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Preserve

Preservation of Milk

A method for preserving milk by adding bicarbonate, heating, and sealing with pitch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Preservation of Milk

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 194°F (90°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Add 1½ ounces of bicarbonate of soda or potash to 1 pint of new milk.

Heat and seal

  1. Close the bottle and place it in a hot water bath heated to just below 194°F (90°C) for about four hours.

  2. Afterward, remove the bottle and dip it in melted pitch to seal.

Store

  1. Store the sealed milk for long-term preservation.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

New milk
Serves as the liquid base that the treatment acts on and is preserved.
Bicarbonate of soda or potash
Raises the milk's alkalinity, which slows spoilage by bacteria.

The step that matters

Holding the water bath just below 194°F (90°C). Water above the stated temperature may cause the milk to boil or scorch against the bottle, and a bath that is too cool may not treat the milk long enough. Keeping it just below the limit for the full time gives steady, even heating.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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