Posted by ponspunt on June 13, 2005 at 13:56:04 from 84.66.95.21 user ponspunt.
In Reply to: Re: Milk, perishables posted by John Wilson on June 12, 2005 at 00:40:22:
The milk would probably have passed through a cooler first: this was a device through which cold water was passed on the inside, whilst the milk was poured over the outside, which rather resemblesd a large washboard. The milk then flowed into a churn at the bottom. It was the highlight of my day , aged about 8, in 1947-8, living in Cheshire(England) next to a dairy farm, to climb through the hedge between us with our milk-can, croos the farm yard, and wait for the cows to be milked and the milk to be passd through that cooler. Even though this was from my experience much later than S&A is set, I imagine the method had been going on for many years before.
As for keeping food cool at home, yes, we had a 'larder', in which there was a 'stone slab' - this kept food cool,, and the 'meat safe', a gauze covered small cupboard, kept flies off any meat in there.