A long time back when I visited the US, one thing I could not stand was what I then perceived as a rubbery taste in the milk and, when I returned to India I quite relished the taste of Mother Dairy milk. I did not feel this difference in a more recent trip. The reason clearly is that now our milk is also from US varieties of cow.
Something similar is happening to cucumbers, onions, chicken…you name it. The change is slow and imperceptible. We have won a victory over ourselves. We love US crap.
The new PISA scores(which test the literacy in Math, science, Reading) of 15 year old kids around the world is out. There is not much discussion about the dismal ranking of the Indian kids(represented by HP and Tamilnadu). ELM is busy shilling for everything except Indian interests. Indian kids performed at the bottom of all countries tested.
India should stop the western practice of pasteurization -- for the simple reason that Indians boil milk before drinking. Pasteurized milk is dead milk and is responsible for a variety of diseases. After years of disagreement between pro and anti-pasteurization groups, slowly a consensus is emerging that slow heating on a low flame is superior to pasteurization -- something Indians have always done and still do.
@ M.Patil The PISA scores are highly questionable. First, the Chinese only sent students from their best schools in Shanghai. Second, we have no idea how the candidates for the PISA were selected. I highly doubt that Indian students from good urban schools would perform that dismally. Third, sending students only from HP and TN is a very bad sample set.
@Inferno You are right. Pasteurization does not kill bacterial (and fungal) spores, and it does not even kill all bacteria. It is not hot enough for that. It makes the milk stable for a few hours, but fails to do even that if storage temperature is comparatively high, like what obtains generally in India. High temperature sterilization, which is similar to "autoclaving" or "pressure cooking", makes it possible to keep the milk without spoilage for several days without refrigeration, and may be more suitable for us. If I remember right, this method was being used in certain African countries like Kenya, and was introduced by Mother Dairy in India a few years ago, but it did not become popular. Another practice, in my opinion unsuitable for India, is homogenization, which breaks up the microscopic fat globules in native milk and makes the milk fat susceptible to more rapid deterioration, especially peroxidation. Boiling the milk also causes a reaction between the protein and milk-sugar, giving the milk a characteristic, pleasing aroma. Further, boiling makes it more suitable for making dahi, and makes the milk more easily digestible for infants and children. Finally I recommend Sainath's article for reading by everyone, particularly because it points out several advantages of indigenous breeds of cattle over imported ones.
5 comments:
A long time back when I visited the US, one thing I could not stand was what I then perceived as a rubbery taste in the milk and, when I returned to India I quite relished the taste of Mother Dairy milk. I did not feel this difference in a more recent trip. The reason clearly is that now our milk is also from US varieties of cow.
Something similar is happening to cucumbers, onions, chicken…you name it. The change is slow and imperceptible. We have won a victory over ourselves. We love US crap.
The new PISA scores(which test the literacy in Math, science, Reading) of 15 year old kids around the world is out. There is not much discussion about the dismal ranking of the Indian kids(represented by HP and Tamilnadu). ELM is busy shilling for everything except Indian interests. Indian kids performed at the bottom of all countries tested.
brief synopses at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/12/why-is-india-so-low-in-the-pisa-rankings.html
Original url at:
https://mypisa.acer.edu.au/images/mypisadoc/acer_pisa%202009%2B%20international.pdf
India should stop the western practice of pasteurization -- for the simple reason that Indians boil milk before drinking. Pasteurized milk is dead milk and is responsible for a variety of diseases. After years of disagreement between pro and anti-pasteurization groups, slowly a consensus is emerging that slow heating on a low flame is superior to pasteurization -- something Indians have always done and still do.
@ M.Patil
The PISA scores are highly questionable. First, the Chinese only sent students from their best schools in Shanghai. Second, we have no idea how the candidates for the PISA were selected. I highly doubt that Indian students from good urban schools would perform that dismally. Third, sending students only from HP and TN is a very bad sample set.
@Inferno
You are right. Pasteurization does not kill bacterial (and fungal) spores, and it does not even kill all bacteria. It is not hot enough for that. It makes the milk stable for a few hours, but fails to do even that if storage temperature is comparatively high, like what obtains generally in India. High temperature sterilization, which is similar to "autoclaving" or "pressure cooking", makes it possible to keep the milk without spoilage for several days without refrigeration, and may be more suitable for us. If I remember right, this method was being used in certain African countries like Kenya, and was introduced by Mother Dairy in India a few years ago, but it did not become popular. Another practice, in my opinion unsuitable for India, is homogenization, which breaks up the microscopic fat globules in native milk and makes the milk fat susceptible to more rapid deterioration, especially peroxidation.
Boiling the milk also causes a reaction between the protein and milk-sugar, giving the milk a characteristic, pleasing aroma. Further, boiling makes it more suitable for making dahi, and makes the milk more easily digestible for infants and children.
Finally I recommend Sainath's article for reading by everyone, particularly because it points out several advantages of indigenous breeds of cattle over imported ones.
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