| “As soon as milk comes into
the house it should be boiled, as it
is a notorious carrier of disease
germs....Use an earthenware pitcher
and let the milk remain standing
in the same after cooling....Boiling
and cooling it rapidly afterwards
will keep it sweet for 24 hours...and
the time may be further extended
by keeping the milk pitcher set in a
dish of cold water.” |
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— MRS. MARY HINMAN ABEL,
AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION, 1890 |
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Interior of a tenement, showing the
cooking corner, Boston, circa 1914
Courtesy of the Boston Public Library
City tenement dwellers purchased what milk they needed
a day at a time. In crowded living conditions, with no
refrigeration other than, perhaps, a box in the window
during cold weather, milk bought in a nearby store or
from a milkman one day might last until breakfast the
next morning. |
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| IN THE KITCHEN |
| Traditional New England cooks
in the 1800s incorporated butter,
cheese, milk, and cream into
everyday dishes such as cereal,
coffee and tea, mashed potatoes,
creamed vegetables, and desserts.
They didn’t, however, consider
regular servings of milk essential in
the diets of any but small children
and invalids. At the turn of the
century, women who wished to
increase the status and knowledge
of homemakers applied science to
nutrition and cooking. Cookbooks
quoted the nutritional values of
the fats, proteins, and minerals in
milk. Cooking schools and books
like the first edition of Fannie
Farmer’s now-classic Boston
Cooking-School Cookbook (1896)
taught food handling, cooking, and
eating as chemistry. Such scientific
cooking laid the groundwork for
nutritionists who would declare
milk essential for the health of
children and adults. |
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