Milk is referred to as complete food and it is one of the most widely used ingredients. I never liked the taste or the smell of raw milk. As a child I always tried to make my excuses look genuine to avoid drinking that mandatory glass of milk.
My mother tried new methods to make my glass of milk taste better, all she wanted was to make me drink that healthy glass of nutrients. Maa would mix Horlicks, Boost and Complan to my glass of milk claiming it would taste and smell better. She even tried serving milk with Chocos and Corn Flakes but I as a kid preferred to munch on them rather than putting them in my bowl of milk. Finally, Bournvita suited my taste, and became my constant.
Be it a glass of milk, a yummy glass of milkshake or a bowl of heavenly kheer one of the undoubtedly cutest milk made memory is the milk moustache. I have always savoured kheer happily because it didn’t taste or smell like milk.
There are people who prefer milk products like cheese, paneer, butter and curd over milk and I am one of those people. I religiously love the lip-smacking taste of cheese. My love for paneer extends from protein rich salad to shahi-paneer. I utterly loved buttery parathas with milk-chai.
The taste of condensed milk and milk powder tempts me. During my childhood days I used to enjoy spoonful of condensed milk or milk powder while watching cartoons on television. Now it’s a nostalgia. I miss no chance to savour the same taste with the same feeling again.
My mother loves cooking, she has always been fond of sweets. Especially bengali sweets. Mother’s kitchen cupboards and her refrigerator never disappoint me. They are always filled with things I love. The refrigerator stored various sweets and desserts including home-made ice-creams of different flavours, milk cake, roshogolla, kalakand and other varied range on Indian sweets. Milk made wonders! Our refrigerator seemed like a mini mishthan-bhandar.
While travelling I got the taste of rabri and piping hot kadhai dudh served in kullarhs, especially in Mathura-Vrindavan. Rabri is a sweet, condensed-milk-based dish, made by boiling milk on low heat for a long time until it becomes dense and changes its colour to off-white or pale yellow. Jaggery, spices, and nuts are added to it to give it flavour. It is chilled and served as dessert.
Since childhood I had only consumed cow milk. Once while I was on an expedition in Rajasthan I got introduced to camel milk. I tried camel milk tea there, and expressed “it’s tasteless”.
Though I would still mention that according to the health experts, camel milk is healthy and can be better option for those who are lactose intolerant, studies say that it lowers blood sugar and helps moderating the insulin levels.
With time I got introduced to exotic milks like coconut milk, almond milk and soya milk. Recently i tried almond milk coffee at Blue Tokai & Starbucks and it wasn’t a bad experience for me.
Milk made memories since childhood till now, and I am sure it will continue to do so. If you are someone who doesn’t like raw milk like me and still have milk made memories do let us know in the comments section.
