Is there a bird's milk. Do birds give milk? You didn't even know that these animals also give milk

We continue to acquaint you with the history of famous dishes, and our next "hero" is the Bird's Milk cake. Where did everyone get such an unusual name for the delicacy so beloved in Soviet times? Why was there a day in line for dessert, and not every housewife still manages to repeat the original recipe? You will learn all this and much more from our material.

A tender dough cake with an airy biscuit layer was released in 1978 and became a real legend of the Prague restaurant. The prototype of "Bird's Milk" was the Czechoslovakian sweets "Ptasie Mlechko", which were once tasted by the Minister of Food Industry of the USSR during a business trip. "To do something similar, but according to the original recipe," the minister commanded, after which numerous experiments began to find the ideal composition of a new domestic delicacy. Following the sweets, first prepared in the 60s, it was decided to "conjure" also over the cake. The merit of its creation belongs to the pastry chef Vladimir Guralnik. The name of this man has gone down in the history of culinary forever, and, it would seem, with such a rich past, now he could work in any of the most expensive confectionery shops in Moscow. However, Guralnik remains loyal to "Prague" to this day - in the confectionery department he works for the benefit of preserving long-term traditions and creating new culinary masterpieces.

Together with the team, we have been working on the recipe for "Bird's Milk" for over 6 months. I wanted the bottom to be from an unusual dough: not biscuit, not shortbread, not flaky. So a new type of dough was created - a butter-whipped semi-finished product, it is somewhat similar to a cupcake. The filling had to be boiled for a long time: agar-agar has a melting temperature of about 120 degrees, in contrast to gelatin, which curls up already at 100 degrees. The secret of our recipe is precisely in agar-agar - a more expensive and rich substitute for gelatin. They experimented for a long time: they added some ingredients, removed others, brought them to different temperatures - then the syrup turns out, then the viscous mass. Until they found the right consistency, 6 months have just passed,

Once Guralnik told the newspaper "Evening Moscow". In the Soviet years, the "Bird's Milk" cake was a real "king of the tables". For the original cake, sold only in the restaurant "Prague", people stood in line for several hours - a line of those wishing to treat themselves could fill half of the Old Arbat. What real success is, Guralnikov learned when at the metro he was furtively offered coupons for his own creation.

The secret of such success lay not only in the taste of the dessert, but also in its name - in its, so to speak, sacred sense. According to ancient mythology, bird milk is an unprecedented miracle. That which does not really exist, that which the birds of paradise fed their children. "A person who has everything can only dream of bird milk" - this expression again gained popularity in Europe of the XVIII century. And who did not want to possess something fantastic and impossible during the years of deficit in the USSR!

According to one of the legends, once the girls, in order to get rid of annoying gentlemen, sent them to wander through the cities and villages in search of "bird milk". Those, of course, never came back.

Now, leaving for "Bird's Milk" and not returning is an incredible story. The delicacy is presented in almost all confectionery shops in the country. True, the original cake according to the recipe of Vladimir Guralnik is exclusively sold only in 10 stores in Moscow. As he himself says, the cakes are delivered there in special branded vans and the taste of this treat cannot be confused with anything.

Guralnik does not hide the secret of making the "Bird's milk" cake:

We pour the whipped protein with agar-agar, then add butter and condensed milk, mix and cool to 80 degrees. Then pour this mass into a mold and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Then it is worthwhile to lay the layers correctly, because "Bird's milk" is a cake-constructor. The dough layer is alternated with an agar-agar layer, and so on again. The dessert is poured over with chocolate.

By the way, chocolate also has its own secret, - says the author. - It must have a certain melting point of 38 degrees, otherwise it will "turn gray" in the refrigerator. And also chocolate, in order for it to be tasty, must be properly kneaded. We have a special machine that continuously interferes with the chocolate.

However, now each confectionery has its own, somewhat different from the original recipe for "Bird's milk". HELLO.RU decided to find out how "Bird's milk" is prepared in the restaurant of Odessa cuisine "Babel". You can definitely repeat this recipe at home!

"Bird's milk" from the restaurant "Babel"Ingredients:

wheat flour 200 gr.

egg yolk 7 gr.

butter 275 gr

soda 1 tsp

sugar 350 gr.

condensed milk

lemon acid

chocolate 150 gr

cream 38%

egg white 7 pcs.

Preparation:

1. Beat butter at room temperature with sugar, add yolks, soda and flour, beat everything with a mixer.

2. Bake the mass at 170 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

3. For the cream, soak the gelatin in half a glass of cold water. Add citric acid and sugar to water with swollen gelatin. Then beat the whites until firm foam.

4. Separately beat the butter with condensed milk and gradually add to the mixture with whipped whites and gelatin solution. Don't stop whisking.

5. For the glaze, melt the chocolate and add a little butter. Melt everything over low heat and bring to a homogeneous mass.

6. Lay the dessert in layers and pour over the chocolate.

Bon Appetit!

Loved by many. This is a combination of delicate soufflé and dark chocolate, a safe option - not too fatty and airy filling and chocolate that melts in your mouth. Great for tea, coffee or as a compliment. On their basis, a cake even appeared, which immediately fell in love with a sweet tooth.

Do birds give milk?

Children sometimes ask themselves the question: "Why is" Bird's milk "called that?" And do birds give milk at all? And adults know this for sure. The vast majority of birds, like reptiles and other amphibians, are not mammals, but oviparous. And those that feed chicks in a way similar to that existing in mammals, make it a viscous liquid for milk completely different... So, we can say that bird's milk does not exist in nature, and even more so it is not in the composition of sweets.

But despite this obvious thing, not all adults know why "Bird's milk" is so called. And most likely they just do not think where such a strange and ridiculous name comes from.

Where does this name come from?

The fact is that the Poles borrowed this name from the legends about the healing milk of birds of paradise, with which they supposedly feed their chicks. Milk of birds is also mentioned in the comedy of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristophanes "Birds". It is described as a supreme delicacy, food of the gods, which gives unheard of strength and health.

In ancient times, it was customary to ask fans to give amazing gifts. The more amazing the gift, the more chances there are in the heart of a young beauty. And if the girl didn't like the guy at all, she asked him for bird milk, probably knowing that this was just a legend, and he would not get it, which means there would be a reason to refuse. Poor young men died in search of this magic milk, but no one found it.

This legend in one interpretation or another is found among many peoples. Since ancient times, Russians even have a proverb: "The rich have everything, cut the bird's milk."

Thanks to such a variety of tales and legends, bird milk has become synonymous with something special and rare. This is why Bird's Milk is called that. To emphasize the divinity of the delicacy and compare it with the mythical milk of the birds of paradise.

Now, however, a small number of birds have been found that feed their chicks with something like milk. For example, flamingos and penguins. But the creators of the sweets clearly did not mean this, and even at the time of the invention of sweets, and even more so the birth of this legend, they could not know about this.

What are candies made of?

For the first time, such sweets began to be produced in 1936 in Poland, under the name Ptasie Mleczko, and there they were a resounding success. The famous Soviet factory Rot Front decided to repeat this success and in the 1960s began their production in the USSR. At the same time, they decided not to stand on ceremony with the name and translated literally. That's why "Bird's Milk" is called that way.

The composition of the sweets is very simple - no super rare ingredients. It is a mixture of egg white, sugar, gelatin and butter, drizzled with chocolate. Ingredients are clearly not why "Bird's Milk" is called that. But despite the simple composition, it is not so easy to prepare them, everything is important - the freshness of the products, and the speed of mixing, and the cooling temperature.

Therefore, candies were made in small batches, which were quickly sold out. In the days of the USSR, a shortage was a common thing, and these candies were especially difficult to get. This is how the Soviet people interpreted why it was "Bird's milk". They believed that this was due to their scarcity and unusualness at that time.

GOST was strictly observed, and those who ate them then say that the delicacy was much tastier than today. Now, unfortunately, many ingredients are being replaced with cheaper and synthetic ones. Not every factory makes them equally well, and some have changed the recipe so much that the taste is unrecognizable. "Bird's Milk" sweets from "Rot Front" to this day are read by the standard.

How did the cake come about?

Later, in the 1980s, the pastry chefs of the then elite restaurant "Prague", headed by Vladimir Guralnik, invented a sponge cake, which was named the same. It was a cake filled with the most delicate soufflé and, like the legendary sweets, poured over with chocolate. This is why the cake is called "Bird's Milk". Its uniqueness also lies in the fact that no other in the USSR was ever granted a patent, but this one was issued.

Now it is baked at home, as the recipe is not a secret. But due to the complexity in technology, it turns out only from the most skillful and experienced housewives.

In childhood, many wondered this question when they first tried the "Bird's Milk" sweets. But what is the real situation: do birds have milk, how does it get it, and where does the candy get its name from? We will answer these questions and tell you about other interesting facts in our article. Believe me, you will learn a lot for yourself!

Why was the candy named “Bird's milk”?

Children often wonder what kind of milk birds give this. Adults know for sure that birds do not give any milk, and there is definitely no milk in the composition of sweets. But they can hardly answer where the name comes from. A treat appeared in Poland in 1936 under the name “Ptasie Mleczko”. It was only in the 1960s that the Rot Front factory launched production in the USSR, simply by translating Bird's Milk into Russian. Many then thought that the name was metaphorical and associated with something very rare and valuable, since such candies were in a terrible shortage. In fact, the creators were based on old legends and works of ancient Greece. They mention the milk of birds of paradise, which gives almost immortality and is considered a delicacy (ambrosia) of the Gods.

For example, in the old days, when young men wooed girls, they were asked to bring unheard-of gifts as a token of love. The more incredible the gift was, the more chances were to win the heart of the beauty. But, if the girl did not like the groom, then she asked to get her bird's milk. Thus, she made it clear that he had no chance of becoming her chosen one. This tradition is found among many peoples. There is even such a proverb: "The rich have everything, cut the bird's milk." Thus, the candy manufacturers wanted to attract the attention of consumers, thereby emphasizing the value and sophistication of taste.

But how much do we know about birds to say with certainty that they cannot produce milk? Let's figure it out in this difficult issue together!

The whole truth about bird milk

In fact, scientists have proven that some birds can produce milk that is completely different from what we are used to. Bird's milk consists of protein (about 60%), fat (up to 36%), a small amount of carbohydrates (up to 3%), a number of minerals and antibodies, but does not contain lactose and calcium. But like mammalian milk, it contains antioxidants and immunomodulatory proteins that are important for the growth and development of young animals.

Such milk is also called goiter, or pigeon milk. This secret is secreted by goiter cells or special glands of the esophagus and stomach (depending on the type), resembles a yellowish cheesy mass. It is noteworthy that thymus cells respond to hormones during lactation like the mammary gland. The curd substance is created from fat-filled cells (in the place of the goiter, where food usually accumulates to soften before digestion), which break open and vomit this substance in order to feed the offspring. Birds differ from other animals in that they do not have sweat glands, but they do have the ability to store fat in their outer skin cells (keratinocytes), which act like sweat glands. It was found that the "lactation" of birds is associated with their ability to divide fat cells. Interestingly, both males and females can feed their offspring with "bird milk". Milk is typical for representatives of the pigeon family, a number of parrots, flamingos and imperial penguins.

This process is best studied by example pigeons... They usually lay two eggs. Soon after hatching of chicks from them, parents begin to give them nutritious milk, which begins to be produced two days before the appearance of offspring. After that, after a week, the chicks switch to feeding on crushed "adult" food, such as seeds, fruits, insects and other invertebrates. However, if one of the eggs for some reason falls out of the nest, or one chick is born dead, then the remaining chick gets all the “bird's milk”, and therefore it grows even faster. By the end of the first week after hatching, this chick will hardly differ in size from its parents. And here is the female penguin lays only one egg, which the male penguin warms with the warmth of his body for two long months until the long-awaited chick appears. After the appearance of offspring, a caring father nurses him for another month and feeds him with milk on a par with the mother, who gets food. Have flamingo the feeding process is generally amazing. Their nutritional secret also contains hemoglobin, which indicates the presence of bird blood in the milk, and this gives it a reddish color.

Interestingly, a series of studies were carried out in 1952, when chickens were fed pigeon milk, and their growth rate increased by as much as 38%! At the same time, attempts to reproduce thymus milk artificially did not lead to success. The chicks fed by an analogue either died or were too weak. Accordingly, it has been shown that this nutrient also contains certain unique antibodies.

You didn't even know that these animals also give milk

We know how important milk is for babies. It is a rich combination of nutrients that are essential for a child's development and immunity. In the entire animal kingdom, only one group of animals produces milk for their offspring: mammals, to the class of which we belong. Mammalian milk is considered to be real milk. However, some living organisms have secretions that strongly resemble milk and are intended for feeding. This "false milk" is not like cow's or human milk, and it is not produced in the same way. But it serves the same purpose: it feeds baby animals until they are old enough to take care of themselves.

Cockroaches... Yes, you heard right: some cockroaches feed their young with milk. One such example is the cockroach beetle Diploptera punctata, or Pacific cockroach.
Most female cockroaches lay their eggs in a kind of sac that comes out of the body before the eggs hatch. After the young cockroaches hatch from their eggs, they fight to find food. But the female Pacific cockroach beetle takes a different approach to childcare. Instead of hatching from the clutch, the embryos develop fully within her body. Once the embryos have fully formed digestive organs, they begin to drink "milk" produced by special crystals (cells) and quickly gain weight. Since young cockroaches receive a lot of food while still in their mother's body, they are more developed and mature at the time of birth. This interesting feature of these cockroaches has attracted the attention of Indian scientists. The crystals of these cockroaches, as it turned out, contain a full complement of nutrients: fats, proteins, carbohydrates and amino acids. This product has a high calorie content, and therefore would be useful in conditions of overpopulation and during long-distance space flights. Scientists are now trying to reproduce the substance in the laboratory.

False scorpions, or false scorpions. Like Pacific beetle cockroaches, female false scorpions produce a milky-like substance. But it is not released from her womb, but from the ovaries. The female carries her fertilized eggs in a special pouch attached to her belly. Once the babies hatch, they remain in the sack and feed on their mother's milk. Even after they leave the pouches, they continue to roll on the mother's back until they are old enough to live on their own. Pseudoscorpions are 2-3 mm long. They are often found in rooms with dusty books, which is why they are sometimes called "book scorpions."

Fish Discus... Their milk is actually a mucus-based secretion that coats the bodies of both parents. It is rich in proteins and antibodies. A few days after the young fish hatch from their eggs, they attach to their parents and feed on the secretions of mucus that cover their bodies. During the first two weeks, they spend most of their time feeding their offspring. Feeding lasts 5-10 minutes, after which one of the parents dumps the young on the other parent. From the third week, the parents stop feeding. They swim for a longer time, forcing young fish to look for other food sources. This example is very similar to how mammals take care of their children.

Legless african amphibians, or worms (cecilia). Amphibian vertebrates are very similar to worms. Most species guard their eggs until they hatch and then leave them behind. But worms, native to southeastern Kenya, have developed a more sophisticated parenting style. When the offspring hatch from their eggs, they are completely immature and completely dependent on their mother. To feed her babies, the female Cecilia produces a thick layer of protein and fat on the top layer of her skin. Newborns cleanse this layer of skin with the help of special suction cups that look like small teeth. The layer with nutrients is so dense that after a week the young individual increases in length by about 11%. This takes a heavy toll on the mother. After one week of feeding, she loses about 14% of her weight.

The world around us hides many more mysteries. It would seem that it has been well studied, but something new is always being discovered. Did you know that some birds actually have milk?

Do birds give milk?

From the history of the cake "BIRD'S MILK"
"BIRD'S MILK" is the first cake for which a patent was issued during the existence of the USSR.
The authors of the recipe, created in the early 1960s, are a group of confectioners consisting of the head of the confectionery department of the Moscow restaurant "Prague" Vladimir GURALNIK, Margarita GOLOVA and Nikolai PANFILOV.
“At first they made 30 pieces a day, then 60, then 600,” recalls Vladimir Guralnik.
This was sorely lacking for Muscovites and guests of the capital: in the 80s such queues lined up for cake that they had to be turned around so that people would not block traffic between Kalinin Avenue (now Novy Arbat) and Arbat. Buyers stood for hours by appointment; the smaller queue consisted of the holders of coupons, which the restaurant sold to the “elite” for 3 rubles. (The bird's milk cake itself cost 6 rubles 16 kopecks at that time).
Guralnik laughingly recalls how, at the exit of the Arbatskaya metro station, he was offered to buy a coupon for his own product.
The first experimental commercial batches of "bird's milk" were produced since 1968 at the "Rot-Front" factory. But due to the complex technology, the batches were small, the recipe documentation was not approved by the USSR Ministry of Food Industry.
The application for the invention was filed in September 1980, and in 1982 the inventor's certificate No. 925285 was issued to the developers of the formulation, where the method of production was registered.
"Bird's Milk" has a special technology. A layer of dough is put down, but not biscuit or shortbread. It tastes like a cupcake. Then comes a layer of soufflé - it is made not on gelatin, but on agar-agar - this is a jelly that is extracted from seaweed. By the way, it is also used for finishing fabrics. It took the authors more than six months to find this most cunning ingredient in "Bird's Milk". But it is this “exotic” additive (in those Soviet times in the USSR, much was exotic and scarce) that makes the cake so tender and melting in the mouth. Agar-agar does not curdle at 117 degrees, which is ideal for making delicate “Bird's milk”. From above, the whole piece is poured with chocolate and decorated with cream.

“Bird's milk” cakes produced in different places have different designs:

By their joint development, Vladimir GURALNIK, Margarita GOLOVA and Nikolay PANFILOV entered the history of confectionery art: having looked at the new “Bird's milk” sweets from the “Red October” factory, they created the “Bird's milk” cake, which slightly differs from them in taste.
In the famous filling, instead of the traditional gelatin, agar-agar extracted from special algae was used.
In 2006, Vladimir Guralnik was nominated for the 2006 Public Recognition award and received an award in the Legendary Man category.
In addition to creating the legendary "birdie", over 50 years of work, he has developed and introduced into production 35 branded confectionery products.
Many of them are now produced in all confectionery shops in Moscow.
Today he transfers his knowledge and rich experience of work to the youth. 85 pastry chefs have already been trained in it.
His Prague cake, based on the famous Viennese Saher cake, was put into mass production and included in the Collection of Confectionery Recipes for Public Catering.

About bird milk
Bird's milk is mentioned in myths and legends of many peoples of the world.
There was a popular belief that birds of paradise fed their chicks with bird milk. If a person tried it, then at once he became invulnerable to any weapon and any disease.
But birds are not mammals. They do not feed their chicks with milk. Therefore, the expression "bird's milk" began to mean something unseen, something that does not exist in reality, impossible, the limit of desires.
Long ago, when women were bored by their lovers, they demanded that they bring them bird's milk. Unhappy lovers rushed into the desert and died there of thirst and loneliness, believing in illusions and taking fantasy for reality.
However, bird scientists have proved that bird's milk does exist, but it does not look like cow's milk, but resembles liquid curd. Birds from their beaks feed their chicks with “milk” belching from the stomach for a very short time - no more than a month. So bird's “milk” (which is not milk at all) is a rarity in the feathered world.
It is no coincidence that this name, which characterizes abundance and well-being, was chosen for the most delicious, delicate and exquisite sweets and cakes with soufflé filling.


11.02.2017 11:35 2241

Is there a bird's milk and why the candy was named so.

Perhaps you have ever heard an adult say about someone "he just doesn't have bird's milk." This means that a person has even more than he can wish for.

Sweets with the unusual name "Bird's Milk" are loved by more than one generation of sweet tooths. But how many people know where this original name of these sweets came from and does bird's milk actually exist in nature?

Birds are not mammals and do not feed their chicks with milk. Therefore, the expression "bird's milk" began to denote something unseen, which in reality does not exist and cannot be, the impossible, the limit of desires.

However, oddly enough, ornithologists have proved that bird milk still exists, although not in all bird species. For example, pigeons, goldfinches, crossbills, emperor penguins, flamingos have it.

True, the milk of birds does not at all look like the usual cow or goat milk, but rather resembles liquid cottage cheese, but its purpose is the same as that of the usual one. These birds feed their chicks for a very short time - no more than a month. So in the feathered world, bird's milk is very rare.

Pigeons, for example, feed their chicks with a special gruel from the goiter, which is sometimes called pigeon milk. This so-called milk is formed from a whitish liquid escaping from the goiter of a pigeon, which is mixed with a thick gruel that is regurgitated by the pigeon from the stomach into the goiter.

Emperor penguins also feed their chicks with a mushy substance, which is produced in them in the walls of the esophagus and stomach. These penguins hatch chicks in the midst of the Antarctic winter, when the air temperature reaches -80 degrees. The birds keep their only egg on their paws, covering it on top with a fold of skin on the belly.

Well, is there really bird milk, we found out. Now let's answer the question why the well-known sweets are named so, which are a delicate, sweet soufflé, covered with chocolate.

The inventors of this delicacy are considered to be Polish confectioners, who for the first time released in 1936 a batch of unusually tasty and sweet soufflé in chocolate. Most likely they chose this name for their sweet creation to show its peculiarity and, of course, to attract the attention of those with a sweet tooth.

In Russia (or rather, back then in the Soviet Union) the Bird's Milk soufflé appeared in the 60s of the last century and became so popular that 10 years later Soviet confectioners came up with a recipe for a cake with the same name, based on the famous soufflé.


 

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