Before Fridges, People Dropped Frogs In Milk
Photo credit: drinksfeed.com
Before refrigerators were invented, most people’s diets were very different. There’s a lot of food that just isn’t practical if you can’t keep it cold. For example, milk goes bad quite quickly without a fridge to put it in, so most people just didn’t drink it that often.
But not the Russians. The Russians found a different solution. They put frogs in their milk.
In some parts of Russia, people would drop frogs into buckets of milk to keep it from spoiling. That sounds a little strange, but oddly enough, it actually worked. The frogs’ skins were coated in an antibiotic peptide that kept bacteria from contaminating the milk, which actually made it safe to drink for a longer time.
Not that the Russians knew that. We didn’t figure that out until about five years ago. The people who did this had no idea that the frogs were keeping their milk from going bad until just recently. They were just dropping frogs into milk for reasons that no one can quite explain.
I can't help but wonder what started the whole "frog in the milk" thing to begin with. Seems more than a little strange to me, ya know?
Coffee out on the patio, but it might rain some more so be ready to move inside.
Put a frog in the milk? Who would have thought... Thanks! Enjoy your coffee, I've got to work
ReplyDeleteNever would have thought to put a frog in my milk. In fact seeing that would make me sign off on drinking milk forever. EW!!!!!!! Have a great weekend and Happy First Day of Fall. Very hot and humid here today and all weekend.
ReplyDeleteHey Rob...
ReplyDeleteCertainly not something I would have thought of.
Thanks for stopping by this morning!
Hey Linda...
Certainly not my first choice of ways to keep milk fresh
Thanks for coming over this morning!
I don't know sounds pretty nasty to me. I wonder if my some accident the frog got into the bucket and sank to the bottom and they didn't see it then realized the milk was still good? Oh things you find for us to ponder. Keeps this old brain working.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind sitting on the patio if it rains we can move inside. Still very windy here blowing all kinds of pollen and dirt around. And what is really sad is the temps are in the 80's and you still can't go out and enjoy the porch.
Most of the things that people did years ago had a practical reason behind them. Don't laugh at them until you know the whole story. Thanks Jim for giving us the whole story.
ReplyDelete