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Milking the Mammals

fifi

By fifi
in Food Traditions & Culture

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fifi

fifi

Posted
Posted

Over in this thread Product idea, Yeah, so I'm drunk and stupid, Al_Dente brought this up.

I had a certain line of twisted reasoning the other night whilst imbibing:

PIG CHEESE

Why is it you see cow, goat, and sheep's cheeses but never pig? I realize diet may have something to do with it, but couldn't you feed pigs something specifically for cheese production?

Also, I suppose it's a bit tricky to milk a pig.

That made me intensely curious. Why don't we milk pigs? There seem to be many other troublesome animals that get milked... camels, water buffalo. Are there any other domesticated animals that we don't milk? What are some of the more bizarre milks that get made into cheeses, yogurts or other products. Necessarily, this might get into some of the herding cultures and traditions and that would be just dandy.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Lyle

Lyle

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This link, citing a letter to the Illinois Pork Producers Association, tends to mirror Katherine's assumptions; it's all about economics. With a fat content twice that of cow's milk, I'd like some!

Key paragraphs:

"Porcine do lactate and their milk I will assume would taste great, because it is made of 8.5% fat in relation to the fat that makes up 3.5% of the components in cows milk. The other components such as lactose and water are found at nearly the same percentages in pig's milk. However, pigs will on average produce 13 lbs of milk in a day as compared to cows that produce 65 lbs of milk on average per day. Pigs unlike cows cannot become pregnant while lactating and therefore possess a severe economic problem to producers. whfle pigs consume less feed per day, economics does not allow pigs to be a viable source of dairy products.

The biggest challenge facing the porcine dairy industry is collecting the product. Pigs on average have fourteen teats as opposed to cows that have four teats. Pigs also differ from cows in their milk ejection time, a cows milk ejection is stimulated by the hoimone oxytocin and can last ten minutes, where as a pig's milk ejection time only last fifleen seconds as the suckling pigs stimulate the release of oxytoc in. The technology of a 14 cupped mechanized milking machine that can milk a pig in 15 seconds is not available to pork producers."

So it sounds perfectly feasable, but only if the product were a worthy enough luxury item making its production a viable interest.

Anybody got a pig to milk?

Rice pie is nice.

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fifi

fifi

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If we step back from all of the economics and technological challenges of today's food industry, I am still wondering if this was not done in simpler times. That fat content wows me. In the pre-industrial ages did our pastoral ancestors ever milk pigs?

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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fifi

fifi

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Okay, I'm done with the brown paper bag.How about deer and elk? Bison are out, for you definitely would not want to go there.

ELEPHANTS!!!

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

Ok... My composure is now restored.

Why not deer? Hell, some of our white tails are almost domesticated.

Are bison too feisty?

Why not elephants? Some of those are domesticated, particularly in SE Asia.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Carolyn Tillie

Carolyn Tillie

Posted
Posted (edited)

You guys are sick puppies... but, playing along, here are several threads about products made from Whale Milk!

Introduction to Dairy Science and Technology: Milk History, Consumption, Production, and Composition

Which shows the following information:

---------------Protein (g)-----Fat (g)-----Carbohydrate (g)-----Energy (kcal)

Cow--------------3.2------------3.7---------------4.6---------------------66

Human-----------1.1------------4.2---------------7.0---------------------72

Water Buffalo----4.1-----------9.0--------------- 4.8--------------------118

Goat -------------2.9-----------3.8----------------4.7---------------------67

Donkey-----------1.9-----------0.6 --------------6.1----------------------38

Elephant ---------4.0-----------5.0---------------5.3----------------------85

Monkey, rhesus--1.6-----------4.0---------------7.0----------------------73

Mouse-------------9.0----------13.1---------------3.0--------------------171

Whale------------10.9----------42.3---------------1.3--------------------443

Seal--------------10.2----------49.4---------------0.1--------------------502

Halfbakery.com - which suggest the making of a Whale Milk Ice Cream.

Strange milk facts - like Yak's milk is pink and Camel's milk does not curdle... weird.

Edited to say that I tried to set up the information in a table...

Edited by Carolyn Tillie (log)

I MAKE FOOD JEWELRY!

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fifi

fifi

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How in the hell do you milk a whale? :blink:

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Mayhaw Man

Mayhaw Man

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I keep getting mental picture of somebody driving the pigs into the barn and hooking them up to the milking machine. It is not a pretty picture I have in my head. :blink::wacko::shock::laugh:

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

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Katherine

Katherine

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You guys are sick puppies... but, playing along, here are several threads about products made from Whale Milk!

Halfbakery.com - which makes a Whale Milk Ice Cream.

It's a joke, half-bakery, get it?

I think they'd do it with scuba divers and suction wands, herding the whales into long cylindrical cages while feeding them...

Seals would be easier to work with, but won't sea mammal milk taste like fish?

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Carolyn Tillie

Carolyn Tillie

Posted
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It's a joke, half-bakery, get it?

Yes - to be more specific:

The Halfbakery is a communal database of original, fictitious inventions, edited by its users, maintained by a dictatorial cabal of volunteers. It was created by people who like to speculate, both as a form of satire and as a form of creative expression. (To learn more about what ideas are appropriate, see the help section.)

I MAKE FOOD JEWELRY!

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Feast Blog

Fried Dough Ho Blog

Ultimate California Wine Blog

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Mabelline

Mabelline

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fifi: bison are on a definite no list. If they are contained and they reckon they don't want to be, they leave. Simple as that. they will run through pipe fence, wood siding, metal sheds, and, oh, yeah, people.

I would think that as intelligent as an elephant is, and as long as people have been associated with them, it made some sense. Plus look how big a pail of product you would have.

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fifi

fifi

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Looking at those fat grams, seal milk is looking pretty good. I also wonder if it tastes like fish. Mouse doesn't look bad either. And you could actually come up with a way to "factory farm" those little suckers. After all... In the chemical industry, "mouse milk" is a common term for that secret ingredient in the corrosion preventative or whatever so maybe there is a precedent.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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hannnah

hannnah

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If we step back from all of the economics and technological challenges of today's food industry, I am still wondering if this was not done in simpler times. That fat content wows me. In the pre-industrial ages did our pastoral ancestors ever milk pigs?

Probably not, because nursing sows are violent and have notoriously horrible tempers. I'm sure someone tried at some point, and undoubtedly lost some fingers in the process.

"Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cookbook! Little Red Cookbook!" --Eddie Izzard
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Mabelline

Mabelline

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The only thing I could find from elephant milking was that two R.N.s in Oakland devised a modified breast pump to feed a calf whose mama had rejected, from a female whose own baby died, but the upshot was they milked her 3xs a day, and added formula to make the 4 to 5 gallons the calf required. Surprised me, for sure.

You gotta love eG. SO asked me what we were talking about, and when I told him milking pigs, his expression was akin to this :blink:

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fifi

fifi

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You gotta love eG. SO asked me what we were talking about, and when I told him milking pigs, his expression was akin to this :blink:

I take it you didn't mention the "Mouse Farm". :laugh::laugh::laugh:

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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