Dairy

A dairy is a facility for the extraction and processing of animal milk (mostly from cows, sometimes from buffaloes, sheep or goats) for human consumption. The end product of such processes are known as dairy products. In Australia a dairy is also a shop or company that sells dairy products. In New Zealand a dairy is a shop selling convenience-food products. A dairy farm produces milk and a dairy factory processes it. Over the years, Dairy has become a multibillion-dollar industry.

Simple dairying

When few cows were kept, up to about the beginning of the 20th century, the milk was usually consumed by the family keeping the cow(s). When people wanted cream, or butter, they would place the milk in a shallow pan in a cool part of their house—the "dairy"—and allow the butterfat portion of the milk to rise to the surface. After a day or so, usually in the cool of the morning, the surface of the milk was skimmed to remove the cream. The cream could then be churned so that the particles of butterfat would coagulate in the form of butter, leaving buttermilk. Butter is used as a spread on bread, as a cooking fat, as an addition to baked food such as cakes, as a shortening agent for pastries and a thickening in sauces and rues. It can also be purified and used as a heating and lighting oil.

Related Topics:
Butterfat - Cream - Butter - Buttermilk - Sauce - Rue

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When cheese is to be made the milk it is bought to the right temperature in a vat and then some form of "starter" (rennet, acid or bacteria, see skim milk below) is added to make curds set. The curds are removed and set in moulds or trays (depending on the cheese) and the excess whey is drained. The cheese may be compressed and the exterior may be treated with a variety of preparations to hasten curing or to form a rind. After the required storage and processing the cheese is usually sold, or consumed by the family.

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In some countries this sort of family production is still the norm and the products made from milk vary widely depending on the animal that is milked and the traditional ways of consuming the products made from the milk. For example, today, butter is made in Tibet mainly for candles in monasteries. Desert people still process camel milk in goat-skin bags hung off the side of the camel and using the gait of the beast to process the milk.

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