Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Oct. Emergency Preparedness - More about Milk and Info about Fats and Salt



More about Milk

Milk Gravy
Milk gravy is the same as white sauce, except that white sauce is usually made with butter or margarine, while gravy is made with other fat.  You can use the two interchangeably as long as the fat is pure and flavor is mild.  Use it as the base for cream soups and casseroles, as well as gravy to top biscuits.  Add any meat bits to it for a main course.
2 teaspoons flour                                                         1 cup reconstituted dry milk
2 tablespoons fat

Melt fat over medium heat, sprinkle flour in, while stirring.  Continue stirring until the mixture barely starts to brown.  Add milk all at once.  Stir briskly to avoid lumps.  Return to boil and cook 1 – 2 minutes to thicken.  Makes 1 cup.

White Sauce

3 cups warm water                                                      1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 –1 cup dry milk                                                     3 – 4 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon shortening or oil

Reconstitute dry milk with water.  Whisk in flour and salt until smooth.  Cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened.  Add fat, if desired.  Serve hot over rice, macaroni, or toast.  Thin for use as chowder-type soup with beans, rice and wheat.

Graveyard Stew

Salt and pepper toasted and buttered bread.  Pour hot milk over and eat.  If no toaster is available spread shortening on sliced bread and fry in skillet.

Cemetery Stew

2 slices of bread, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 cup milk                                                                   sprinkle of sugar

Pour hot or cold milk over bread, sprinkle with sugar, and eat like a bowl of cereal.



About Dietary Fats

Fat is an important energy-providing nutrient.  A small amount of dietary fat is necessary for our bodies to properly absorb fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K.  Fat also assists in vitamin D absorption, which helps calcium get into the body, especially to the bones and teeth.

Fat is an essential ingredient in almost all baking.  The taste, texture and appearance of foods improve even when it is only used in small amounts.  Food textures change with the use of different fats because of their individual characteristics.  Shortening makes baked goods fluffier and flakier, while oils provide a denser, heavier product.  Fats in bread are interchangeable, measure for measure, whether liquid or solid.  One tablespoon fat to four cups flour is sufficient for bread.  Fat serves as a preservative in bread and other foods.
Shortening does not contain water.  To get the same results when substituting shortening for butter or margarine, add 1 tablespoon water for each half cup of shortening used.  A cookie made with shortening and no extra water added is higher and lighter, while a butter cookie is flatter and crisper.

Storage conditions that affect the deterioration of fats, oil and food in general are summarized in the acronym HALT: Humidity, Air, Light, and Temperature.  Reducing exposure to humidity, air, light, and warm temperatures will prolong storage life.  Fats and oils vary in their ability to store for prolonged periods.  Generally shortening can be stored for many years; cooking oil must be rotated more frequently.


About Salt
A body may endure periods of lack of food, but without salt and water, would quickly perish from dehydration.  The average person contains about eight ounces of salt.  Salt is in every cell of the body.  It helps wounds to heal and body fluids to be properly regulated.  Salt regulates electrical charges through the nervous system which helps contractions of the heart and other muscles.  Salt is necessary for the digestion of food and flow of nutrients.  As hunters, humans got all the sodium they needed by eating meat, but with the switch to agriculture came the need to add salt to a grain and vegetable diet.

Salt played an important part in the survival of the human race long before recorded history.  Drying or curing with salt was virtually the only know ways of preserving food.  These practices helped elimate dependency on the seasonal availability of food and made travel possible over long distances because it inhibited the growth of bacteria.  Thanks to canning, drying, freezing and refrigeration, salt is no longer a primary means of preserving food.

Salt is mostly used in the kitchen and on the dining table.  Salt accents the flavor of meat, brings out the individuality of vegetables, puts “oomph” into bland starches, deepens the flavor of delicate desserts and develops the flavor of melons and other fruits.  No other seasoning has yet been found to satisfactorily take the place of salt.

Iodized salt is standard table salt with iodine added.  Iodine is a component of the thyroid hormone, which controls the rate of energy production in all cells.  It thereby influences the growth and general activity of every organ.  Iodine reduces mental retardation.  Iodine deficiency causes a 10 to 15% reduction in a population’s IQ capability.  It was the first nutrient to be added to foods as a supplement.  Since and adult only requires about one teaspoonful of iodine over a lifetime, eating fish once a week is enough to fulfill the average iodine requirements.

A question frequently asked is: Does water boil faster if you put salt in the water? Answer: when a small amount of salt is added to water, such as when cooking pasta, the amount of time needed to come to a boil is insignificant between plan water and salted water.

There are about 10,000,000 crystals in a pound of salt.