FEEDBACK ON COLOSTRUM
(Page 2 of 3)
September/October 1973
By the Mother Earth News editors
This information is inspiring for those of us who enjoy cross-country travel, organic and natural diets and a symbiotic relationship with the animals we hold captive for transportation and sustenance without slaughter.
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One last note on colostrum: A cure for freckles—effective in three out of three attempts I've heard of—is a four-hour application of horses' colostrum to the affected area. Experience has shown that the milk must be obtained after the colt is born but before it sucks.
Lynn Curtis
Middleton, Nova Scotia
Canada
I'd like to help you understand what the Log Commune was talking about when they spoke of making a custard out of colostrum. I myself had that dish many times as a child growing up in Sweden, and it was one of my very favorite desserts.
As I remember, we didn't take the colostrum before the second or third day. Even then it was still very thick and we used to dilute it with regular milk (three parts of colostrum to one of regular). My mother would also add a little cinnamon for flavor.
Pour the colostrum mixture into a custard pan and cook it covered in a water bath in a 350° oven. In case you don't know what a water bath is, I'll tell you: Take a roasting pan, put it into the oven and add about an inch of water. Set the control at the proper temperature. When the liquid is hot, put your custard dish in the larger pan and make sure it's surrounded with water for the whole cooking time. This method gives you a smooth, even custard.
Bake the dessert about 20—30 minutes until it's stiff, or when a knife blade stuck into the middle comes out clean. Cool the dish and serve it as is or with jam, etc.
Margareta Hazlett
Whitmore Lake, Mich.
About R.M.'s letter on page 116 of MOTHER NO. 21: In Holland where I grew up, colostrum— biest in Dutch, beestings or biestings in common English—was a delicacy. I never noticed it to be stringy or bloody. (Stringiness might indicate mastitis, and blood in the pail may come from burst small blood vessels due to an overextended udder. Maybe colostrum from the first milking shouldn't be used.)
The "milk bath" mentioned in the letter should probably have been "water bath" ... that is, a bainmarie or double boiler. I myself just set the colostrum on the woodstove—the side that's not too hot—and keep stirring until it thickens (half an hour or more). The biest is not supposed to boil. One can eat it warm, but we prefer it cold. It thickens more as it cools off. Even Holstein colostrum is as yellow as Jersey cream.
