For some unexplained reason, we boil our milk (again, this is occurring in our household, and I cannot generalize such statements to include other domiciles — though I wouldn’t be surprised). Or perhaps, we are like the Munsters. Definitely not the Cleavers.

The strangest part is that MIL (mother-in-law) heat sterilizes it as soon as she opens it. Strange. And the milk (молоко) is sold in bags, I believe they are half or one liter containers, usually. If you want to keep it in the fridge, you need to fold over the cut corner and clip it, and make sure it stays upright! Or, you could decant it into something more “pour friendly,” because a bag just ain’t.

“Why?” I’ve asked numerous times. Supposedly milk (here) sours within 2 days of opening unless you heat it.

But as soon as you heat it, it acquires some funky precipitates, clumps, and/or floating films. What the hell? Why not just buy it, drink as much as you can in the first couple of days, and if it sours then use it for something else or pour it down the sink? It’s not that expensive.

I guess it’s not pasteurized? That doesn’t really make sense for all of the milk sold in the country (in stores) to be unpasteurized? Indeed, upon checking, it is pasteurized. Well, why does it go bad so fast? I will investigate this a bit more and get back to the post later.

I just couldn’t resist commenting, because I bought some milk late last night (8pm), and was sooo looking forward to having some fresh (un-boiled) milk with my oatmeal this morning — only to find out that MIL found it, opened it, and boil-sterilized it at 11pm last night. And of course, as with almost ALL OTHER FOOD that she cooks (and considers to be resistant to microbial growth), she leaves it out at room temperature all night long. What? What is wrong with this picture? It makes me want to hurl. (more on leaving food out for another time…)

Strange. Really strange. And yet, she freezes her butter…

time warp…

Added Feb 12, 2008: I found boxed milk — THAT LASTS A WEEK OR TWO!!!! Halelujah!!!!