Curdled Milk

[Adrienne Carmack]

I'm trying to use up as much food in my fridge, freezer, and pantry as possible cause our house is being exterminated soon, so I thought I'd throw together a rice pudding without a recipe.

I mixed milk, rice, cardamom pods, cinnamon, almonds, and dried apricots and was surprised to see that my milk had curdled when I went to stir it about 5 minutes after I'd started it.

I assume it was the apricots. I knew lemons curdled milk, but wasn't aware of anything else. Do any other dried fruits cause this problem? Anything else? I am sure I've made rice pudding before with dried apricots in it.

I've started the "recipe" again without the dried apricots (cause I don't have any more) and it seems to be working fine. I think I'll stir in some fresh figs instead of dried fruit this time.

[chefpeon]

Just "think acid".

Anything acidic will curdle milk. Fruit, dried or not, is acidic. Some more than others.

[Jensen]

Not particularly cooking related but...

At one point in my life, I worked in a general store in a small community in the Yukon. Every time there was an electrical storm, every carton of milk in the cooler went bad.

How's your weather?

[chefpeon]

Every time there was an electrical storm, every carton of milk in the cooler went bad.

The milk went bad because the power went out and the cooler went down and the milk spoiled,

or the milk curdled and the coolers never lost power?

[Jensen]

Every time there was an electrical storm, every carton of milk in the cooler went bad.

The milk went bad because the power went out and the cooler went down and the milk spoiled,

or the milk curdled and the coolers never lost power?

←

The milk curdled and the coolers never lost power.

[chefpeon]

The milk curdled and the coolers never lost power.

Hmmmm.....then one might deduce that lightning is acidic.....

[FistFullaRoux]

Not particularly cooking related but...

At one point in my life, I worked in a general store in a small community in the Yukon. Every time there was an electrical storm, every carton of milk in the cooler went bad.

How's your weather?

←

I grew up on a dairy farm, and never had a problem with curdled milk, unless it was mishandled in some way, or mixed with something acidic. Methinks the supply may have come in already mishandled. I'm not sure what agitation has to do with it, though. I'm assuming that being in the Yukon, it was somewhat remote, and may have come into the store ready to go bad for whatever reason. If your store is at the end of a route with a substandard cooling system in the truck, then the repeated opening and closing of the door may have raised the temp of the milk to a temperature that would make it go bad quicker. Of, course, this is all pulled directly from thin air, and making a lot of assumptions.

BTW, you can still use the dried apricots, just add them at the end once there is some starch in the liquid. That will prevent the curdling.

[Jensen]

I grew up on a dairy farm, and never had a problem with curdled milk, unless it was mishandled in some way, or mixed with something acidic. Methinks the supply may have come in already mishandled. I'm not sure what agitation has to do with it, though. I'm assuming that being in the Yukon, it was somewhat remote, and may have come into the store ready to go bad for whatever reason. If your store is at the end of a route with a substandard cooling system in the truck, then the repeated opening and closing of the door may have raised the temp of the milk to a temperature that would make it go bad quicker.

←

That could be. I'd never heard of such a thing but all the natives seemed to think it was an old wives' tale that happened to be true.

[Adrienne Carmack]