FEEDBACK ON COLOSTRUM

However, Rick didn't explain clearly how to use the first milk. The colostrum isn't boiled in a "milk bath" but heated slowly in a double boiler (water bath in Norwegian!). Stir it often to prevent sticking and burning. When the pudding becomes custardy, remove it from the stove and cool it well. The dessert can be eaten plain, with cinnamon and honey or sauces. Some people like to add a little vanilla or rum extract . . . raisins are also good.

As you say, there may be a little blood in colostrum from the initial milking, but that's usually when it's the cow's first calf. That original milk may make too stiff a custard ... blending the first three or four milkings gives a good texture.

Surely many American farmers of Norwegian descent use colostrum in this way, since Kalvedans - "calf dance"is a well-known dish on farms here.

If you like this recipe, remember that colostrum is meant for the calf. He must receive as much as he needs to ease the shock of entering this new world.

The Log-Saveland-Skranefjell Commune
Norway

Like R.M. of the Log Commune in Norway, I dispute Hank Rate's assumption that cows' colostrum is unfit for human consumption (MOTHER NO. 15).

Cows' colostrum is as fit for humans as cows' milk ... that is to say, less perfect than human colostrum and milk, but certainly not unsuitable. Besides containing 16—19% protein, this food offers a full range of natural antibodies which both prevent and cure infection. Unfortunately, since colostrum flows for only 72 hours, one would have to stable a minimum of 122 cows—all carefully bred—to provide a year-round supply!

I look forward to this yearly delicacy, which is prepared for the table by placing it in a baking dish, adding a little nutmeg and honey and baking in a 350° oven until it's firm. We call the custard "seconds pudding", and it's delicious.

I've never encountered a healthy animal which produced "stringy, pale and bloody" colostrum. In any case, I allow the calf to take the initial supply ... my extraction is always the excess.

Perhaps I can help to alleviate your "American purity hang-up" with regard to blood and milk. In Cultural Differences in Nutrition, L. Bowman states that "blood, as a nutrient carrier, has everything needed for human development except fat which is available in milk". The Masai tribesmen of Southeast Africa have traditionally been herdsmen. They cut a small slit in the animal's neck and extract blood ... which they drink along with the day's milk as their total diet. Genghis Khan and his men sustained themselves by traveling with two horses each (one mare and one gelding). The mare supplied milk, and the two animals alternately provided blood.