🫙 Milk churn
Also known as: churn
A metal container with a lid for milk; the British aluminium churn held 10 gallons (about 45 L).
A milk churn is a metal container with a lid for holding milk. A British museum example, used by the Milk Marketing Board, is made of aluminium, holds 10 gallons (about 45 litres by the imperial gallon) and is 710 mm high.
At a milk reception centre, FAO describes washing the cans like this: rinse with cold water; scrub inside and out with a brush, warm water and a cleaning agent; sanitise with steam (large centres) or with boiling water or a chemical solution (smaller ones); rinse thoroughly with clean water; drain and dry in sunlight; store upside down without lids on racks in a dust-free, well-ventilated room. Disinfect just before use. Caustic soda is corrosive to tinned surfaces and aluminium, so only weak solutions should be used for hard washing; washing soda is cheaper and less corrosive for manual washing.
If you buy loose milk from a churn, ask whether it is pasteurized: WHO notes that Listeria, Shigella and STEC are associated with unpasteurized dairy products.
Facts
| Main use | Holding milk delivered to a collecting centre 1 |
|---|---|
| Raw material | Aluminium; museum example: 10 gallons (about 45 L), 710 mm high 3 |
How it connects to milk
🫙 Milk churn ← packed in ← 🥛 Milk
Links
- Carried by
- 🛒 Milk cart
- What is packed
- 🥛 Milk, 🧀 Raw milk
- Who works with it
- 🧑 Milkman
- Part of
- 🍼 Milk containers and tableware
- Wine and milk
- 🍷 Demijohn
Frequently asked questions
How many liters does a milk churn hold?
It varies. A British museum example used by the Milk Marketing Board is an aluminium churn holding 10 gallons, about 45 L by the imperial gallon.
How do you wash a milk churn?
According to the FAO manual: rinse with cold water, scrub with a brush, warm water and a cleaning agent, sanitise, rinse thoroughly, dry in sunlight and store upside down without the lid.
Why ask whether milk from a churn is pasteurized?
WHO notes that Listeria, Shigella and STEC are associated with unpasteurized dairy products.
History
What to read next
- 🛒 Milk cart — The cart that delivered milk, first horse-drawn, then electric; in 1980, 89% of British milk was delivered to the door.
- 🧑 Milkman — A worker who delivers milk to homes: once with churns, in Britain on an electric milk float; in 1957 there were 55,000 such floats.
- 🍷 Demijohn — A large narrow-necked glass bottle, often wicker-covered, used for wine.
- 🧀 Raw milk — Milk not heated above 40 °C: it may contain Campylobacter, Salmonella and STEC, so it is boiled.
Similar
🫗 Vacuum flask · 🪣 Bucket · 🍼 Baby bottle · 🫙 Milk can · 🫙 Jug · 🫙 Tetra Pak
Sources
- FAO. Small-Scale Dairy Farming Manual, vol. 1, block 7: Milk Reception
- WHO. Food safety (fact sheet): unpasteurized dairy products
- Food Museum (UK), collection record STMEA:1995-53: Milk churn, aluminium, 10 gallons