ARTILICIAL MILK.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12285, 11 July 1914, Page 2

ARTILICIAL MILK.

BUTTER AND CHEESE 'FROM SOYA BEANS. ROMANCE OF A NEW INDUSTRY. I . —; A discovery which should prove of great interest to housewives and mothers has recently been brought to perfection i;i a London chemical laboratory. This is a process of manufacturing synthetically ;i_ pure and wholesome milk of high nutritive value, possessing all the virtues of the original article, none of its manv dangers. The discovery originated many years ago as tlio result of the ingenuity of a Chinese who saw a possible substitute for milk in the native drink prepared from the soya bean. Mis efforts, however, met with only partial success, owing to the fact that the lluid prepared by him had an exceedingly penetrating and —to Western p;il;ites—disagreeable taste. It was left to a German chemist to lay the foundations of the present .synthetic milk by suggesting a composite lluid, made up of all the ingredients of cow's milk in correct proportion. The tiuid. as far as ite appearance is concerned, is quite indistinguishable from rich cow'.-i milk, writes the 'Times." It is delightfully smooth on the palate. On the other hand, the taste seems to some

persons slightly different from that o£ or

dinary milk. It is said that even this slight "taste"' can be removed at will. The new milk has been built up from a

basis of casein obtained from the soya bean. Casein, of course, is likewise the basal constituent of cow's milk. -Thebeans are treated by a special process whereby all. oil and waste matter are removed and only the pure casein left. To this basis are added in-exact proportions fatty acids, sugars and salts, and emulsi-

(ication is carried out. The difficulty of producing a perfect emulsion (milk is one of the most, perfect emulsions known), has been completely overcome, the new fluid satisfying every test in this direction, even to "the extent of refusing to "cream." Milk, however, is something more than a food substance; it is a living fluid, containing a definite strain of bacteria, which assist in its digestion. In order that the synthetic milk may approximate in all respects to the real milk, bacteria of the required strains, including the lactic acid (sour milk) bacilli rendered famous by Metchnikoff a few yeai's ago, are introduced to the fluid and permitted to act

upon it until it reaches exactly that state of what may be termed maturity at- .which I fresh cow's milk is obtained. That it is indeed a real milk is proved by the fact that excellent cheese and "butter" can- be made from it. The advantages of the new milk are obvious. It is. of course, free from all suspicion of being contaminated with "milk-bor.ie" diseases like tuberculosis, scarlet fever, or -diphtheria. It can. moreover. be made up in any proportions desired. that is, with more or less casein, fat. sugar, or salts, and thus can be supplied to children and invalids according to a medical prescription. Finally, the new milk can be produced more cheaply than can ordinary milk, and should thus prove a real boon to the poor. The distinctive taste of the milk is due to the use which is made of the soya bean. It is almost impossible to describe it, since, like the taste of celery or china-' mon. it is peculiar to itself and characteristic.