A wooden tray holds blocks of dried milk curd, rolled milk skin and a lump of butter, beside it a wooden spoon lifts the skin from a copper pot of simmering milk, a wooden bowl holds milk, and blue-green mountains rise in the distance.
Milk set into food
Introduction
Solid and semi-solid foods made from the milk of cattle, sheep, horses and other animals, such as butter and milk skin.
Dairy foods are the solid and semi-solid foods made from the milk of cattle, sheep, horses and other animals, such as butter, milk skin and dried curd. Milk foods hold an important place in the pastoral diet of the Mongols, Tibetans, Kazakhs and other peoples. Milk skin is the layer that forms on boiled milk, and some milk foods are made by fermenting fresh milk and then stirring, settling, cooking and shaping it before it is dried in the sun. The Bai of Dali in Yunnan also make milk foods from cow's or goat's milk; in one of them, sour papaya water is added to the milk to set it, and the curd is stretched into thin sheets and dried in the air. Methods differ from place to place, so the forms and flavours vary. The Yuan-dynasty Yin Shan Zheng Yao already lists butters and curds made from cow's and sheep's milk in its section on animal foods. Liquid milk drinks and kumis belong to Kumis and Dairy Drinks, and milk tea and butter tea to the tea categories.