Junket (dessert) Junket (dessert) Junket is a milk-based dessert, made with sweetened milk and rennet, the digestive enzyme that curdles milk. 'Curds and Whey' is an archaic term for junket. To make junket, milk (usually with sugar and vanilla added) is heated to approximately body temperature and the rennet, which has been dissolved in water, is mixed in to cause the milk to set. The dessert is chilled prior to serving. Junket is often served with a sprinkling of grated nutmeg on top. For most of the 20th century in the eastern United States, junket was often a preferred food for ill
Swill milk scandal Swill milk scandal The Swill milk scandal was a major adulterated food scandal in New York in the 1850s. "The New York Times" reported an estimate that in one year 8,000 infants died from swill milk. It is named swill milk because cows were fed swill which was residual mash from nearby distilleries. The milk was whitened with plaster of Paris, thickened with starch and eggs, and hued with molasses. After the extraction of alcohol from the macerated grain, the residual mash still contains nutrients, and therefore it was an economical advantage to keep cows stabled near distilleries and feed