Analyses of Regional Diversity and Transitional History of the Milk-processing System of North Asia

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  • 北アジアにおける乳加工体系の地域多様性分析と発達史論
  • キタアジア ニ オケル ニュウカコウ タイケイ ノ チイキ タヨウセイ ブンセキ ト ハッタツ シロン

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Abstract

<p>A panoptic approach and analysis of regional diversity are necessary to understand the milk-processing system of North Asia. The results of such analyses can provide new perspectives in a discussion of that system's transitional history in the area. The purpose of this paper is to infer the transitional history of the milk-processing system of Mongolic-language groups in North Asia, and to analyze the factors that affected its transition through a discussion of its structure and the nutritional as well as regional typology of its diversity. A unique feature of the paper is the introduction of the concept of so-called "milk processing unit" to describe the continuum of milk-processing techniques, allowing the internal structure of the milk-processing system to be described more succinctly when attempting an analysis. The North Asian milk-processing system has the following special characteristics: (1) Raw milk is always used when carrying out the milk processing units of non-heated soured creaming and heated creaming. (2) Since the milk processing units of souring, lactic-rancid fermented solidification, high-acidic sour milk adding and lactic-alcohol fermentation are used to process into raw milk and/or skim milk, they make the milk-processing system more complicated. (3) Since almost everywhere in North Asia shares the three milk-processing units of heated creaming, lactic-alcohol fermentation, and high-acidic sour milk adding, they constitute the characteristics of milk-processing system in the region. The technique of extracting lipids from full milk and/or skim milk through lactic-rancid fermented solidification/churning and lactic-alcohol fermentation is distributed widely throughout North Asia except for the central area of Mongolia. The North Asian processes of lactic-rancid fermented solidication/churing/fat purification and lactic-alcoholic fermentation/fat purification are both extremely similar milk-processing techniques to the West Asian fermented milk-processing series that consists of lactic fermentation/churning/fat purification. In the North Asian process of lactic-alcoholic fermentation, raw milk is churned thousands of times, resulting in both lactic-alcoholic milk and butter. Moreover, the North Asian milk-processing technique of lactic-alcoholic fermentation by churning and fat purification of butter-a process of lactic-alcoholic fermentation/churning/fat purification-is closely related to the West Asian fermented milk-processing series. The likelihood is quite high that the basis of both those North Asian techniques was transmitted from West Asia, with further modifications. Meanwhile, recent archaeological evidence from West Asia shows that sheep and goats were first domesticated there by 7000 B.C., and that milking had already started in the same region by the seventh millennium B.C. Those are the oldest instances of animal domestication and milking from animal anywhere in the world. The stable isotope analysis of fatty acids extracted from relics has confirmed that the first incidence of milking was in West Asia. Moreover, the first incidence of the milking of animals by humans and the technique's further development are considered to have been extremely difficult for humans, given that female animals usually only allow their own offspring to drink from their udders. Pastoralists adopted various lactogenic techniques that enabled milking from animals, having understood the physiology and behavior of the relationship between female animals and their offspring. Milking was only conducted in some parts of the Old World, such as West Asia, Central Asia, North Asia, Europe, South Asia and Africa, but never with domesticated animals native to the New World, such as in South America. The absence of milking in the New World shows that the technique was not so easily exploited in many places, and that it had not dispersed from the Old</p><p>(View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)</p>

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