CONDENSED MILK.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 419, 13 November 1889, Page 8

CONDENSED MILK.

The ] vocoss of condensing tm'.k, by tlie t\steni now iv \oinie, is pietty gepeu.lly umieisit oil ; but it nuiy not be so well ki.own that it is likt 1 y to Lo superseded l»y a m\v dibco\eiy, w 111--I1 piomises to get ii<J of some vi the disadvantages of the old. (.'lie of those is the lather « xerssive use of su^ar to assist, not iv the condi lisi'liop, but in |.rcsei viug the milk ; for it was foun 1 that when con-tii-psed without some preservative, it only Kept lor a limited time, and on the tuis being; opened it detenoiated veiy rapidly. But the sugar alteied the composition of the milk, and considerably reduced its value as a nuttitive diet, especially in the case oF infants and delicote people. It is to a Noiwe&ian that we owe the discovery tha', is to give us milk, fiesh as it corals fiorn the cow, uneondensed, and unpreserved, but keej ing in good condition for any length of time, so long as the tins aie unopened, and for a reasonable period after. Simply act ; ng on the knowledge that certain small organisms ai-e the cause of fermentation and putiefaciion in milk, lie Mist set to work to completely destroy thebe, and then protect the milk fiom further contact by hermetically pealing it up in tins. Tins is called sterilising the milk, and is effected by-raising to a high (c npcrature then allonng it to cool, and heating it again till not only the bacteiia, but genvs and spoies they produce, and which can resist a much higher tern] eratuie than the parent organisms, are destroyed. It is also claimel that by this pieces? disease germs will likewise be destioyod, and that people using it will be safer from the dangeis of infection than those who buy their ovrn milk from a dairy, 01 even those who keep theii own covas, that unknown to the owner may be suffeiing from tuberculosis, the germs of which, it is alleged, may be con'vejed in the milk, to the human snbject. It appears from a paragraph in the Gazette of Febiuary the li*th, that 'the condensed milk in lustiy is at pi esent in a critical condition in Switzerland, piincipally because the necessaiy sugar had 10 be imjoited from abroad.' How will this new process, for which a company has been formed in London, an.! a patent taken out, afb\ct what is known as the Ango-Swiss trade ? If all lie true that is advanced in favour of it, and the testimony seems too good to be doubted, the Swiss manufacturers may have a more serious difficulity to contend with than the impoitation of sugar ; indeed, a blow may be stiuck at the whole process of condensing, as assuredly the public vull piefer their milk (if they can get it; in its natural state. — A. L. O S.