November 22, 2012 | Posted by admin

A man inspects donkey cheese in the village of Kukujevci near a farm in Zasavica Resort, some 80 km (50 miles) west of Belgrade November 6, 2012. Zasavica, one of Serbia`s famous natural reserves, will be producing donkey cheese at 1,000 euros ($1,272) per kilogram, the most expensive cheese in the world, according to the reserve. The reserve will also produce donkey milk, which is said to have been a beauty secret of Cleopatra`s. Picture taken November 6, 2012. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

London, Nov. 10 — Produced in Zasavica – one of Serbia`s most famous natural reserves – the cheese, known as pule, is made from donkeys` milk and costs a whopping 800 pounds per kilogram.

It is said to take 25 litres of fresh donkey milk to make a single kilogram of the cheese, which the reserve claims is the most expensive in the world, the Daily Mail reported.

The white, crumbly cheese has been described as similar to Spanish manchego cheese, but with a deeper, richer taste.

Available in British supermarkets for a relatively cheap 13 pounds per kg, manchego is certainly the more frugal option.

The reserve also produces bottled donkeys` milk, which is said to have been abeauty secret of Queen Cleopatra.

© Copyright 2012. ANI

Demand peaks for donkey`s milk!
Staff Reporter
The Hindu
September 23, 2009

Santosh, who sells donkey milk, holds a baby upside down after feeding him some of the liquid, locally believed to be a cure for a persistent cough in a slum in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012. Millions of children are growing up in squalid urban areas and denied basic services despite living close to them, the United Nations Children`s Fund said Tuesday. UNICEF said children living in slums and shantytowns often lack water, electricity and healthcare and urged policy makers to ensure urban planning meets the needs of children. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

KARIMNAGAR: Streets in several of parts of Karimnagar town and in rural areas reverberate with a call “donkey milk- good for treatment of cough, flu and other diseases among children”.

Sounds strange! But it is a fact. The nomadic tribes living in interior villages by rearing donkeys to carry their belongings during their travel from place to another, sell the donkey`s milk in the rainy and winter seasons which are prone to outbreak of seasonal diseases like flu, viral fever, etc.

It is surprising to note that the donkey`s milk is more costly than buffalo or cow`s milk. A small bottle measuring 10 ml of donkey`s milk costs Rs 10. Incidentally, people buy donkey`s milk in medicinal quantity. The wise lot in the town say that the donkey`s milk is good for children as it makes them immune to diseases. It has tremendous curative value in cough, fevers, etc. The donkey`s milk has more lactose than a buffalo or cow`s milk.

A primitive tribal Yellaiah of Pothiganti village said that he was earning nearly Rs. 200 to 300 a day selling donkey`s milk in the town. He said that the donkey`s milk is very costly because it would yield only half a litre to one litre per day.

The milk is considered to be curative in several seasonal diseases

© 2009 Kasturi & Sons Ltd

With donkey milk and peace, Ecuadoran woman becomes oldest living person
BY JEANNETH VALDIVIESO
The Canadian Press



A woman milks a donkey at a farm in Zasavica Resort, some 80 km (50 miles) west ofBelgrade October 29, 2012. Zasavica, one of Serbia`s famous natural reserves, will be producing donkey cheese at 1,000 euros ($1,272) per kilogram, the most expensive cheese in the world, according to the reserve. The reserve will also produce donkey milk, which is said to have been a beauty secret of Cleopatra`s. Picture taken October 29, 2012. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) _ She was born in 1889, the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler. She married the year the United States entered the First World War One and was widowed when Berlin split into East and West.

Soon after celebrating her 100th birthday, around the time the Berlin Wall fell, Maria Esther de Capovilla became bedridden and so weakened from a stomach ailment that a priest administered last rites. But she recovered, and now, 16 years later, she has become the oldest living person on Earth.

“We see the condition she is in, and what is admirable is not only that she reached this age, but that she got here in this shape, in very good health,” Capovilla`s daughter, Irma, told an Associated Press reporter at the upper middle-class home she shares with her daughter and son-in-law in this coastal city.

Seated on a sofa and waving a fan with a slender, steady hand in the tropical heat, Capovilla seemed bemused by the presence of strangers around her. Irma leaned close to her mother`s ear, and speaking in a loud voice, told her she was now famous because she was the world`s oldest person.

Capovilla simply shook her head and smiled.

Her calm disposition may be the secret to her longevity, her daughter said.

“She always had a very tranquil character,” Irma said. “She does not get upset by anything. She takes things very calmly and she has been that way her whole life.”

Born on Sept. 14, 1889, into a well-to-do family, Capovilla takes the title from 115-year-old American Elizabeth Bolden, Guinness World Records said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.

Capovilla was confirmed as the oldest living person on Dec. 9, after her family sent details of her birth and marriage certificates to the British-based publisher. Emiliano Mercado Del Toro of Puerto Rico retains the title as oldest man at 114.

The oldest living person whose age was authenticated, according to Guinness, was a woman named Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived to 122 years and 164 days. She was born in France on Feb. 21, 1875, and died at a nursing home inArles, southern France, on Aug. 4, 1997.

Three of Capovilla`s five children _ Irma, 79, Hilda, 81, and son Anibal, 77 _ are still alive, along with 10 of her 11 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren, the last of whom was born in February 2003.

In her youth, Capovilla liked to embroider, paint, play piano and dance the waltz at parties, the family said. She also visited a nearby plantation, where she would drink fresh milk from donkeys as well as cows.

She always ate three meals a day and never smoked or drank hard liquor. “Only a small cup of wine with lunch and nothing more,” Irma said.

For the last 20 years, Capovilla has lived with elder daughter, Hilda, and son-in-law, Martin.

Fervently religious, Capovilla says her prayers without stumbling over the words, takes communion every Friday, and always joins the family for meals, enjoying lentils and chicken for lunch, which she eats unassisted with fork and knife in small bites, Irma said.

At night, she has coffee with hot milk and bread with cheese or jam, and says she can`t do without something sweet: gelatin, ice cream or cake.

Capovilla still likes to watch television, and reads newspaper headlines, with some difficulty, but never with glasses. She has not been able to leave the house in nearly two years. A home assistant helps her to walk without the help of a cane or wheel chair.

In recent years, her family said, she has become less communicative as her hearing has worsened and her memory has started to fade. “Her memory is not bad. She remembers many things, but not everything. She is not 100 per cent lucid,” said Irma.

Irma and Hilda showed Capovilla a portrait of their father, an Austrian sailor who came to Ecuador in 1910. After peering intently for a moment, Capovilla recognized the image. “It is Antonio Capovilla,” she said.

“I was at the plantation Josefina and they brought a friend,” she said, explaining in a soft voice how she was introduced to the man who would become her husband in 1917.

© 2005 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Donkey Milking Takes Off
January 24, 2012

STAND STILL! … Reverend Eduard Amadhila milking the first donkey at the Tov centre at Tsumeb. Photo: Contributed

Jan 24, 2012 (The Namibian/All Africa Global Media) — A CENTRE caring for orphans and vulnerable children at Tsumeb have started milking donkeys to provide nutrition to the needy.

The Tov Multipurpose Centre at Tsumeb was started in 2001 in response to the growing number of orphans and vulnerable children in the Oshikoto Region.

This project is a community-based initiative aimed at two key areas: firstly to help and support orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in the region and secondly as an income-generating scheme to raise funds and to provide jobs for the local community.

Reverend Eduard Amadhila last year read an article in The Namibian published by Donkey Welfare of Namibia (DWoN) about the nutritional value and benefits of donkey milk.

Tov has three donkeys and in December the first donkey was milked and the milk given to the people to drink.

“I am Oshiwambo and we see the donkey as a work animal and not as an animal that can provide nutrition. I was the first one to taste the milk and it is very sweet,” said Amadhila.

It has been proven that donkey milk is the closest to human milk. It is very nutritious, with low fat and high levels of vitamins and proteins.

The benefits of donkey milk, both as a source of nutrition and as a skincare product, have been known for thousands of years (Cleopatra of Egypt is supposed to have bathed in it regularly), but they are little known today in Africa and especially in Namibia.

“With an unemployment rate of 51,2% and very soon 250 000 orphans and vulnerable children, we need to come with solutions for our community, if not we will have more people eating from the dumpsite,” said Amadhila.

In France in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, donkey milk was used as a palliative for people suffering from tuberculosis, and as a substitute for mother`s milk for orphans, with a number of hospitals maintaining herds of lactating donkeys for this purpose.

There are reports that in Germany it was used for people with meningitis. Italytoday is the biggest producer of donkey milk, which is mostly used in cosmetics as it is very low in fat, but also in hospitals for children who are allergic to other milk.

Amadhila met a Damara woman who told him that she has been drinking donkey milk for some time now because she had lung problems. Although her condition has improved and she is much healthier now, she is still drinking donkey milk.

There are about 200,000 donkeys in Namibia and Tov plans to provide 200ml of milk to each child each day. For this purpose they will need 18 to 20 donkeys. If a foal is kept within sight and smell of its mother the donkey will lactate for up to nine months, thus providing milk for the children for nearly a year.

The support for children consists of a daily feeding programme at the centre. Additionally 80 children have their school fees, school clothing and school equipment provided by Tov.

Tov also provides after-school activities, including life skills programmes, which aim to equip children with the self-esteem, knowledge and skills to protect themselves against HIV-AIDS and to care for others who are infected or affected by the disease.

The income generation projects currently run by Tov include a kindergarten and the Tov Evergreen Farming Project.

The kindergarten has 63 children enrolled who pay N$50 a month to contribute to the running costs of Tov.

The Tov Evergreen Farming Project has a huge potential to feed over 3 000 children three meals a day.

Tov is currently building six fish ponds. The idea is to farm with African catfish and Nile tilapia and they hope to harvest up to 25 000 monthly.

Tov is also confident that by 2015 they will send two students to the university of their choice.

© 2012 AllAfrica, All Rights Reserved

Donkey milk `a good way to lose weight`
The Daily Telegraph
TODAY (Singapore)
May 28, 2011

A woman milks a donkey at a farm in Zasavica Resort, some 80 km (50 miles) west ofBelgrade October 29, 2012. Zasavica, one of Serbia`s famous natural reserves, will be producing donkey cheese at 1,000 euros ($1,272) per kilogram, the most expensive cheese in the world, according to the reserve. The reserve will also produce donkey milk, which is said to have been a beauty secret of Cleopatra`s. Picture taken October 29, 2012. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

LONDON — Cleopatra famously bathed in it as part of her beauty regime. But now a study claims that donkey milk could be a good way to lose weight and protect your heart.

Researchers have found that milk from donkeys, which was still being drunk in Victorian times, contains less fat and is more nutritious than cow`s milk. They also found that it be a natural protection to the heart as it contains omega three and six fatty acids, similar to fish oil, which reduce cholesterol.

As it is also much closer to human milk, it could be used in young children who are allergic to normal dairy products. High levels of calcium, that make it good for your bones, add to its health-giving properties.

The study at the University of Naples, Italy, compared the effect of donkey milk compared to cow`s milk in diet and health. In experiments, they found that the cow`s milk and donkey milk provided the same amount of energy but that the latter caused more weight loss as it raised metabolism.

Rodents that were given the donkey milk also showed lower levels of triglycerides, unhealthy fats that affect the heart, and less stress on the metabolic system.

The study, which was presented at the European Congress on Obesity inIstanbul, concluded that its “consumption should be encouraged”.

Earlier research has shown that it could even be better than semi-skimmed, soya or formula milk, especially in young children as it contains high levels of calcium for bones.

Its make up is very similar to human breast milk and because it is low in proteins it can be used in young children who are allergic to proteins in cows` milk.

© 2011. MediaCorp Press Ltd.

Organic or donkey – the great milk debate
Leo Hickman
The Guardian
January 18, 2011.

Milk is a good thing and we should drink more of it. This has been a prominent health message ever since the 1946 Education Act ensured that school children were given free milk. But in recent years, the debate has shifted to which type of milk is best. This week, it took an unexpected turn when researchers claimed that it might pay to note what the weather was doing when the milk was produced. A study, published in this month`s Journal of Dairy Science and led by researchers at Newcastle University, showed that “wetter, cooler summers can have a detrimental effect on the milk we drink”. A poor summer meant that milk had a “significantly higher saturated fat content and far less beneficial fatty acids” compared with that produced in a regular year.

It also claimed that organic milk contains higher levels of beneficial fatty acids compared with “normal” milk, “regardless of the time of year or weather conditions”. Organic milk also had “30-50%” less saturated fats than non-organic milk.

In response, the Department of Health said that “the types of omega-3 fatty acids in organic milk are different to those found in oily fish. It is the omega-3 fatty acids in oily fish which have been shown to be beneficial

in terms of heart disease.” It added that, in our overall diet, “lower fat options” should be selected whenever possible – “for example, 1% milk”; the red-top skimmed variety.

Milk evokes passionate responses, though, and there are those who swear by full-fat unpasterisued “raw” milk. This is very hard to source as it can legally only be sold by the farmer direct to consumers with a label stating that it “may contain organisms harmful to health”. But its advocates say that pasteurisation strips milk of much of its nutritional benefits.

Some think we`ve got it all wrong by choosing to drink cow`s milk. Far better, they say, is donkey milk – which was widely sold in the UK until the end of the 19th century – for it contains more protein and less fat.

So, here`s what should be on your shopping list perhaps: “1 pint of organic, unpasteurised donkey milk collected during a `normal` summer.” Good luck trying to source it, though.

© Copyright 2011. The Guardian. All rights reserved.

Holy cow (donkey served to Kim Jong II)
WILSON, BEE
New Statesman

Russian sources “revealed” recently that Kim Jong Il, the singular Stalinist leader of North Korea, enjoys nothing better than a fine dish of roast donkey. At a banquet during Kim`s much-publicised train jaunt through Russia, a mysterious meat was served.

“At first,” reported one British newspaper, “his guests were told they were eating `heavenly cow`.” This, however, was just a euphemism, coined out of respect for the late Kim II Sung, Kim Jong Il`s father and the founder of North Korea. A Russian official explained: “As it is inappropriate to say that the leader, son and heir of Kim Il Sung, eats donkey, the dish received such an original and poetic name.”

The news of Kim`s taste for donkey does not add to the dignity of this reclusive leader`s reputation. As he feasts on donkey, moreover, his people starve. But it is hard to know who was tricking whom in this donkey-eating episode — the Russians or the Koreans. It seems fairly obvious that the unnamed Russian source wanted to make Kim look like a jackass by saying he liked donkey. Yet it is equally possible that “Dear Leader” was playing a complicated joke on the Russian dignitaries who happily ate his “heavenly cow”.

Throughout history and across the globe, donkey meat has been treated as the lowest of the low. In ancient Athens, there was a separate market for its sale because it was the meat of the poor. In Russia, saying you eat donkey is like admitting you are a street cleaner (hence, in part, the national glee at Kim`s banquet). Judaism and Islam both prohibit its consumption. In most countries where donkeys are used as beasts of burden, they are seldom eaten. But why should this be? There is a circularity in this refusal to eat donkey. Because the donkey is held in contempt, it is deemed unsuitable for consumption. Because it is not eaten, the donkey is held in greater contempt. This does not mean that donkey is, necessarily, inedible or even unappetising. The gastronome Maguelonne ToussaintSamat suggests — as only a French person could — that, because the animals are beaten so much, donkey meat may be extremely tender. An Italian writer insists that “donkey tastes much like a sweeter, bloodier version of veal and is absolutely delicious braised and served with a nice wedge of polenta”.

In fact, donkey has been eaten more than is often admitted, and not just in the barbaric palaces of Pyongyang. In the Middle Ages, French donkey foals were stuffed with small birds, eels and fragrant herbs, and peasants inProvence cooked donkeys well into the 20th century. There is also a significant tradition of donkey-eating in Hungary, where shepherds would keep asses to accompany the flock. The asses would be fattened up on unripe corn cobs, then slaughtered, and the meat salted and smoked, much like pork. Donkey meat has also been hidden in many European sausages. The famous saucisson of Arles was originally made from a mixture of donkey meat and bull meat, which gave it a special succulence. It is said that a great deal of Italian salami still contains donkey.

While donkey meat has generally been despised, donkey milk is an altogether different matter, long prized for its nutritional properties. Since Roman times, ass`s milk enjoyed a good reputation for its digestibility. Some ancients claimed it was a remedy for ailments of the liver, lung, gall bladder and kidneys, and until very recently it was used as treatment in cases of meningitis. This was not just superstition. Ass`s milk is very close in composition to human milk, and therefore less likely to upset the stomach.Hence it was often given to babies who had no wet-nurse or who were deemed too contagious for human contact. In Paris in the 1880s, babies at the Hospice des Enfants Malades were put to suck at the nipples of donkeys.

What strange tastes we humans have–that we happily suck at the breast of animals we not only disdain to eat, but treat like slaves. Donkeys are the worst-abused of all beasts of burden: weaker than mules, less appetising than oxen. In 19th-century Britain, the “dairy moke”, or milk-carrying donkey, was beaten throughout his daily rounds. In Mexico, donkeys are still used to carry wood, straw, milk, water, tools, a usefulness repaid in lashes, poor food and neglect. In Zimbabwe, donkeys are loathed and feared. It is believed that they will kick people to death, that they attract lions, produce poisonous dung and are fit only for the lowest order of society. The root of many of these prejudices seems to be the shared belief that donkeys are inedible. P Jones, an expert on animal husbandry in Zimbabwe, speculates that Africans respect cattle more than donkeys because an animal destined for the pot will be better treated than one which is not, “at least up until the moment just before slaughter, which is an alto gether different story”. But this still does not explain why it is thought so laughable to eat a donkey in the first place.

© Copyright 2001 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved.

COMMENTS