A few weeks ago, Uncle John watched as the Indianapolis 500 winner chugged a glass of milk, as per tradition. Perplexed, impressed, and curious, Uncle John got to work and he wrote up this tall, cool glass of a calcium-rich blog post answering every weird question you’ve ever had about milk, cheese, and other dairy products.
What’s the difference between yogurt and cottage cheese?
While both seem like chunky milk puddings, one sweet and one salty, respectively, they’re not the same because of the different natural processes employed. Yogurt is milk that has been fermented in a controlled environment with the help of bacteria cultures. Cottage cheese is the result of curdling. An enzyme called rennet makes the proteins in milk separate and congeal into chunks.
Okay, so then what’s the difference between yogurt and sour cream?
Both dairy products begin with bacteria-aided fermented milk. Sour cream is made with fattier milk than yogurt, while differing bacteria cultures are used. Sour cream ferments at a higher temperature and requires lactococcus, while the yogurt is made with lactobacillus.
Get Uncle John's Action-Packed Bathroom Reader Today!
If milk is sold in 0%, 1%, and 2% varieties, how come there isn’t 3%, 4%, 5% or other types of milk?
That percentage refers to the fat content. Milk with 0% is also called skim milk because all of the fat has been removed or “skimmed.” The 1% and 2% versions include some of the naturally made fat, but not all of it. Whole milk, in which none of the fat is removed, registers with a percentage of 3.25%. There is no higher fat version of milk possible or available.
What is pasteurization? How does it make milk safer?
Developed by French microbiologist Louis Pasteur in the 1860s to make wine and beer last longer, the process was found to kill off most of the bacteria and infectants that can prosper in cow milk before they’re passed on to human consumers. It sounds like a complicated industrial practice, because most milk sold in the U.S. must be pasteurized before it can be distributed, but it’s a fairly straightforward process. Domestically, the standard is for raw milk to be heated to a temperature of 161°F for 15 seconds. That’s enough heat and time to kill the majority of germs, while rapid cooling afterward stops any leftover germs from repopulating the milk.