Have you ever wondered about the fact that 'milk' is a blessing in our lives. Apart from it's extraordinary health benefits, milk has given us more than we humans asked for. If there was no milk on this earth, you would have no cheesy pizzas, you couldn't drink that chilled milkshake, you couldn't enjoy that cup of chai, you wouldn't be able to kick start your day with your morning coffee cup, you wouldn't be able to enjoy your favourite icecream. Well, today is the day we thank 'milk' for existing and being a part of our lives!

Starting with its benefits!

1. As milk contains plenty of calcium, proteins and vitamins, it is considered to be food, medicine and a healer at the same time. It increases strength, improves memory, removes exhaustion, maintains strength and promotes long life.
2. A proper milk diet is very much beneficial to put on weight. The body gradually fills out. Such body weight gain is permanent.
3. It helps to improve the blood circulation in the body as the amount of fluid assimilated by the stomach and intestine increases.
4. It is an effective medicine for hyperacidity and other acidic conditions of stomach.
5. It is also a very effective medicine to treat sleeplessness. If a glass of milk sweetened with honey is given every night before going to bed, it acts as a tonic and tranquilizer.
6. Milk is used as medicine for respiratory disorders such as common cold, tonsillitis, bronchitis and asthma.
7. Intake of fluid milk reduces the risk of osteoporosis, hypertension and colon cancer.
8. Drinking milk may help to reduce the risk of kidney stone.
9. It reduces the risk of tooth decay by buffering oral acids. It reduces the solubility of tooth enamel and helps to re-mineralize it.

How to store milk correctly?

If there is one food we have to very careful about in summer and that is milk as the soaring temperatures often causes milk to curdle and you find yourself thinking of ways to make use of paneer and whey you hadn’t really intended to make. Fresh milk should be purchased daily, used strictly in rotation and ideally new and old milk should not be mixed. It should be stored in a covered container in a refrigerator or cool room.

How to make paneer/cottage cheese?

However if you do want to curdle milk add either lemon juice, or citric acid or vinegar. What happens when you do that is the water in which the proteins are floating becomes acidic and the proteins do not like this. They start to separate and flock together, because if they are curdled they have lesser surface in contact with the acidic water. That’s how you get delicious paneer and whey, which is super nutritious and should not be discarded.  One of the best way is to use the whey is to make roti dough. It can also be used to curdle more milk to make more paneer!