Milk

Bry'Chell and I are both big milk drinkers. Because we're taking Doxycycline for anti-malaria purposes, that puts a bit of a damper on our milk drinking. We take the medication in the morning and are not supposed to have milk for two hours since it can nullify the benefits of the medication. However, that alone wouldn't stop us from drinking a lot of milk.

When we arrived I found the ultra pasteurized stuff that comes in boxes and can sit on the shelf for six months without refrigeration. Cool, I figured our access to milk was solved. However, it tastes like it's been sitting in a box for six months.

Next I found the milk that comes in bags. It's pretty much the same stuff as at home. It's fresh, it's pasteurized and it tastes fine. The only problem is that I can only get it in Kampala which is two hours away. I get to Kampala for shopping a couple times a month if I'm lucky. Given the travel and the weather the milk doesn't last long. I have discovered several recipes for sour milk that I've put to good use when the milk doesn't last. It makes great pancakes and a wonderful chocolate cake. However, it doesn't give us many days of drinking fresh milk.

At Christmas time we were in the car with Father Henry when he stopped at a shop in the trading center and bought milk. This was the fresh local stuff. You can buy it boiled or unboiled. He bought it boiled. The unboiled stuff is raw milk.

It took me a few weeks after we returned to decide to try it. A couple of weeks ago I finally bought some--boiled, of course. It's tastes good, it's local and it's inexpensive--800 Ush (about 40 cents) per liter.

The guy dips it out of a bucket into a plastic bag, ties a knot at the top and it's ready to go. I take it home and put it in the refrigerator. We've been drinking it for a few weeks and it's a big improvement over anything else.

Figures that it would take me six months to work out the details.