How’s Africa? – Land of Milk

God sent us to the Wisconsin of Uganda. We live in cattle country, dairy-land. There are 3 dairies within walking distance of our house and another two on the other end of town. The biggest dairy resides smack in the middle of town, down an almost impassible dirt road. These dairies provide milk products, primarily yogurt and gouda cheese, to most of the rest of the country. 

All that being said, getting milk to your house on a weekly basis can prove a challenge. Dairy is regulated here, much the same way meat slaughtering is. There is a Dairy Council. The milk supply is monitored for diseases like listeria. Dairies would get shut down if they sent contaminated milk out in their products.

We still have to be careful that the milk we buy hasn’t been watered down (remember, the water here isn’t potable; you don’t even want to drink it in your milk). Sometimes the local suppliers will skim and dilute their milk to make it go further. 

Because of this, we’re cautious where we buy our milk products. Most of the milk for sale in the grocery stores has been treated with UHT (ultra high temperature). Most, if not all, the nutrients have been killed in this process. We could buy from door-to-door milk sellers. Most of these guys probably sell good milk — especially if you get it first thing in the morning, but there is always a danger it’s been diluted with water. The little eduka (shops) that sell milk give you the watered down stuff. 

We get ours straight from a dairy farmer outside town. Once a week, Athen goes and gets 10 liters for us in a good old fashioned dairy can.

We strain the milk and refrigerate it. I use it to make all kinds of things. I skim the cream to make butter and buttermilk. I make a gallon of yogurt almost every week. From that, I make cream cheese. If the milk sours (which rarely happens) I make cottage cheese. (We buy our harder cheeses from local vendors or one of the dairies.)

I’m noticing that ice cream is missing from this list! I may have to remedy that in the near future!