Date: 08 Feb 1999 13:34:53 Z From: Loyd Wix <Loyd.Wix@unilever.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg375$foo@default> Subject: More on Pinguicula fermentation
Dear Jure,
>I find names Toetmoelk and Filmjo"lk in Juniper, Robins,
>Joel - Carnivorous Plants: 'The Leaves of Pinguicula, as
>they were once in Britain, are still used by the Lapps to
>curdle and thicken milk, producing Toetmoelk or Filmjo"lk.'
>Is there any British name for it?
Cheese!
As far as I am aware the use of Pinguicula in parts of the
UK was as a 'vegetable rennet' to make cheese.
Traditionally cheese was produced by adding rennet (an
enzyme extracted from a calf's stomach) to milk. The rennet
has a specific action on the milk protein casein, removing
small fractions from it which causes it to curdle and
thicken up. The resultant mixture is cut in order to
separate the curds and whey ( as in the nursery rhyme) - the
curds are then pressed together to form cheese.
But what happens if you are in the middle of no where
(Snowdonia for example) with lots of milk by no calf to
slaughter for the stomach? This is where Pinguicula leaves
were also used to facilitate in separating the curds and
whey to produce cheese.
On the one occasion I tried Pinguicula fermentation it went
down this 'cheese' route rather than the tatmjolk route. I
reconstituted whole milk from skimmed milk powder, dairy
cream and water. This was homogenised to disperse the fat
and then pasteurised (HTST 83 deg C, 20 seconds). The milk
left the chilled section of the pasteuriser at 4deg C and
was passed through a sieve containing P.grandiflora leaves
and into a sterile milk churn. Over a period of 5 days the
material became steadily thicker until a cheese type curd
was produced. I saw no sign of the ropeyness characteristic
of tatmjolk. I suspect that the curds were formed by low
temperature microbial activity rather than anything
enzymatic from the plant.
Such a process for making cheese would have similar health
risks as per my previous message so be careful!
Oh and for cheese lovers everywhere most cheese these days
uses microbial rennets rather than calf's stomach!
Bonn appetite
Loyd
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