Salt in Milk

Lot of my friends and even myself wanted to know why we should not mix salt and milk.  I have been searching for some information for a while.  I found it only now and wanted to share it.  It made sense to me.  We are young chefs and somehow I strongly believe that our ancestors had lot more knowledge on food and what happens when you put them inside your body.  Sometimes, I dont mind to follow certain rules even though I dont have any justficiation for that. But I keep my search engine On!

Here is the link and the details from that website is posted here for quick ref:

http://krishnascience.info/Vaisnava%20Library/Practical%20application/Cooking%20conference.htm

Kaviraj Partap Chauhan.
In Astang Sangrah (Sutra sthanam), chapter 9, deals with foods that are opposing to each other. The opposing foods are poisonous (harmful) and can cause either an immediate reaction in the body or will react in long time. The second type of reactions or disease (delayed reactions) caused by opposing foods are more common as we can not understand what's going on inside as a result of our improper eating. And then finally one day we have some serious disease, and we might be wondering from where it came Actually it may have come from the "milk and salty preparation" (or any other opposing combinations) which we had been enjoying for so many years.

According to Ayurvedic principle "Salt in milk" (Ksheeren lavanam) do not go toghether. But it is applicable to milk in salty preparations as well. As it has been mentioned in "Astanga Sangraha" that the reaction may not be immediate, so it will be wrong to say that such combination have been used by people without any ill effects. The ill effect or harmful effect is always there but it may not manifest into a disease immediately. It's like we see so many people drinking alcohol everyday but not all of them get diseases. This does not means that alcohol is harmless for the body. On the other hand we see many people who don't drink alcohol or don't smoke etc. but they get serious diseases. Maybe they take "milk with salt or milk in salty preparations" everyday or three times a day.

It's also explained in Ayurveda that by regular practice, even some wrong combinations become less harmful. This is because the body adapts to or gets used to that kind of food. Usually people with strong immunity, strong digestion and those who cleanse the system regularly are less effected. Please note the words "less harmful" and "less effected" I have used above. This means that there is definitely an harmful effect on the body when we take "milk and salt or salty preparations" together. The effect can vary in each individual depending on certain factors like immunity, age, state of ojas, strength of Jatharagni etc

Since Ayurveda only mentions milk and salt and not milk products such as curdled cheese, yoghurt, butter etc. and salt to be incompatible we have to analyze the difference between milk and e.g. yoghurt to find out the possible factors which make this substances compatible or incompatible.

The difference of yoghurt and milk in regards to metabolism is, that milk has to be curdled by the body and the milk fat which tends to coagulate has to become emulsified** by the bile*** liquid. Yoghurt is already curdled by the lactic acid produced by the yoghurt bacteria and the fat of yoghurt doesn't tend to coagulate because of the specific structure of processed milk products.

Milk contains a specific protein-calcium compound called calcium caseinat which is responsible for the curdling effect of milk as soon as the calcium bond is broken by the interaction of acids** **.
If salt which is a sodium salt is added to milk it could interfere with the calcium ions of the calcium-caseinat and thus impede with the curdling, emulsification and / or albumin metabolism of the milk.

If salt is added to any other milk product that would be no problem since the milk doesn't have to be curdled and is already pre emulsified.

Another possible reason is the sweet taste of milk. Generally sweet things are not mixed with salt, which again would not be a problem for yoghurt which does not possess the sweet characteristics of milk.

**That is also the reason why milk is recommended to be served hot. The colder the milk is, the more difficult it is for the bile liquid to emulsify the milk. Drinking cold milk is like trying to wash greasy hands with soap (bile) and cold water. Only with hot water will the fat emulsify and the hands become nicely clean.

***bile: A bitter, alkaline, brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow fluid that is secreted by the liver, stored in the gallbladder, and discharged into the duodenum and aids in the emulsification, digestion, and absorption of fats. Also called gall.

** **That is why the milk curdles if you add lemon juice, citric acid oryoghurt to hot milk.