It consists therefore of 87% water and 13% “solids,” 4 of which are fat
and 9, “solids—not fat.” =Butter-Fat= is found in milk in the form of
minute globules suspended in the liquid. As fat or oil is lighter than
water (has less specific gravity) it naturally floats and the fat
globules therefore soon rise to the top when milk stands at rest,
forming a layer of _cream_ which may be skimmed off from the _milk_. In
chemical composition butter-fat is very nearly the same as other animal
and vegetable fats, but the slight variation may make a lot of
difference in digestibility and palatability as well as in nutritive
value, and it is a mistake to consider Oleomargarine, Butterine,
Nut-Butter and other substitutes for butter “just as good” because a
chemical analysis shows them to contain “almost” the same elements or
compounds. These products may be good and legitimate if sold for what
they are, but should never be allowed to be sold or served for what they
are not, genuine butter.
[Illustration:
Composition of cow’s milk
]
=Casein and Albumin= are the proteids or nitrogenous matters of the
milk, in chemical composition and in food value much the same as the
protein in beans and peas or in meat, or the white of eggs. Casein is
present in much larger quantity than albumin and is distinguished from
the latter by being precipitated by rennet, which has no effect on
albumin. Casein may also be precipitated by acids, while it required
boiling as well as acidity to throw the albumin out of solution.
=Milk-Sugar= is related to the vegetable sugars, glucose, cane sugar,
etc., and remains in solution in the whey which separates out from the
cheese-curd when milk is curdled with rennet or acids. The whey also
contains the mineral matters or _ash_, which consists largely of
phosphate of lime, of use to the young in building up bones. When whey
is boiled down to a thick syrup and left to stand, the sugar will
crystallize out and may be separated from the liquid, still holding in
solution the mineral matters.
[Illustration:
Fat globules as they appear under the microscope
]
=Mineral Matters.=—These may be gathered as _ash_ by boiling off the
water from this liquid or from the whole milk and burning the rest, as
all the constituents except the ash belong to what in chemistry is
called organic matter, which disappears in the air by burning.
[Illustration:
Dr. S. M. Babcock of Madison, Wis.
]
HOW TO TEST MILK
Milk may be adulterated or decreased in value either by skimming or by
watering. In either case the percentage of the most valuable
constituent, the butter-fat, is diminished. It is upon this fact that
the most practical test, the Babcock, is based.
[Illustration:
Babcock test outfit
]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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