WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- Excuse me while I pour myself another coffee and camel milk -- writing is thirsty work.
Before you splutter over your own coffee, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reckons there are potentially 200 million customers for camel milk in the Arab world, with millions more in the Americas, Africa and Europe.
Milking a camel does conjure up images of a skit from the "Saturday Night Live" team. How high would the stool have to be? And given that camel herders are generally nomadic, it could put "just popping out for a pint of milk" into a whole new time frame.
Nevertheless, the FAO, according to Foodnavigator.com, thinks investment in camel dairying could be profitable. Already a Mauritanian producer is churning out Camelbert, a soft cheese. (No, I did not make it up.) And a chocolatier in Vienna has plans to launch camel-milk chocolate made from powdered camel milk this fall.
In Russia, Kazakhstan and India the road to convalescence isn't encouraged by bowls of browning grapes, aromatherapy candles and humorous cards. Camel's milk, slightly salty and rich in iron, unsaturated fatty acids, B vitamins and three times the amount of Vitamin C that occurs in cow's milk, is pressed on patients to aid recovery.
Once we've learned how to ultra-heat-treat it for transportation and a long shelf life, we may also learn to include it in our regular diet. It would certainly make shopping for milk less complicated than the current minefield of working out what is genuinely organic in cow's milk and other dairy products.
In March, a non-profit agricultural policy research group, the Cornucopia Institute, of Wisconsin, reported on the results of a year-long survey into which products bearing the organic seal were following full organic practices.
You'd suppose that to bear the seal, a cow would have to be fed on organic grain, graze in pastures of organic grass, never be treated with milk-producing hormones and antibiotics nor come in contact with pesticides.
Nuh-uh.
There are some farms where the massive herds rarely go outdoors. There are others where antibiotics and hormones are on the menu. And farms where replacement cows are not necessarily organic.
The results of the Cornucopia survey were based on points-allotted answers to questions on organic farming practices and ethics. They are dismaying.
Responding was voluntary. So while the milk from Castle Rock Organic Farm of Ossea, Wis., and from Evans Farmhouse Creamery in Norwich, N.Y., received the highest rating, along with the yogurt from Seven Stars in Phoenixville, Pa., some of the best known brands received no ratings at all -- because they just didn't turn in a reply.
Horizon Organic, Organic Cow of Vermont, Alta Dena and Aurora Organic Dairy have between 60 percent and 70 percent of the organic dairy product market. So why didn't these familiar brand-name giants respond to the survey?
While the review could hardly be called scientific, it did provide an opportunity to boast. Falling short of the mark probably wouldn't prevent a customer from buying an organic dairy product -- some nod to organic practices is better than none. But an indication of how far a company is complying to a general standard is helpful. When you pay a higher price for organic products, wouldn't you like to know just how organic they are?
To those devotees who believe, as with virginity, there is no room for maneuver in defining "organic," it may come as a surprise to learn that different certifying agencies are interpreting what would seem very clear organic guidelines in different ways.
So until organic dairy products earn that seal through a general national standard enforced by the Department of Agriculture, let's hear it for the future of dairy products from bovine-growth-hormone-free camels.
Junket is an ancient milk dish commonly used to nourish invalids. But it goes well with soft fruits and red fruits. It relies on the enzyme rennet which you can get at health food stores and which you probably don't want to know any more about. Two things: you can't used UHT or sterilized milk, and you mustn't put it in a refrigerator to set.
This is the basic recipe. But I find it improved by the addition of flavorings like vanilla extract, almond essence, coffee, lemon or orange zest. Just leave off the nutmeg.
Junket
-- 1 pint pasteurized milk
-- 1 tablespoon sugar
-- 1 teaspoon liquid rennet
-- grated nutmeg
-- Slowly heat the milk until warm to the finger. Take off the heat and stir in the sugar until dissolved.
-- Stir in the rennet and pour into a shallow dish.
-- Leave in a warm place 1-1 ½ hours until set.
-- Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
-- Grate over a little nutmeg and serve with stewed plums, fresh raspberries or other soft fruit.
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