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The Advent of Breastmilk Cheese
A New York city chef is hoping you’ll flip for his cheesy recipes, but you’ll have to do it all at home. That’s because Daniel Angerer is using breastmilk to make his cheese.
Named “Mommy’s Milk Cheese,” the recipes sound like your basic cheese making process. Throw in some rennet, keep the curds from clumping. But even the chef at New York’s Klee admits he was hesitant to use his wife’s breastmilk in the process.
“I was concerned a little bit with the thought of making cheese out of mother’s milk. I wondered if it was ethnical – since I haven’t seen it on any restaurant menu yet.
Conclusion – my spouse agreed — our baby has plenty back-up mother’s milk in the freezer so whoever wants to try it is welcome to try it as long as supply lasts (please consider cheese aging time).”
OK, I understand the challenge. especially for a chef. Susie Felber at Dumb as a Blog points out she’s had trouble teaching her significant other how to make scrambled eggs; she’s jealous that this dad has the culinary smarts for something this ambitious.
But I confess I just don’t get it. It’s breastmilk. It’s made for baby. It’s not gross (I’ll admit it, I tasted mine too, who hasn’t?), but it’s also made for the express purpose of feeding baby.
By turning it into foodstuffs for the masses – or at least for the massively sized people in the household (in comparison to the baby anyway) – you’re making Mom’s body work overtime to make up for the missing milk. No worse than when she has to pump and dump after a cocktail party, true, but still a bit of a waste of the whole body makes milk for baby process.
So again, what is the point? Is it to show you can do it? Rile up the “ew, that’s icky” folks? To give the cow/sheep/goat a run for their money?
To beat out the breastmilk soap, the breastmilk ice cream?
Angerer’s wife is OK with this process, so I can’t fault him. But I confess if my husband had said “let’s go make cheese out of your breastmilk,” I’d have asked that he use all that free time for cheesemaking for something useful. Like feeding his child.
Here are his recipes if you want to try them out.
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13 Comments
[...] The Advent of Breastmilk Cheese | Strollerderby [...]
Buying Gourmet Food Online | Gourmet Food Online commented on Mar 05 10 at 9:37 pm[...] Situations like the following make La Leche League seem stern, humorless and lactationally pedantic. Some members of the breastfeeding support group are scolding New York chef Daniel Angerer for turning his wife’s breast milk into cheese. [...]
Breast Milk Cheese Angers La Leche Leader | Strollerderby commented on Mar 11 10 at 1:49 pmLucky commented on Mar 04 10 at 4:34 pmCow’s milk is made for calves. Isn’t that just a little bit weirder, when you think about it?
jessie c b commented on Mar 04 10 at 4:42 pmI think someone left the breastmilk in the fridge too long and is making up excuses.
SeaOtter commented on Mar 04 10 at 5:24 pmI am all for nursing (I am having a hard time weaning my 2 yo – she won’t let go!) and I have tried breastmilk, but – eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Mar 04 10 at 5:44 pmHis kid is four weeks old and the mom had an overabundance of pumped milk, so much so that they were considering donating to a milk bank or tossing it. So he decided to do this. If I were talented enough in the kitchen in the same sitch, I might try it too, just to see. I don’t get the gross factor. Not like he’s serving it to guests or in his restaurant without telling what it is.
Larissa commented on Mar 04 10 at 5:54 pmI’d love to hear what it tastes like. Since cheese made from cow, goat and sheep milk all have unique flavors, I wonder what the taste of human milk cheese is!
Angela commented on Mar 04 10 at 10:15 pmI know a vegan who believes it’s wrong to consume any animal product but she really misses ice cream. When she was breastfeeding she produced a lot of extra milk and made a batch of ice cream from it. I’m not about to try it myself but I can understand why she feels more comfortable using her own milk than an animal that may not be treated humanely.
LogicalMama commented on Mar 04 10 at 10:54 pmMmmmm, yogurt too!!!!
Susie commented on Mar 04 10 at 11:06 pmThanks for the link and shout out in your great post, Jeanne! Much appreciated.
DCMama commented on Mar 05 10 at 11:00 amUm? Where exactly do you get rennet for breastmilk cheese? Doesn’t rennet for cows milk cheese come from the stomach of a calf?
Teuron commented on Mar 05 10 at 5:34 pmThere is veg rennet available… http://vegetarian.lovetoknow.com/Vegetarian_Rennet.
Melanie commented on Mar 09 10 at 1:06 amI have an oversupply, and my freezer is full. Many many times I’ve joked that I wanted to make ice cream, yogurt, or cheese with my milk – but it would only be for the baby. I think it would be neat to give the baby different forms of my milk, but couldn’t see chowing down on it as a family or sharing it with others.
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