart containers just accumulate. I've been scratching my head to find a creative use for them, but no luck. Suddenly it dawned on me: it is time to buy another yogurt maker. I've had two in the past - the big simple one burnt out, and the little jars one I gave away - too fussy. So I need to get a new one - a simple one that will make a quart or more at a time, from the good local milk that is available to me.
And then I might make yogurt cheese for my fresh cheese needs. Another article talks of a return to plain foods, and identifies ricotta as one of the best of the lot. I love ricotta - but need to search out a local one that might be fresher or tastier - or make my own, or a reasonable substitute. I've linked the plain food/ricotta article, because I wanted to try every recipe in it. Especially the coeur a la creme with rhubarb sauce.
3 comments:
Dairy farmers in Hawai'i import feed from ... Petaluma! which in turn buys it from the San Joaquin Valley - and adds protein supplement from Arkansas.... I wonder why they let that stuff in the state, especially the supplement, instead of encouraging irrigation and grass fed cattle... In California to meet state protein standards dairies add supplements to all but whole milk. Bleah.
Oh but if I lived within easy driving distance of Sonoma County cheese makers like Matos Farms (St George Cheese) ....
Blessed are the cheesemakers.
Yogurt is so simple to make, and you can do it without buying anything but the milk and a small amount of store-bought yogurt! We make our yogurt all the time (about five quarts at a time!), using raw milk, Mason jars and the heat generated by the pilot light (or oven light if you have an electric stove).
For awhile you can then make more yogurt using your own as a starter, though it does "wear out" after a few generations. Of course you can make a pint at a time if five quarts seems excessive ...
Have fun!
CG
Alas! I have a gas stove without pilot lights. This means I am burning fewer fossil fuels daily, but don't have that warm spot to incubate yogurt or give rising dough a boost on a rainy winter day. I remember in my quasi-hippie days all sorts of ideas for incubating yogurt. I think my favorite was scald the milk, cool it to the highest temp in the incubation range, add the old yogurt, and wrap the jar in your down sleeping bag. Hmmmm.
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