¶ The Urban Milkmaids of London
On the eighth day of Christmas , my true love gave to me eight maids , a-milking and Katie . That reminds me . So , as you know , the holidays are a time for goodwill and generosity . A lot of people like to buy each other presents . I would have gotten you a present , Katie , but I'm an educator and we have a history podcast , which means I have no money .
Since I have no money with which to buy you a gift , I want to give you the gift of Liz the Historian .
Oh my God . Merry Christmas , Liz . This is the best gift ever .
This is the best gift ever , oh my God . So your guys' voice is just that my dogs laugh . They like think you're in my house and they're going crazy .
They're like there's somebody here Check your attic . We're in the attic .
We were there the whole time , surprise .
Yes , I warned you several episodes ago . We were there the whole time , surprise . Yes , I warned you several episodes ago . Check the attic for any you know serial killers or secret maps or any of that . And apparently you didn't , because we've been living there the whole time , liz , surprise .
Well to occupy myself until she told me to go . I'm working on my needlepoint Very excited . Did you make that ? Yeah , it's an ornament . Oh that's fabulous , that's gorgeous , thank you , yeah , so I made like all different ones , Maybe at some point .
hey , we should have Liz do a needlepoint as a giveaway for the podcast .
Not another history podcast in stitches .
I could do it . That would be amazing . I can't believe how talented you are , liz . Is there anything you can't do ? Liz Lots .
Lots , so so many things . I stick with needlepoint for a reason .
Well , katie , for Christmas I am giving you , my eight maids , a milking story by Liz . This is fantastic , so take it away , liz . This is fantastic , so take it away Liz .
To get in the holiday spirit one , I'm trying . I tried to get my Christmas tree in the background . It looks crooked , I don't know , but it's there .
It looks amazing . It looks fantastic . My Christmas tree is still in the forest right now , so you're way ahead of me .
You haven't harvested your Christmas tree yet and I'm eating , um , a gingerbread cookie from our dear friend's mama .
Um , to , yes , recall you guys , because eating a gingerbread cookie always makes me think of you guys , as you're listening to your favorite christmas carols , uh , and enjoying your gingerbread cookies and needlepoint if that is your jam , then maybe you are wondering about the eight maids a-milking when you two think of eight maids a-milking .
Okay , so in recent podcasts you guys have asked each other a question and each of you have not come up with the right answer that the person was looking for . I've noticed that a couple of times , so I'm going to ask a question and I'm not sure which way you're going to go with it . You think of eight mates milking , like . What scene comes to your mind ?
Like , are you picturing a field , a barn , a modern dairy ? I don't know ? What are you thinking ?
about . Oh no , I'm thinking like Swiss Alps , like Heidi coming down the mountain with her keg that's not the right word Bucket of milk after furiously milking mountain dairy cows with the big bells around their necks . Furiously , Cows are like oh my God , we're exhausted , we're chafed . Mountain dairy cows with the big bells around their necks .
Seriously , the cows are like oh my God , we're exhausted , we're chafed .
I love that , I love that scene .
Well , I'm sort of on the same line as you , katie . I visualize no joke eight Julie Andrews spinning on a field in the Alps and there are cows around .
Spinning , so they're dizzy milkmaids . Where do you think whipped butter comes from , liz ? That makes so much sense , so much easier than churning Just spin around with it . I love it . I love it . Well , I think that's what most people think about . I think you get like this very pastoral idea of ape maids milking , right that they're out on these beautiful farms .
But if you're thinking about people today as well as people in the past , a very large part of our population live in urban dwellings . So where are their ?
milkmaids . They would be in a barn in the middle of town , right like next to the grocer yeah , pretty much .
So I want to just give you a little snippet into milkmaids in , uh , urban london during the turn of the 18th to 19th century . Right , and many of her books take place out in the country , but then they do travel into cities at some points in time in her books . And she herself lived in the country for most of her life .
But then her family did move to Bath and they had to move into a city and a large portion of the population was living in the city at least for part of the year at this time . So if you were living in London around the early 1800s , your milk was coming from , most likely from , like , the surrounding areas , so your milkmaids were not all in the city .
Sorry , my dog is trying to attack Jingle Bells . Don't attack the Jingle .
Bells Attack the Bells . Or is that your elf on the shelf ?
We don't have an elf . I support that decision .
I am very , I'm very anti-elf on the shelf , me too .
Can't do that . So if you're living in London , there are approximately 8,500 dairy cows with their accompanying milkmaids surrounding London that then get milked and the milk gets carted into the city , coming from up to 20 miles away . The milk's not super fresh by the time it gets to London . Enter the urban dairy cow and milkmaid .
I just picture her with like her Chanel bag , like her Louis Vuitton sunglasses , and she's just like hey .
Yeah , she's super stylish . So in London there is a beautiful park called St James's Park . It was purchased by Henry VIII from Eton College and was about 58 acres Most of the maintenance of these urban parks at that time .
You know they didn't have lawnmowers and you know a guy riding around on his John Deere , so they had sheep or cows that grazed and ate the grass to keep it low . But keep in mind that Osomance they pooped everywhere . So you know , when you're imagining these beautiful pristine parks , they're not perfect .
So when you're imagining these beautiful pristine parks , they're not perfect . And in St James's Park they did have some cows that grazed . And one of the benefits of these cows is most of the cows if you had an urban dairy were literally kept in stalls in a barn all the time .
They'd be like , let out into an alley to eat and then brought back into their stall , led out into an alley to eat and then brought back into their stall .
I just imagine like a cow getting into a dumpster and like coming out with like a slice of pizza , like the pizza rat a couple of years ago , yep .
Yep , exactly , so you can imagine the quality of a pizza eating rat cow . The quality of their milk is not the best , so it was a big deal for people to go and get what was called new milk . New milk was something you would get fresh from the udders of your St .
James's park cow . We were both waiting for you to fill milk tanks . Where is she going with this so ?
you could arrive at the milkmaid's stand and she would have a table with little tin cups already there and she would pour the milk directly . Was already there and she would pour the milk directly , squeeze it from those little udders right into the tin cup that you could then drink from and then leave at the table , just shaker that cup around .
That's so much more classy than what I thought you were going to say , which was like just come on up and I'm just going to squirt it right into your mouth .
No . Now , if you were really classy , though , Katie , there were some upper crust children that would not deem to drink from said tin cups . So when their nurses brought them to the dairy maids to have their sip of new milk , they would bring their own china teacups with them . Yes , so you could bring your own cup oracups with them .
Yes , so you could bring your own cup or vessel to drink your new cup .
This is amazing . I just have to . I have to interject here because I was just talking to somebody the other day about how pretentious milk has gotten .
Or we think milk has gotten like all those almonds , there's coconut milk , there's soy milk , but really I mean Milk has gotten like oh , there's almond milk , there's coconut milk , there's soy milk , but really I mean it's never . Like you show up at Starbucks with your own teacup and you're like I expect my milk straight from the udder .
Like really you're not that bad when you compare us to 19th century Londoners .
But now I think I want to . Now I think I want to show up with a fine China cup and a saucer Barista . Yeah , would you be so kind as to give me some new milk please ? That's how you get kicked out of a Starbucks right quick , but it would be a fun experiment .
Or they're ahead of us on conservation . Oh , that's true too , because we waste with all these to-go cups . You know , maybe we should start bringing our own teacups with us .
So I want you now , as you're singing the 12 Days of Christmas right , to imagine this scene in St James's Park , where you would have eight or more milkmaids with their little stations set up , each milking their cows . Now , obviously , there are children coming .
As I said , children were still drinking milk , but who else might be here amongst the milling crowds at the milkmaid's stand ? Well , there were often young ladies that came out attempting to meet a fine gentleman , possibly a soldier , because occasionally the soldiers would come . Now , do you think the soldiers were just drinking milk at these stands ?
I have a feeling there was a little something extra in there . You're right .
Have you ever heard of the delicious syllabub ?
No , is it like eggnog ?
Okay , so somewhat similar . Cindy Katie , I don't know if you're a fan , but , Cindy , I believe you're a fan of the Great British Baking Show . Oh , yes .
I don't know if you're a fan , but Cindy I believe you're a fan of the Great British Baking . Show . Oh , yes , I love it as well .
Okay , yes , Right , and there have been in past seasons a mention of syllabub and it was one of those words that I was like , oh , interesting word , Not totally sure what you funny British people are talking about . So a syllabub is a drink .
It originally came from the Cornish area and essentially it is fresh , like straight from the cow milk that is poured directly onto an acidic type of alcoholic beverage to curdle the milk immediately . It sounds repulsive to me personally , but syllabubs are still something that are created today .
Now , back then you literally would have your cup and there'd be a wine , a cider , you know an alcoholic beverage on the bottom . You'd give it to the milkmaid . She would literally milk the cow straight into your cup and the resulting drink was your lovely beverage for the day . Today , syllabubs have become more of a dessert .
So if you are not inclined to want to be one of those lovely ladies on her day off trying to meet a soldier and have some syllabub at your neighboring milkmaid stand and you want to take a modern approach to the age old tradition of a syllabub for the holiday season , there are modern takes on this recipe , particularly here in the South I'm in the Southeast .
For those of you out in the internet that don't know me and in the Southeastern part of the United States they like to back in colonial times . They like to take a lot of British traditions and reshape them into interesting Southern New World traditions , and syllabub was one of the ones they decided to keep . Not totally sure why . Why of all the traditions ?
Why , Basically , the modern day Southern version of a syllabub is you create homemade whipped cream , right
¶ Modern Twist on Old World Treats
? So you have a heavy cream and sugar that you whip together until it creates a beautiful whipped cream , but then you're going to pour in white wine , brandy , lemon juice and nutmeg and you're going to beat it until it literally creates a whipped like peaked substance that you can eat with a spoon and you chill it and you serve it for dessert .
That's not terrible , so it makes the curdling sound less bad .
Yes , yes , I could get behind that , yeah , so there are wonderful recipes out there .
I'll send some to you , ladies , in case you want to share with your listeners on your Instagram page how to make your own syllabub so that when you're listening to your Christmas carols , you can channel your eight maids a milking and have some delicious old world treats in your modern Christmas . That's so cool . That's my interpretation of eight maids of milking .
That's awesome .
Liz , liz , that was amazing . Katie , you're so welcome . I'll expect a thank you card in the mail . Yes , definitely .
You're the best I love definitely .
You're the best . I love you . That was so good .
Thank you so much , liz , that was wonderful . Thank you all for having me on . Hopefully you'll come back . Thank you .