Introduction

“La Leche Cuajada de la Martona” marks the first of many collaborations between the Argentines Jorges Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, and the pamphlet, a 01 broad yet succinct look at some of yogurt’s various incarnations throughout world history, seems a strange one to consider amid their famously imaginative works. The two writers, who met in 1931 through author and publisher Victoria Ocampo and her influential magazine, Sur, were then in quite different stages of their careers—Borges was publishing often in various journals, and Bioy Casares was penning fiction that he would later renounce. Neither had yet written any of the works for which he would be best remembered, and their relations with one another still sat somewhere between mentorship and friendship (Bioy Casares was seventeen years Borges’ junior). It was not until, in 1935, Bioy Casares’ Borges and Bioy Casares used imaginative uncle, owner of Argentina’s largest dairy reason to imbue the pamphlet with a sense of company, La Martona, commissioned from his great possibility. Through use of mythology, nephew a “semi-scientific, semi-commercial a wide historical and geographic scope, and pamphlet about yogurt” that the two would the language of contemporary microbiology, 02 meet to seriously discuss a collaboration. Bioy the work teems with images of other worlds: 03 Casares was to be paid sixteen pesos per page, humans inhale entire societies, God gives and, as Borges was struggling financially at food directly to his subjects, and (apparently) the time, he invited his mentor to his father’s real people live to superhuman ages. This house in Buenos Aires’ Las Flores province dairy-centric pamphlet, a commission whose so they could write the pamphlet together. As backstory is now something of a legend, had Bioy Casares tells it, the project was so boring even then hinted at the boundlessness its that they could not help using the time to authors would soon be exploring. Borges and fantasize about novels and short stories that Bioy Casares, each on the brink of producing they would one day write together. works that continue to influence the In his preface to Bioy Casares’ 1940 imaginations of posterity, had gotten the best novella, The Invention of Morel, Borges of their boredom. praises the story as an exemplary piece of “reasoned imagination.” One could say Regarding treatment of the text, I the inverse about “La Leche Cuajada de la have left the Spanish as it appears in Emecé Martona.” Unable to tread outright into their Editores’ Museo: Textos inéditos (Buenos preferred realms of whimsy and fantasy, Aires, 2002), leaving the erratic capitalizations intact and letting the recipes remain vague I owe thanks to Bryce Maxey for and inept. I have brought the style of the helping me to obtain the original text and to English into more readable form, and I spent Samantha Beardsley and Michelle Ishikawa some time working with the recipes to bring for their assistance regarding the recipes. them up to speed and permit less room for 04 error. I have also appended (in English) a Brandon Wilner 05 recipe for homemade yogurt, as the text is Chicago, IL primarily concerned with yogurt’s probiotic February 26, 2013 benefits, and all of the recipes require baking, which kills the bacteria. I vacillated on how to translate each instance of the titular leche cuajada—or whether to do so at all. Simply substituting “yogurt” did not seem favorable in each case, the literal “curdled milk” evokes images of rottenness, and “fermented milk” or “cultured milk” would be tiresome to read repeatedly. I have chosen, therefore, to use these terms, as well as a few others (“acidophilus milk,” “yogurt cultures,” or sometimes just “milk”), to best suit the context of each particular use. La Martona’s Yogurt Elías Metchnikoff Ilya Metchnikoff

Elías Metchnikoff nació en Ivanowca Ilya Metchnikoff was born in Ivanovka, (Rusia) en 1845. Fue Profesor de Zoología en Russia in 1845. He was a professor of zoology Odesa en 1870. En 1890 entró al laboratorio de in Odessa in 1870. In 1890, he started working 08 Pasteur, del que era subdirector en tiempo de in the Pasteur Institute, of which he was the 09 su muerte. Conquistó celebridad universal por assistant director for the rest of his life. He su teoría de la fagocitosis, que revolucionó la achieved universal celebrity for his theory of medicina, por su teoría de la vejez, según la phagocytosis, which revolutionized medicine; cual esta última depende de causas fisiológicas for his theory of old age, according to which y patógenas—intoxicaciones intestinales—y aging depends on reasons physiological and es, por tanto, evitable por su fórmula para la pathogenic—intestinal infections—and is, preparación de la maravillosa leche cuajada therefore, prevented by his eponymous recipe que lleva su nombre. En 1908 obtuvo el for the marvelous cultured milk. In 1908, he premio Nobel. was awarded the Nobel Prize. Miembro de una familia perseguida A member of a family pursued by por muertes anticipadas, vivió 85 años. early deaths, he lived to be eighty-five years Aunque no fue a la guerra, estuvo en el old. Although he did not go to war, he was in tributo de vidas que dio la Humanidad para the death toll that gave humanity its horribly su fiesta horriblemente misteriosa, del año mysterious holiday of 1914. His group of 14. El grupo de sus discípulos se dispersó por pupils left for the battlefield; for many of el campo de batalla; para muchos de ellos fue them it was like going to hell without return. como el Hades, sin retorno. Y su laboratorio, And his laboratory—a laboratory dedicated laboratorio de la vida, se convirtió en silenciosa to life—was converted to a silent and empty y vacía antesala de la muerte. El corazón del waiting room of death. His wise heart, sabio, atávicamente débil, se reinstió. Elías atavistically weak, deteriorated. Ilya Metchnikoff murió en el año 1916 en París. Metchnikoff died in Paris in the year 1916. 10 Dejó las siguientes obras: Leçons sur He left behind the following works: 11 la Pathologie comparée de l’inflammation Leçons sur la Pathologie compare de (París, 1892), L’immunité dans les maladies l’inflammation (Paris,1892), , L’immunitee infectieuses (París, 1901), La Vieillesse (París, dans les maladies infectieuses (Paris, 1901), La 1903), Études sur la Nature humaine: essai Vieillesse (Paris, 1903), Études sur la Nature de philosophie optimiste (París, 1903), humaine: essai de philosophie optimiste Quelques Remarques sur le lait aigré (Paris, 1903), Quelques Remarques sur le lait (París 1905), Bacterotherapie, vaccination, aigré (Paris 1905), Bacterotherapie, vaccination, sérothérapie, en colaboración con otros sérothérapie, in collaboration with other médicos. En italiano, publicó: Le Desarmonie physicians. In Italian, he published: Le della natura e il problema della morte (Bibe. Desarmonie della natura e il problema della Gen. Di cultura, Milano, 1906); en alemán: morte (Library of General Culture, Milan Beiträge zu einer optimistischen 1906); in German: Beiträge zu einer Weltanschauung, de B. Michailoski (1908). optimistischen Weltanschaaung, by B. Michailoski (1908). La Leche Cuajada Cultured Milk

La LECHE CUAJADA limpia el Yogurt cultures clean the human organismo del hombre; adentro de él, ensancha body; inside it, they lengthen life. The oldest su vida. Los mayores arcanos suelen estar a remedies are typically near us, as are many 12 nuestro alrededor; también algunas maravillas; other wonders. The custom is to suspend 13 la costumbre excusa la conciencia, miramos awareness, look without seeing, and—what sin ver y, lo que es peor, creyendo que nada is worse—believe that nothing remains to queda por ver y vamos a lo remoto, menos be seen, and we go to the remotest areas, less inalcanzable que lo inmediato, en busca de attainable than the immediate, in search of esfinges y de maravillas. El elixir de la larga sphinxes and wonders. The fabled elixir of life, vida, de los cuentos y de algunas débiles fallas cure for some weaknesses of our hopelessness, de nuestra desesperanza, es por todos conocido: is well known: fermented milk, Methuselah’s 1 la LECHE CUAJADA, alimento de Matusalén. nourishment. La tan frecuente putrefacción de los The frequent putrefaction of foods alimentos en el aparato digestivo causa in the digestive system causes poisonings, intoxicaciones; las intoxicaciones, como un and these poisonings, like a flood of life, are aluvión de la vida, están edificando nuestra constructing our death. Marfan2 has written: muerte. MARFÁN ha escrito: “El tubo “The alimentary canal is a permanent source digestivo es una fuente permanente de of poison.” Rocasolano, the eminent intoxicación”. ROCASOLANO, el eminente Aragonese chemist, corroborates: “Death is químico aragonés, corrobora: “La muerte es 1 The longest-lived person in the Bible, Methusaleh died at age nine hundred and sixty-nine, seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood. 2 Antoine Marfan was a French pediatrician who first conducted studies of the hereditary disorder of connective tissue that would later bear his name. un fenómeno de coagulación lenta de la a phenomenon of a slow curdling of albumin, albúmina, provocado por tóxicos”. Los medios triggered by toxins.” Alkaline halves stimulate alcalinos favorecen las putrefacciones; para putrefaction, and in order to counteract it, contrarrestarlas convienen, por consiguiente, consequently, acidic halves come together. los medios ácidos. La formulación de esta This truth owes its formulation to modern 14 verdad se debe a la ciencia moderna, pero science, but many peoples have been aware 15 empíricamente la conocieron muchos pueblos of it for many years. Since the remotest ages, y muchos años. Desde la más remotas edades people have chosen to acidify milk. There los hombres eligieron como acidificante la are experiments with it in the Bible. When LECHE CUAJADA. Hay pruebas de ello en la Abraham, “sitting at the entrance to his tent Biblia. Cuando Abrahán, “sentado a la puerta in the heat of the day,” 3 saw three men or de su tienda en el calor del día”, vio que three angels approaching, he offered them tres hombres o tres ángeles se le acercaban, yogurt. God also includes cultured milk les ofreció LECHE CUAJADA. Dios mismo in the foods given to the people of Israel incluye entre los alimentos concedidos al (Deuteronomy 32:14). pueblo de Israel, la LECHE CUAJADA. We don’t imagine, however, that it (Deuteronomio, capítulo 32, versículo 14). is a food relegated to the annals of history. No imaginemos, sin embargo, que se Over time, humanity has remained loyal to trata de un alimento relegado a los anaqueles de this faithful defender of life. The following la Historia. A lo largo del tiempo la humanidad examples attest to it: se ha mantenido fiel a este fiel defensor de su vida. 3 Genesis 18:1, New International Version. La Leche Cuajada y la Geografía Cultured Milk and Geography

En Rusia, existen dos variedades: la In Russia, there exist two varieties: prostokvasha, leche cruda espontáneamente prostokvasha, raw milk spontaneously cuajada y agriada, y el varenetz, leche curdled and soured, and varenetz, boiled milk 16 hervida preparada con levadura. prepared with yeast. 17

El alimento fundamental de diversos The fundamental food of diverse pueblos de Sud África es la leche cuajada. peoples of South Africa is cultured milk. The Los Mpseni la ingieren casi solidificada. Mpseni eat it almost solidified. Doctor Lima 4 El Doctor LIMA de Mossamedes (África of Mossamedes (Occidental Africa) recounts Occidental) refiere que los indígenas de that the indigenous peoples of many regions muchas regiones de Angola se alimentan of Angola eat cultured milk almost exclusively. 5 casi exclusivamente con leche cuajada. El Doctor Nogueira confirms this observation. In Doctor NOGUEIRA confirma esa observación. Armenia, many people eat Mazun, milk with a En Armenia se consume el Mazun, leche slightly acidic flavor and the smell of cheese. de sabor ligeramente ácido y con olor de It is a weak lactic ferment. queso. Es un fermento láctico débil. Those who have health have hope, and those who have hope have everything— Quien tiene salud tiene esperanza y say the Arabs, those muscular hawks of the quien tiene esperanza tiene todo—dicen los árabes, esos musculosos halcones del desierto, 4 Modern-day Angola. Borges and Bioy Casares apparently wanted to distinguish this Mossamedes from that of western Brazil. 5 A.F. Nogueira was a Portuguese colonial liberal who conducted anthropological studies of peoples in Portugal’s African colonies, most notably modern Mozambique. peros ellos tienen detrás de la esperanza algo desert, but beyond hope they have something que lucha por su salud: la LECHE CUAJADA. that fights for health: fermented milk.

El Leben Raib de Egipto The Leben Raib of Egypt

18 Inmemorialmente se toma en Egipto Since time immemorial, Egyptians 19 esta manjar preparado con leche de cebú, de have consumed this delicacy prepared with vaca o de cabra. Hace siglos que lo preparan milk of zebu, cow, or goat. It has been prepared del mismo modo. Hervida la leche, se pone the same way for centuries. The milk is enfriar en vasijas y cuando está a 40º se boiled, place to cool in earthenware vessels, añade Lében viejo. En el verano el coágulo and when it is at forty degrees, aged leben is se forma a las seis horas; algo más tarde en added. In summer, it curdles after six hours; in invierno. Contiene un poco de alcohol; el winter, a bit later. It contains small amounts of sabor es muy agradable. alcohol; the flavor is very nice. Los Argelinos fabrican un Lében Algerians make a leben different distinto del Egipcio. from that of the Egyptians.

El Alimento de los Bretones The Summer Aliment of the Bretons

El gross-lait o leche gruesa es el Gross-lait, or gross milk, is the summer alimento estival de los Bretones. A la leche food of the Bretons. They add ferment to fresh reciénordeñada le agregan fermento y la milk and stir it; at a temperature of seventy- agitan; a una temperatura de 25º la seven degrees Fahrenheit, the curdling is coagulación queda hecha a las 12 horas; done after twelve hours; they then separate the entonces apartan la crema acumulada arriba cream that has accumulated on top and set it apart y la destinan al consumo. Se trata de una for consumption. It is a gelatinous milk with leche gelatinosa, de sabor ligeramente agrio a slightly sour taste and the scent of fermented 20 y con olor a crema fermentada. Como el cream. Like kefir, leben has the disadvantage of 21 kéfir, el lében tiene el inconveniente de estar being prepared with impure ferments. preparada con fermento impuros. 6 A Restorer of Physiological Flora Un Restaurador de la Flora Fisiológica Bubeurre [sic] is a whey of butter El bubeurre [sic] es un suero de that is prone, if it is not sterilized beforehand, manteca y que sufre, si antes no la to natural lactic fermentation; if it has been esterilizaron, la fermentación láctica sterilized, lactic ferments are added until it natural; en caso de haber sido esterilizada contains seven parts lactic acid per thousand. le añaden fermentos lácticos, hasta llegar al 7 It has little fat, and is served with flour and por 1000 de ácido láctico. Contiene poca grasa. sugar to make the soup babeurre. Con harina y azúcar sirve para preparar la sopa It works well in treating gastrointestinal de babeurre. diseases. It restores physiological flora and Obra favorablemente en las afecciones prevents and cures many illnesses. gastrointestinales. Restaura la flora fisiológica y hace menguar y desaparecer los trastornos. 6 “Physiological flora” refers to the network of bacteria that populates a certain part of the body. Here, Borges and Bioy Casares seem to refer specifically to that of the intestinal tract. La Cuajada Criolla The Creole Curd

Por regla general se prepara la cuajada As a general rule, the Creole curd is criolla con elementos que hay en la flor del prepared with elements found in thistle flower: cardo: se obtiene así una cuajada alcalina y, con the alkaline curd comes from here and, with 22 esto, la ausencia de todas las buenas cualidades it, the absence of all good qualities that make 23 que hacen a la leche cuajada implacable yogurt a merciless enemy of intestinal enemigo de las intoxicaciones intestinales… intoxicants…

El Alimento de los Grandes Criadores de Caballos The Food of the Great Horse Breeders

El Kumis es el alimento principal de Kumis is the principal aliment of the los Kirghises, Tártaros y Kalmukos, grandes Kyrgyz, Tatars, and Kalmyks, great breeders criadores de caballos. Se prepara con leche of horses. They prepare it with milk of mare de yegua o de burra y se hace fermentar en or donkey, and let it ferment in hides or pellejos u odres agregando kumis viejo y wineskins, adding aged kumis and mixing it removiéndolos a puntapiés o colocándolos by kicking and placing it beneath their bajo la montura del caballo. saddles. En dosis pequeñas es ligeramente In small doses, it is a mild laxative; in laxante. En dosis grandes, astringente. large doses, an astringent. La Bebida Llammada Bienestar The Beverage Called Well-Being

El Kefir ha sido durante siglos la Kefir has for centuries been a beverage bebida popular de los habitantes del Alto popular among the inhabitants of the Cáucaso y de la Siberia. Su nombre deriva de Caucasus Mountains and Siberia. Its name 24 una palabra que significa bienestar, aludiendo comes from a word the means well-being, 25 con ello a la sensación agradabilísima que alluding to the pleasant feeling it produces. produce. Una leyenda dice que es un don de One legend calls it the gift of the gods. los dioses. To make it, they use millet grain or Para su elaboración se emplean los kefir seed—the grains of the Prophet—stored granos de mijo o semilla de kefir, mijo del for a long time in a cool, dry place. By mixing profeta, conservados por mucho tiempo en them with cow’s milk, the grains regain their sitio fresco y seco. Al mezclarse con la leche vitality, like little sponges, becoming de vaca o recobran su actividad, parecen aromatic and multiplying rapidly. esponjitas desprenden olor y se multiplican At the turn of the century, common rápidamente. belief held that drinking kefir was the A principios de siglo se pensó que equivalent of drinking half-digested milk: beber kefir equivalía a tomar leche media nowadays this opinion is untenable. Kefir’s digerida: ahora esta opinión es insostenible. lactic microbes prevent intestinal Los microbios lácticos del kefir impiden las putrefaction, and without doubt, this malady putrefacciones intestinales. Sin embargo, is no match for kefir, as it contains alcohol. estas no pueden combatirse con el kefir pues Further, daily consumption of kefir is contiene alcohol. Además la absorción diaria dangerous because the yeast that it produces de kefir es peligrosa porque las levaduras que can acclimate to the digestive tract and become lo producen se aclimatan en el tubo digestivo amenable to pathological bacteria. For this y pueden favorecer a algunos bacilos patógenos. reason, Hayem 7 discourages the use of kefir HAYEM prohíbe el kefir a las personas en for people with gastroparesis. “Retained in the 26 cuyo estómago permanecen demasiado los organ, kefir continues to ferment, and develops 27 alimentos. “Retenido en ese órgano, el kefir sigue there, as well as in the entire contents of the fermentando y se desarrollan en él, así como en stomach, butyric fermentation that can lead todo el contenido estomacal, fermentaciones to digestive disorders.” As kefir’s usefulness butíricas que agravan los desórdenes resides in its lactic—not alcoholic—fermentation, digestivos”. Ya que la utilidad del kefir reside it should be substituted with a fermented en la fermentación láctica, no en la alcohólica, milk that does not contain alcohol. conviene reemplazarlo por la LECHE CUAJADA que no contiene alcohol. Half-Digested Milk Una Leche a Medio Digerir In the Balkan Peninsula, a similar En la península Balcánica es muy food is very popular: yogurt. popular otro alimento parecido: el Yoghurt. The milk is sterilized. When the Se esteriliza la leche. Cuando la temperature comes down to ninety-five temperatura baja a 35º se añade maya degrees, Bulgarian maya 8 (a mixture of búlgara (mezcla de bacterias y levaduras). La 7 Georges Hayem was a French hematologist best known for his early studies of anemia and hepatitis. 8 The starter culture for Bulgarian sour milk. coagulación tarda de 8 a 12 horas bacteria and yeast) is added. The curdling según las estaciones del año. process takes eight to twelve hours, El Yoghurt es obra de una depending on the time of year. fermentación algo análoga a la digestivo una Yogurt is made from fermentation leche a medio digerir. similar to gastric digestion, which provides the 28 Es un alimento completo, algo laxante, digestive tract with a half-digested milk. 29 diurético, antipútrido. Puede tomarse puro o It is a complete food: part laxative, diluido en agua. part diuretic, and part antiseptic. It can be Contodo hay otros leches cuajadas consumed by itself or diluted with water. cuya elaboración obedece a principios más There are yet more yogurts whose racionales y que por consiguiente la aventajan. productions subscribe to the most Aludimos a la LECHE CUAJADA según el rational principles and therefore improve procedimiento de ELÍAS METCHNIKOFF. on it. We here refer to yogurt according to Antes de pasar a considerarla, conviene the procedure of Ilya Metchnikoff. Before recordar a grandes rasgos algunos datos moving on to consider his method, we should fundamentales de la flora microbiana. recall in broad terms some facts fundamental to understanding the mysteries of microbial flora. El Hombre, País de Microbios The Human: Nation of Microbes

El aire entra a la boca con la primera Air enters the mouth with the first inspiración y con el primer grito; el aire trae breath and the first cry, bringing millions of millones de seres que hacen su habitación beings that take up residence in a 30 en el hombre y que perduran más allá de person’s body and endure even beyond his 31 su muerte. Esa vertiginosa invasión no es or her death. This vertiginous invasion is forzosamente maléfica; de las bacterias not necessarily evil; of the innumerable innumerables que nos pueblan, algunas son bacteria that inhabit us some are hostile to hostiles al organismo, otras lo defienden. the organism, others defend it. They enter Entran por múltiples vías: por la piel, por el through many routes: the skin, the ear canal, conducto auditivo externo, por las fosas the nasal cavity, and especially through the nasales y, sobre todo, por la cavidad bucal, con mouth, with food. los alimentos. Can We Govern our Microbes? ¿Podemos Gobernar Nuestros Microbios? The study of intestinal flora of El estudio de la flora intestinal de children establishes that the answer varies los niños establece que ésta varía según el according to one’s diet. Hence follows the régimen alimenticio. De ahí se desprende possibility of a person’s control over his or la posibilidad de una acción inteligente del her microbial flora. We have already indicated hombre sobre su flora microbiana. Ya hemos at the beginning that intestinal putrefaction is indicado al principio que las putrefacciones a perpetual enemy of our lives. intestinales son perpetuos enemigos de Our Invisible Allies nuestra vida. Lactic microbes prevent this Nuestros Aliados Invisibles putrefaction; it is beneficial to ingest them while they are alive: they find sweet matter 32 Los Microbios lácticos impiden esas that sustains them, continue living in the 33 putrefacciones. Conviene ingerirlos vivientes: intestines, and produce lactic acid. encuentran materias azucaradas que los Lactic acid was used to great effect mantienen, continúan viviendo en los by Hayem, Lesage, Marfan, Grundzach, intestinos y producen ácido láctico. El ácido Singer, Thaler, and Schmitz 9 in the treatment láctico fue utilizado eficazmente por HAYEM, of children’s diarrhea, gastric fever, typhoid, LESAGE, MARFAN, GRUNDZACH, SINGER, gastric tuberculosis, diabetes, diphtheria, THALER, SCHMITZ, en el tratamiento de la ulcers, lupus, cancer and other malignant diarrea verde de los niños, de las fiebres gástricas, tumors, and puerperal infection. de las tifoideas, de las enteritis tuberculosas, de la diabetes, de la difteria, de las úlceras, del lupus, The Metchnikoff System del cáncer, de otras neopláceas malignas y de la infección puerperal. Nowadays it is generally preferred to administer lactic acid in yeasts, especially those 10 Sistema Metchnikoff with Bulgarian bacillus and paralactic acid.

9 Presumably all accomplished European clinicians of the era, not much informa- Ahora se prefiere en general dar el tion exists about a few of these names. Metchnikoff cites articles by Grundzach, Schmitz, and Singer in The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies (Paris, 1903). 10 First identified by the Bulgarian doctor Stamen Grigorov, Metchnikoff came to be a proponent of this bacterium when he began studying the relationship between Bulgarians’ longevity and their consumption of yogurt. ácido láctico en fermentos y en especial con Bulgarian bacillus is characterized bacilo búlgaro y con el paraláctico. by its great acidic power (up to 0.88 or 1.05 El bacilo búlgaro se caracteriza por su ounces per quart of milk); it is the most gran poder acidificante (hasta 25 y 30 gramos potent lactic fermentation. Belenowsky11 has por litro de leche), es el fermento láctico de concluded that live Bulgarian bacillus helps 34 mayor potencia. BELENOWSKY ha llegado keep the intestines in good condition. 35 a la conclusión de que el bacilo búlgaro vivo Bulgarian bacillus undoubtedly mantiene en buen estado de los intestinos. offers the danger of producing butyric acid. Sin embargo el bacilo búlgaro ofrece This risk is mitigated by paralactic bacillus or el peligro de producir ácido butírico. Este streptobacillus, which is not found in yogurt, riesgo se anula mediante el bacilo paraláctico o but is in Metchnikoff’s cultured milk. estreptobacilo, que no se encuentra en el Paralactic bacillus gives the milk a more pleasant Yoghurt y sí en la LECHE CUAJADA taste and does not attack the fats. METCHNIKOFF. El bacilo paraláctico da a la The tests carried out by Fouard at the leche un sabor más grato y no ataca a las grasas. Pasteur Institute confirm the healthy qualities Los análisis realizados por FOUARD of yogurt prepared with pure cultures of lactic en el Instituto Pasteur, confirman las buenas bacteria.12 The results prove the superiority of the cualidades de la LECHE CUAJADA Metchnikoff method of cultured milk over preparada con cultivos puros de bacterias all others. lácticas. Lo anterior evidencia la superioridad

de la LECHE CUAJADA por el procedimiento 11 A Russian microbiologist who worked on developing a serum that would increase red blood cell counts in people with anemia. de METCHNIKOFF sobre todas las otras. 12 It seems Borges and Bioy Casares pulled this fact from Metchnikoff’s Prolongation of Life, in which he refers (without indicating a first name) to Fouard, an assistant at the Pasteur Institute. El Caso Perdido del Acidófilo The Lost Case of the Acidophilus

For some years now, acidophilus milk Hace algunos años estuvo en boga en has been en vogue in the United States. los Estados Unidos la leche acidófila. It had been found that acidophilus 36 Se había comprobado la acción benéfica has favorable effects on the digestive tracts of 37 del acidófilo en el aparato digestivo de los children, and some physicians included it in niños. Ciertos facultativos lo incluyeron en their treatments for adults. It was argued that, el tratamiento de los adultos. Se argumentó unlike Bulgarian bacillus and paralactic acid, que, a diferencia de los bacilos búlgaro y it was enough to ingest it just a few times paraláctico, bastaba ingerirlo unas pocas veces for the organism to endure. This seemingly para perdurara en el organismo. Ese aparente valuable property acts, in fact, as a mérito comporta, en realidad, una desventaja, disadvantage, as the fermented milk can come ya que las leches fermentadas pueden llegar to induce heartburn. In the case of the a producir acidez. En el caso de la LECHE Metchnikoff method of cultured milk, one CUAJADA por el sistema Metchnikoff basta should simply suspend the treatment for a suspender por unos días el tratamiento; en el few days; but for acidophilus milk, one must de la leche acidófila, hay que resignarse a un resign oneself to a long period of ailments largo período de trastornos agravado por la produced when the acidophilus acclimates to aclimatación del acidófilo en el estómago. the stomach. 13 Vuelta a Matusalén Back to Methusaleh

The last half of a human’s life varies El término medio de la vida del astonishingly according to his or her diet. The hombre varía según el régimen alimenticio, common belief that the ancients lived longer 38 asombrosamente. La creencia general de que than us is completely unfounded. In the 39 los antiguos vivían más que nosotros es del eleventh century, the average life expectancy todo infundada. En el siglo XI el promedio era was twenty years (men were smaller, also: de 20 años (los hombres eran más pequeños the surviving medieval armor would fit también: las armaduras medioevales que se modern-day women). In the seventeenth conservan, nos quedarían chicas). En el siglo century, the average life expectancy went XVII el promedio ascendió a 26 años, a 34 up to twenty-six years, to thirty-four in the en el XVIII, a 45 a fines del XIX. eighteenth century, and to forty-five at the No sólo hay diferencias cronológicas; end of the nineteenth. las hay también geográficas. Los centenarios There are not only chronological abundan en Bulgaria, donde la LECHE differences, but also geographic ones. In CUAJADA constituye el alimento esencial; Bulgaria, where yogurt is an essential food, en 1896 había cinco mil. Es clásico el ejemplo centenarians abound; in 1896 there were de los Petkof, once hermanos que rebasaron five thousand of them. The Petkof family is a todos los 100 años, excepción hecha de María classic example: eleven siblings each lived past Petkof, que murió a los 91. 13 A reference to George Bernard Shaw’s series of plays written between 1918- 1920. In the preface, Shaw says that societies of the twentieth century are so complex that no one can learn to govern them in a single lifespan, and he thought enhanced longevity to be the solution. En Francia se registran, entre muchos the age of one hundred, with the exception of otros, los casos de María Priou que murió en Maria Petkof, who died at ninety-one. 1837 a la edad de 158 años , y de Ambrosio In France occurred, along with many Jante que murió en 1751 a la edad de 111. others, the cases of Maria Priou, who died in El alimento principal de los dos era LECHE 1837 at the age of one hundred and fifty-eight 40 CUAJADA, pan de centeno, queso y agua. years, and Ambrosio Jante, who died in 1751 41 Otro longevo memorable, GEORGE at the age of one hundred and eleven. The BERNARD SHAW, piensa que el promedio principal food of both was fermented milk, vital debe ascender a 300 años y que si la rye bread, cheese, and water. humanidad no alcanza esa cifra, “nunca Another memorable long-lived man, llegaremos a adultos y moriremos puerilmente George Bernard Shaw, thought that the a los 80 años, con un palo de golf en la mano”. average life should exceed three hundred years, and if humanity does not reach this Cómo Debe Tomarse la Leche Cuajada number, “we will never become adults and we will die childishly in our eighties with Los Griegos tomaban la LECHE a golf club in our hands.” CUAJADA con miel de himeto. La miel sigue siendo el mejor complemento de la How to Consume Cultured Milk CUAJADA. Pero, en términos generales, podemos decir que conviene tomarla The Greeks took cultured milk consustancias azucaradas pues el azúcar, en with honey from Mount Hymettus. Honey continues to be the best complement. But, in aparato digestivo, se convierte en ácido láctico. general terms, we can say that it is favorable Acompañándola unas veces con jaleas, otras con to eat it with sweet accompaniments, as sugar dulces, compotas de ciruelas, duraznos, se becomes lactic acid in the digestive tract. evitará la fatiga del paladar. Eating it sometimes with jelly, others with pastries, plum preserves, or peaches will help 42 Se la puede ingerir con el almuerzo, keep the palate from becoming fatigued. 43 a la hora de té o de la comida; también como desayuno pero conviene señalar que, así, es It can be eaten at lunch, teatime, mal tolerada por algunos personas que a otras or with dinner; also for breakfast, but one horas digieren con suma facilidad. should note that, consumed in this manner, it is sometimes not tolerated by people who experience easy digestion at other times. Dosis

Puede empezar por tomarse 3 Dosage cuajadas por día; así se logrará infectar al organismo con los bacilos búlgaro y Start by taking three cuajadas per paraláctico, que es lo que se busca. Luego la day; this will introduce Bulgarian bacillus ración diaria podrá rebajarse a dos cuajadas. and paralactic acid into the body, which is the En los casos de intolerancia, muy desired effect. Later, the daily dose can be raros por otra parte, habrá que seguir el reduced to two. método inverso: tomar una cuajada, o media In the case of intolerance, rare though it is, it will be necessary to continue si fuera necesario, durante los primeros días; the inverse method: take a cuajada, or half luego ir aumentando la dosis, hasta llegar a 3; if necessary, during the first days; then finalmente, estabilizarla en 2 cuajadas diarias. gradually increase the dosage, until three is tolerable. Finally, establish a regimen of two cuajadas per day. 44 45 Recetas Recipes

Pan de Maíz con Leche Cuajada Cornbread with Yogurt

2 tazas de leche cuajada This is a very simple recipe that yields a nice, 46 2 tazas de harina de maíz moist cornbread. I recommend baking it 47 2 cucharadas de manteca in a larger, shallow tin. A ten-and-a-quarter- 1 ½ cucharaditas de sal inch cast-iron skillet worked well for me. 2 cucharadas de miel –B.W. 2 huevos 1 cucharadita de soda Two cups yogurt Two cups finely ground cornmeal Pásense por el tamiz los ingredientes secos. One and a half teaspoons salt Agréguese leche cuajada y huevos Two tablespoons butter, melted batidos, cocínese durante 50 minutos en un Two eggs, beaten horno de calor moderado. One teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to four hundred degrees. Sift and combine the dry ingredients. Mix in the eggs, yogurt, and butter. Bake in a well-buttered baking pan and for fifty minutes. Pan Moreno Brown Bread

1 taza de leche cuajada This recipe produces is a very thick, caky 1 taza de leche fresca bread, whose consistency I would liken to 2 tazas de harina integral banana bread. As with the cornbread, I would 48 ½ taza de harina blanca advise using a wide, shallow baking tin. 49 ½ taza de harina de maíz –B.W. ½ taza de miel One cup yogurt Tamizar los ingredientes secos, mezclarlos con One cup fresh milk la leche. Cocer el todo en una cacerola untada Two cups all-purpose flour con manteca, en horno de calor moderado. Half cup whole-wheat flour Half cup finely ground cornmeal Half cup honey

Preheat oven to three hundred and fifty degrees. Sift and combine the dry ingredients and mix in the fresh milk, yogurt, and honey. Bake in a shallow well-buttered baking pan for fifty to fifty-five minutes. Bollitos de Harina de Maíz Cornmeal Biscuits

1 ½ taza leche cuajada These biscuits are pretty straightforward and 1 taza harina de maíz are very similar to the cornbread in the 1 taza harina de trigo first recipe, but with a bit more sweetness 50 1 cucharadita de sal due to the honey. –B.W. 51 1 cucharada miel ¾ cucharada soda One and a half cups yogurt 2 huevos One cup finely ground cornmeal 1 cucharada miel [sic] One cup all-purpose flour 1 cucharada de manteca One teaspoon salt One tablespoon honey Tamícense los ingredientes secos, agrégueseles One tablespoon butter, melted huevos batidos, leche, manteca derretida. Three quarters tablespoon baking soda Cocínese en una cacerola bien untada con Two eggs, beaten manteca durante 15 minutos. Preheat oven to three hundred and fifty degrees. Sift and combine the dry ingredients and add the yogurt, eggs, honey, and butter. Turn the dough onto a floured surface, and press it to a thickness of about three-quarters of an inch. Cut the dough into rounds about Pasteles de Arroz two inches in diameter, brush the tops with melted butter, and place them on a well- 2 tazas de leche cuajada buttered baking sheet. Bake for twelve to 2 huevos fifteen minutes.

52 1 taza arroz hervido Rice Cakes 53 1 taza harina maíz 1 cucharada manteca derret. These light, airy biscuits are far from the 1 cucharada de sal dry, wafer-like rice cakes so common in 1 cucharada de soda grocery stores of the United States. Borges and Bioy Casares recommend baking them Batir los huevos, añadir y mezclar los demás on a flat baking sheet, but because the batter componentes, cocer en horno moderado. is so thin, I think they fare better in a muffin tin. –B.W.

Two cups yogurt Two eggs, beaten One cup rice, cooked One cup finely ground cornmeal One tablespoon butter, melted One teaspoon salt One teaspoon baking soda Preheat oven to three hundred and fifty degrees. Sift and combine the dry ingredients and mix in the yogurt, eggs, rice, and butter. Place two-tablespoon portions of batter in a well-buttered muffin tin and bake for twenty 54 minutes. 55

Homemade Yogurt

Eight cups milk, either cow or goat Third cup powdered milk (optional, but will produce a thicker yogurt) Half cup starter yogurt (this can be any store-bought yogurt, as long as the packaging denotes that it is made with live cultures)

Other materials: Two sanitized, quart-sized canning jars with bands and fresh lids Cooking thermometer Pour the milk into a large cooking pot and place it over medium-low heat on stovetop. Bring the milk to one hundred and eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Remove pot from heat and let the milk cool down to 56 one hundred and ten degrees (this will take 57 a while; placing the pot in a sink full of cool water will help to expedite the process).

Add the remaining ingredients and stir until the mixture has a uniform texture. Pour the yogurt-to-be into the canning jars, fasten the lids, and let sit at room temperature for ten to twelve hours, without agitating the liquid.

When the yogurt is firm, place and store the jars in the refrigerator. You should then be able to use your yogurt as a starter culture for subsequent batches. 58 59