In his book, Pieces of Eight, Coins, and Ocracoke, Paul Mosher relates stories of vacationing on Ocracoke in the early 20th century. In the late 1920s Paul writes that he "was a tourist at the time in a summer cottage (Hurricane House) down point.... I would go to [Mr. & Mrs. Amasa (Mace) Fulcher's] kitchen every day to get two quarts of fresh milk. This was before the days of homogenized milk, and the richest cream would rise to the top. We [had] contracted with Mr. Mace to buy, during our summer stay, all his surplus milk if he would import a milk cow. In the fall he could always butcher the cow. The locals dearly loved their coffee, and this cream beat Carnation milk all hollow."
Today you can buy milk, cream, and half-and-half at several local stores. But the cream that rose to the top of fresh unhomogenized milk was the best!
Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is Ellen Marie Cloud's first-person account of the Great Ocracoke Lighthouse Window Heist. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news012117.htm.
Before the day of homogenized or skim or 1%, 2% fat milk, It was during the day of unpasturized or Raw milk??. If I understand this correctly, this fresh milk Mr Mosher refers to was was Raw milk which is unpasturized which is rather different then homogenized milk. Is The bottle of milk pictured a bottle of milk from a commercial dairy that has pasturized the milk but maybe not homogenized the product??? please clarify. is the bottle of milk pictured whole milk with a higher fat conttent of 4% similar to the milk Mr Mosher enjoyed or is it raw milk available on OI.??
ReplyDeleteFull disclosure: the picture is just a stock photo I found; raw milk is no longer available on Ocracoke.
DeleteImport a milk cow. Import a milk cow? How does one import a milk cow to OI? In the 20's the presence of farm animals transported to the island occured under what means? If OI was part of North Carolina this stock transaction, shipping a cow to the OBX would hardly be characterized as importing right?
ReplyDeleteThe word "import" was used broadly. The cow was not brought in from another country, but from the mainland (which seemed like another country in those days). Livestock was ferried to and from the island on freight boats.
DeleteIf you're ever in the Shenandoah Valley of VA, stop by the Mt. Crawford Creamery in Mt. Crawford...they do not homogenize their milk.
ReplyDelete