FLAVORING MILK.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3020, 1 March 1881, Page 4

FLAVORING MILK.

B_ PROFESSOR E. W. STEWAET, IN BUBAL NEW TOEKEB. A few years ago dairymen thought their business limited to a very narrow belt, diversified -by hill and valley, where only the _iiest grasses flourished in perfection, and the water ran in' clear' streams or bubbled from pure springs ; that nature had foi'Hiden to the broad, level, stretching prances of the west the production of the finest butter and cheese.

But this vision of exclusive privilege soon passed away under skilful management, and excellent hutter is now produced from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It was soon found that skill, and not a ".dairy belt " must determine the quality of the product. Milk is extremely sensitive to the flavors of food, but so, likewise, is the flesh of cattle fed for beef. Where beef of the best quality is produced, there skill is equal to the production of the' finest butter.

The study of food and their peculiar flavors is certainly important to the dairyman. This study would show him that he may easily control the flavor of the milk he produces through the food he furnishes to his cows. It is true that different cows give milk of slightly different flavors from the same food, because one cow selects or appropriates more of certain qualities than another, but these individual differences do not materially change the quality of the butter product. A distinguished French agriculturist, M. Monclar, has lately proposed to give any desired flavor to the flesh of cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry, by different combinations of food. He mentions hares killed in a wormwood field, larks shot after eating cabbage, and eggs laid by hens that had eaten of deseased silk-worms, as having a nauseating flavor ; while ducks fed upon sprigs of juniper had a delicious flavor. He fed rabbits with the waste of aniseed mixed with barley and bran, and others with food flavored with the essence of thyme. In both of these cases he found a distinct and agreeable change in the flavor, and he comes to the conclusion, from various experiments, that cattle and other animals may be given such flavors of flesh as the Bkilful feeder may desire. This may be pushing the point to an extreme, but all diarymen are familiar with the fact that milk takes readily a flavor from turnips, leeks, onions, &c. These flavors aro more marked and distinct than those of common foods, but every food gives its own peculiar flavor. It has been found that so good a food as red clover, when fed alone, gives milk an inferior flavor to that given by white clover, and especially by a mixture of grasses. As each food gives its own peciiliar flavor, it is evident that a large variety of grasses in a pasture will give a milk of a higher flavor than one seeded with only two, say clover and Timothy, as is most frequently the case. The aromatic herbs among the grasses cropped by the Swiss cows upon the mountains produce a highly flavored milk greatly relished by travellers. These instances conclusively prove that the flavor of milk may be under the control of the dairyman, for he may select hia own flavoring foods. If ho is about to lay down pastures, he may not only increase the production of food upon a given area, but greatly improve the flavor of his milk by seeding with a variety of grasses, and selecting some especially for flavor. Yet some of the best foods for milk are also equally good for flavor. Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum) produces a large yield of food and gives a fine flavor to the milk. Mr Chamberlain, of Maine, whose experience with this clover has been of many years' duration, says it bears cropping by cattle well, proving its adaptability to pasturage. He also pronounces it the best honey plant known. This would prove its quality for flavor in milk, as the best honey plants are found to give an agreeable flavor to milk—white clover standing very high both for the production of honey and milk. These two clovers are so important to a perfect dairy pasture that they should not be omitted where the soil is suitable.

A flavoring plant not much grown in this country, but well worthy of trial upon light soils, is the melilot—the yellow (Melilotus officinalis) and white (Melilotus alba), the former sometimes called French clover, and tho latter sweet clover. The sterna

have very numerous and when thrifty, grow from two to four feet lAr}i. It is wood v when it reaches the blossom, and should, therefore, Lo cut before blossoming. It becomes very fragrant in drying. A species of this plant is used iv Switzerland to givo the peculiar flavor of Schabzieger cheese (called here Sapsago cheese.) When quite young, cattle are fond of a small portion of it mixed with other fodders in winter to givo flavor. Its nutritive value is nearly the same as that f red clover.

°~ ,n t-scented vernal grass is valuable as ilant, although not well relished a flavoring t , There ig _ ot eto as a single *00% M(? _ly flavored plants, mention many of the^. ' til but dairymen will have no ■ " • in finding plenty of them to giv* an *&™' able flavor to milk when they shall ma* e uu effort. . In winter feeding, the dairyman is often obliged to feed some straw, cured corn fodder and the like, which are quite-negative as regards flavor. These foods' must, of course, be fed with some kind of grain, bran, or some other concentrated food if milk is to be produced profitably, and with this grain food may be mingled with some flavoring materials, such as Fenugreek seed, which is used in the composition of condimental cattle foods. Fenugreek means Creek hay, and was used by the Greeks as fodder. There is probably no difficulty in raising this plant in this country. Aniseed, carrowayseed, coriander-seed, ginger, tumeric root, are all used for flavoring such condimental foods and condition powder, sold usually at six prices to those who do not examine foods foi''tfreiuselves; A small amotrnt of these flavoring" materials mixed with corn meal or wbeaC middlings, may be kept on- hand to be mixed iff small quantities with other grain food as used. We pay a good deal of attention to flavors fir the preparation of human food, and ifc wonM undoubtedly pay us well to give more atten_on to flavoring the foods for the production of milk.