Happy Ramnavami to all of you!
Posu, a special steamed pudding is a famous amchi delicacy prepared from thick milk of cow which we call as 'cheeka doodh' [meaning lactating cow's colostrum]. The pudding is known as Kharvas in Marathi, Ginnu in Kannada and Junnu in Telugu. An easily prepared dish either with sugar or jaggery, it was done at home in old days mostly when people owned cows/buffalos to meet the dairy needs of their joint family. This practice was commonly seen in native places or rural areas. The colostrum milk would make its appearance once in a while, few times in a year when the cow gave birth. First, the calves were taken care of with their feeds and the excess milk then used to prepare this delicacy. This milk is yellowish in color and very thick on first day. Gradually over next few days the consistency thins down.
In cities, with trend of nuclear families and small apartments the tendency was to prefer dairy outlets in order to meet their daily demands of milk, yogurt, ghee, etc. [which is more practical than keeping a cow as pet ;)]. This all meant, to depend on the milkman who would arrive at doorsteps to sell the colostrum milk after the cow delivered a calf in his cow barn. Gradually, the number of cow barns reduced and this dish became a rare treat at home as well as my native place during my childhood days itself. I feel lucky at least to have tasted it. Chilled or hot both tastes yummy.
After reaching Kuwait, I used to wonder if any dairy farm existed in this place as the general inclination was to buy fresh milk cans or tetra packs marketed by dairy companies/ dairy farms mostly from Saudi region. Now that I have read about existence of farms here, this special milk may be available but I never made an attempt to check for it. Thus, it's like ages we didn't have it and kids never tasted this fresh colostrum milk pudding.
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