March 1, 2012

Dairy Diets

I grew up in a family that loves to cook.  We have had recipes passed down through the generations and from an early age I was taught how to make good food with recipes passed down through the generations.  Living on a farm, we always used the freshest ingredients because we always had a nearly endless supply of milk--unless the milkman picked it up after my brothers had a milk chugging contest.  Naturally, I was interested to find out how the Irish ate.  Often, when you think about early Ireland, you think of potatoes, potatoes, potatoes...but what about all of those cows?

Milk was really important and was consumed similarly to how we use it now; drunk fresh, eaten as curds, or made into cheeses and butter.  The curds were called whitemeats and were an important source of protein in their diets.  The whey that was leftover from this process was called "green milk" and was given to slaves and workers.

As I was researching, I was pretty surprised and found it really interesting how clever and resourceful they were.  Without a lot of the basic scientific knowledge that we have now, they figured out how they could preserve their foods.  Butter, for example, was allowed to go rancid and was then stored in barrels in bogs.  Cheese, the most common method of preserving dairy was very common.  They knew that the use of rennet from the stomachs of milk fed animals would produce the cheese, so they cut off a small piece of the bag in the stomach and boiled it in water to produce the rennet.

5,000 year old 

Bog Butter

One use of milk that is still popular today used Irish Moss (seaweed).  Milk would be boiled with the seaweed and allowed to thicken then mixed with honey and eaten after the meal as a sweet course with season fruits.  Considering that one of its main ingredients is seaweed, I'm not sure it is something that I would enjoy very much.  But, nonetheless, I found a recipe for it.

You will start off by washing the Irish moss drink in your sink. Wash thoroughly to remove all the sand and any other unwanted things that may be attached to the seaweed. Bring the water to a boil on the stove and add the washed seaweed to it. Add the gum Arabic, isinglass and linseed to the pot as well.

Let the pot stay on the stove until everything dissolves into the water except for the seaweed. This should take about an hour’s time. Next strain the liquid into another clean container while taking out the Irish moss trash from it. Now you will add the remaining ingredients to the mixture and taste the drink to see if it has the desired flavor. Add what you think is lacking to get the Irish moss drink to taste as you like it. The Irish moss drink is served chilled so you should keep it in the refrigerator for at least four hours before serving.

Citations:

Linnane, J. (2000). A History of Irish Cuisine. Retrieved February 22, 2012, from Before and after the potato: http://www.ravensgard.org/prdunham/irishfood.html

Bog Butter find from Co. Offaly. (2011, April 28). Retrieved March 1, 2012, from Irish Archaeology: http://irisharchaeology.ie/2011/04/bog-butter/

Recipe for Irish Moss Drink. (2010, March 29). Retrieved March 1, 2012, from Country facts: The world at your fingertips: http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/ireland/recipe-for-irish-moss-drink/1993