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Cooking With (Human) Breast Milk


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Still waiting for some comments on how it tasted.

Between the baby breath and constant smell of damp breast milk (not to mention the, um, baby waste product from ingesting breast milk), I can say I had zero urge to get my share of the milk.

Edited by sanrensho (log)
Baker of "impaired" cakes...
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Still waiting for some comments on how it tasted.

Between the baby breath and constant smell of damp breast milk (not to mention the, um, baby waste product from ingesting breast milk), I can say I had zero urge to get my share of the milk.

My friend's husband said it was very very sweet. (And that was way too much information for me at the time.)

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I guess the best comparison is it tastes like what canned evaporated milk would taste like if it was fresh ...not from a can...and did not have vitamins in it.....it is sweet ..it also takes on the flavor of what mom eats ..I ate tons of curry when I nursed so my milk was curry flavored and my babies smelled like curry ...tmi sorry :) but I have no shame with the mommy munchies!

Peter awesome comment!!!

why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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.....it is sweet ..it also takes on the flavor of what mom eats ..

This brings up an interesting question. How would a business (restaurant) that uses breast milk ensure the consistent taste of its products if it can't control what the moms are eating?

Would they need to have a breast milk taster on staff to ensure some uniformity of breast milk taste? Or freeze batches for blending if there are "off" tastes in the fresh supply?

Baker of "impaired" cakes...
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Considering all the wet kisses and other fun body fluid exchanges that goes on among humans, I also find the repulsion to consuming breast milk a bit weird.

I think it's the idea that this breast milk belongs to a stranger that gets me. I've never had children, hence I have never nursed. If I had succeeded in getting pregnant, I expect my husband might have had a taste. Still, that's an intimacy restricted to a very few. Some people get quite exercised over wet-nursing, which doesn't bother me at all. But adults eating the milk of other, unknown adults. Blech! :blink:

I think that's pretty much what it is for me. As an American, I live in a culture that's pretty uncomfortable with breastfeeding as a public activity (even though I think it should be seen as normal). It's associated with something a little too intimate for me, or most people, to want to engage in with other people, particularly strangers. I'm curious about the taste, but not enough to go to someone's restaurant to try it out... I'll have my own opportunities to see what it's like in the future, thanks.

.....it is sweet ..it also takes on the flavor of what mom eats ..

This brings up an interesting question. How would a business (restaurant) that uses breast milk ensure the consistent taste of its products if it can't control what the moms are eating?

Would they need to have a breast milk taster on staff to ensure some uniformity of breast milk taste? Or freeze batches for blending if there are "off" tastes in the fresh supply?

Good point. I wonder if the restauranteur realizes that. Maybe he'll make them sign a contract constricting their diet? :rolleyes:

"I know it's the bugs, that's what cheese is. Gone off milk with bugs and mould - that's why it tastes so good. Cows and bugs together have a good deal going down."

- Gareth Blackstock (Lenny Henry), Chef!

eG Ethics Signatory

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it is sweet, not creamy at all. I wouldn't recommend to anyone over the age of 3.

As for whoever it was that posted the end of Grapes of Wrath - you should be damned for what you've done. You have just ruined what is the greatest ending to any book I have ever read - for anyone that hasn't yet read it.

Disgraceful.

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it is sweet, not creamy at all.  I wouldn't recommend to anyone over the age of 3.

As for whoever it was that posted the end of Grapes of Wrath - you should be damned for what you've done.  You have just ruined what is the greatest ending to any book I have ever read - for anyone that hasn't yet read it. 

Disgraceful.

yes it is thin and does not have the whole fat rising to the top thing that cows milk has...

and yes you would have to know that if momma eats lots of garlic then the milk will have a garlic flavor ..escpecially if this became a commodity item ...I would have been hard pressed to give up curry when I was nursing ..even if paid!

I was hungry all the time ...and liked how it made my babies smell :smile:

as far as rec to someone over three ...as a nurse well...when parents confide in me ..I just smile and reassure no crime is commited as long as baby is full first !!! :)

with this economy the way it is ..why not buy the extra milk and make good use of it? if someone wants to try it ? there are very safe ways of marketing mom's milk...

at least you know there is no BGH in it!

I think the bottom line is do you consider it a "human body fluid" or "food from mommies"? it is all about how your brian/culture perceives it I guess...

I have yet to eat a bug because ..well they are bugs! my brain sees a bug and shudders at the idea of putting it in my mouth ..but people love bugs all over the world and they are marketed as food (and even in food where they are not marketed :raz: ) ..brain says no for me though

but in my brain breastmilk is simply food and I think it is funny how others (friends colleages included) shun it and quiver at the idea it could be used and marketed!

I totally agree with the second point ..sigh

Edited by hummingbirdkiss (log)
why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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Bah, the statute of limitations on revealing the end of the Grapes of Wrath has long since expired. If you're out of high school and haven't read it, you've only yourself to blame.

Anyway, it's been a while since I read the book, but re-reading that scene reminded me of the Carita Romana, the story in which a woman secretly breastfeeds her father, who is starving to death in prison. (My favorite depiction of it is in Caravaggio's Seven Acts of Mercy in Naples.) I'm sure Steinbeck knew about that story...

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The PETA letter... I don't know if I could believe it, though it's probably to provoke a reaction more than anything else. Then again, this is the same organization that's offering a $1mil prize for in vitro meat...

yeah- oddly enough, the in vitro meat thing was covered in this week's class for the Menu For The Future course I'm taking.

(along with how GMO potatoes with built-in pesticide don't fall under the jurisdiction of the FDA but rather the EPA as they're not legally considered "food" and don't have to be tested as food- <shudder>)

Sincerely,

Dante

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Well first off there’s a huge difference in the amount of milk production required to feed a 9 lb baby and a 200 lb baby cow. Add that to the fact that these animals have been bred over centuries to produce more milk than required to feed offspring. I just shake my head.

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it is sweet, not creamy at all.  I wouldn't recommend to anyone over the age of 3.

yes it is thin and does not have the whole fat rising to the top thing that cows milk has...

I'm sure this is totally TMI, but I breastfed both of my kids and had many occasions to store breast milk and found that it did indeed have a layer of fat that rose to the top when stored and had to be shaken up after warming and before using. In fact, my daughter was a light nurser and never got enough to get to the rich hindmilk and was therefore a lean baby as the first milk is indeed watery. My son, however, nursed as much as he possibly could and was therefore nicknamed, Michelin Man. I'm sure due to all the rich hindmilk. I never tasted it, but it looked very rich to me.

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yes you are right about the consistancy I was not clear it does separate out ...I am not all that literate I guess I was thinking you could not make butter or anything from it ...but with some moms maybe you can who knows :)

I doubt very little that is for sure

OT: because sometimes you just have to say stuff...no matter how you feel about the actual consumption of the best food on earth!

I love to see all the breastfeeding supporters male and female in here ..it gives me a great deal of hope for humanity : :smile:

Edited by hummingbirdkiss (log)
why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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.....it is sweet ..it also takes on the flavor of what mom eats ..

This brings up an interesting question. How would a business (restaurant) that uses breast milk ensure the consistent taste of its products if it can't control what the moms are eating?

Would they need to have a breast milk taster on staff to ensure some uniformity of breast milk taste? Or freeze batches for blending if there are "off" tastes in the fresh supply?

Good point. I wonder if the restauranteur realizes that. Maybe he'll make them sign a contract constricting their diet? :rolleyes:

They could just do like they do with heritage pigs.

It would be great for marketing" "Ice cream made with milk from free-range moms raised on a diet of chestnuts and acorns."

Notes from the underbelly

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I only tasted small quantities but I can attest that breast milk is quite sweet. It is much thiner than cow or goat milk and once the fat separates from the rest of the milk, you get an almost transparent liquid with a light cream.

Now, considering that breat milk has been exchanged through milk banks for many years, I don't think there are major safety issues involved. Some of my friends (including doctors and microbiologists) nursed their friends babies when babysitting them without worries.

What worries me in this whole thing is not that breast milk is fed to adults but that serving it in restaurants could places women in sociologically akward position (who wants to be a milk factory here?). I am also not convinced that the cooks and dinners will show respect for such delicacy.

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I have yet to eat a bug because ..well they are bugs! my brain sees a bug and shudders at the idea of putting it in my mouth ..but people love bugs all over the world and they are marketed as food (and even in food where they are not marketed  :raz: )  ..brain says no for me though

Just think of them as land shrimps... in many cases this is what they taste like.

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Considering all the wet kisses and other fun body fluid exchanges that goes on among humans,

I don't see anyone pounding down a cold one of said fluid's.

I raise my hand as a tryer of breast milk...didn't really care for it. I would not want it in ice cream or any other product as a cows milk substitute.

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Considering all the wet kisses and other fun body fluid exchanges that goes on among humans,

I don't see anyone pounding down a cold one of said fluid's.

I raise my hand as a tryer of breast milk...didn't really care for it. I would not want it in ice cream or any other product as a cows milk substitute.

My point was not that we should substitute other animals' milk with human milk but that I find the revulsion to ingesting it a bit weird... at least I don't understand it.

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Oh - ok - mine, I might drink - but someone else's - hibby gibbies..... :blink:

But then you should be able to milk anything right?? :raz:

Greg Focker: You can milk just about anything with nipples.

Jack Byrnes: I have nipples, Greg, could you milk me?

I stick to cows, sheep, goats, yak, maybe??

Live and learn. Die and get food. That's the Southern way.

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my husband just read through this and started laughing

his comment about the actual marketing of human breastmilk

"mmmm human breastmilk ice cream ..that would be both the poison and the antidote!" (then a big grin)

not sure how significant this is to the topic ..but I spit my coffee out laughing when he said it!!!

Edited by hummingbirdkiss (log)
why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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