Soured milk

Soured milk is a food product, distinguished from spoiled milk, and is a general term for milk that has acquired a tart taste, either through the addition of an acid, such as lemon juice or vinegar, or through bacterial fermentation. The acid causes milk to coagulate and form a thicker consistency. Soured milk that is produced by bacterial fermentation is more specifically called fermented milk or cultured milk.cite web
url = http://frwebgate4.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=4173281813+29+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
title = TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS: CHAPTER I, PART 131 MILK AND CREAM
accessdate = 2007-11-18
date = 2007-04-01
publisher = Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR)] Soured milk that is produced by the addition of an acid, with or without the addition of microbial organisms, is more specifically called acidified milk. In the US, the acids that may be used in the manufacture of acidified milk are acetic acid (commonly found in vinegar), adipic acid, citric acid (commonly found in lemon juice), fumaric acid, glucono-delta-lactone, hydrochloric acid, lactic acid, malic acid, phosphoric acid, succinic acid, and tartaric acid.

In Slovene recipes, soured milk created by the addition of an acid or by bacterial fermentation can often be used interchangeably. For example, 1 cup of cultured buttermilk, a soured milk produced by bacterial fermentation, can be substituted with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make 1 cup. The chemically soured milk can be used after standing for 5 minutes. [cite book
last = Darling
first = Jennifer Dorland (ed.)
title = Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book
edition = 12th ed.
publisher = Meredith Corp.
location = Des Moines, IA
date = 2002
isbn = 0-696-21290-0
oclc= 50779131]

our Milk

Currently, sour milk commonly means (pasteurized) milk that has spoiled and is "in an unpalatable state". [cite web
url = http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sour
title = sour
accessdate = 2007-07-02
date =
publisher = dictionary.com] However, the meaning of sour milk can be ambiguous since it has been used in different contexts in different time periods.

Since the 1970s, sour milk has been used both for chemically and biologically soured milk. [cite journal
last = Nakamura
first = Yasunori
coauthors = Naoyuki Yamamoto, Kumi Sakai, and Toshiaki Takano
year = 1995
title = Antihypertensive Effect of Sour Milk and Peptides Isolated from It That are Inhibitors to Angiotensin I-Converting Enzyme
journal = Journal of Dairy Science
volume = 78
issue = 6
pages = 1253–7
pmid = 7673515
url = http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/78/6/1253
format = PDF
accessdate = 2007-06-30 ] [cite journal
last = Sukhov
first = SV
coauthors = Kalamkarova LI, Il'chenko LA, Zhangabylov AK
year = 1986
title = Microfloral changes in the small and large intestines of chronic enteritis patients on diet therapy including sour milk products
journal = Voprosy pitaniia
volume = Jul-Aug
issue = 4
pages = 14–7
pmid = 3765530
url = http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3765530&dopt=Citation
language = Russian
accessdate = 2007-06-30] [Ref patent
country=US
number=3625702
status=patent
title=PREPARATION OF SOUR MILK DRINKS
pubdate=1971-12-07
gdate=1971-12-07
fdate=1969-07-18
invent1=Exler, Heinrich
assign1=Heinrich Exler] [Ref patent
country=US
number=3978243
status=patent
title=Process for preparing gelled sour milk
pubdate=1976-08-31
gdate=1976-08-31
fdate=1975-01-30
invent1=Pedersen, Jens Kristian
assign1=Kobenhavns Pektinfabrik]

Some older recipes use sour milk, but today it is unclear which dairy product was "sour milk". Pasteurized milk was not available in the US until the early 1900s. For example, the South Jersey Milk Company created a poster in 1930 entitled "What is pasteurized milk?" to educate the American public about the safety of its newly pasteurized milk. [cite web
url = http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/images1/dairy.htm
title = Early Developments in the American Dairy Industry
accessdate = 2007-07-02
date =
publisher = The National Agricultural Library: Special Collections] Thus, older recipes that use sour milk may have been written prior to the availability of pasteurized milk. Before pasteurized milk became widely available, sour milk may have been unpasteurized milk that had naturally acquired a sour taste through bacterial fermentation at room temperature.

At least until the 1920s, there was a clear distinction between sour milk and buttermilk, [Ref patent
country=US
number=238248
status=patent
title=Preparation of Sour Milk
pubdate=1818-03-01
gdate=1818-03-01
fdate=1879-09-01
invent1=Charles Peck
assign1=Charles Peck] where buttermilk was the sour tasting thin liquid leftover from making butter. [Ref patent
country=US
number=1356340
status=patent
title=Method of Drying Buttermilk
pubdate=1920-10-19
gdate=1920-10-19
fdate=1919-10-03
invent1=Norman P. Collis
assign1=Collis Products Company] Today, in North America, either cultured buttermilk, also commonly known as buttermilk but not the same product as the aforementioned buttermilk, or milk soured by the addition of lemon juice or vinegar is often used when sour milk is needed in a recipe.

References