the watery part of milk which is separated from the solid curds in cheese-making, is something of which the world has much too much. Yet, if better ways of utilizing it could be found, this surplus whey could be a valuable source of nutrition. Almost a third of the proteins in milk are left in the whey, as well as all the sugar.
The size of the problem is intractable: 10 kg (22 lb) of milk are needed, typically, to produce 1 kg (2.2 lb) of cheese. Between 6 and 9 kg (13–20 lb) of whey will be left over. The state of Wisconsin alone was reckoned not so long ago to produce half a million kg of cheese annually.
The nature of whey makes the problem worse. If discharged as an effluent, it burdens the water system with its high demand for oxygen. A cheese factory can thus create requirements equivalent to those of a sizeable town of human beings. Moreover, whey is an ideal medium for the growth of micro-organisms and, consequently, the spread of pollution.
In some countries whey is drunk in its liquid form. It is nutritious and has often been prescribed for invalids. But its taste is generally regarded as insipid. The ‘orange whey’ to which Hannah Glasse (1747) and other 18th-century authors referred was made palatable by adding an acceptable flavour. In the Hebrides, on the other hand, unflavoured whey seems to have been the favourite beverage, known as ‘bland’. It is well described by Emerson (1908):
The great universal non-intoxicating beverage of these islands is bland, and it can be had at almost any time or at any place, for it is a home-made article and therefore very plentiful. Bland is simply a preparation of whey, but owing to the quality of the grass or to the climate becomes here a truly palatable and nourishing potation and one that all travellers and visitors never fail to mention in their memoirs.
Whey is also used in cookery, but only to a small extent, because in many places it is difficult to obtain in quantities smaller than a road-tankerful and because cooks do not know about it. (Iceland is one country where they do.)
Whey may be dried. The sweet whey left over when cheese is made from whole milk is easier to spray-dry than the acid (sour) whey which is the residue of cheese-making with skimmed milk; but both can be so treated. Dried whey has been incorporated into dietary supplements for parts of the world where people do not have enough protein. Confectioners have also found some use for it. And some carbonated drinks including whey have been modestly successful in Switzerland (Rivella), Poland (whey kvass), and Brazil (tai, the only one to contain whey protein).
But all such outlets, and production of whey cheeses (below), account for only a tiny proportion of the whey which accumulates daily for disposal.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Emerson, Edward R. (1908), Beverages, Past and Present, vols i and ii, New York: The Knickerbocker Press.
Glasse, Hannah (1747), The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, facsimile of 1st edn, London: Prospect Books (1983).
