The Quest for Venezuelan Beaver Cheese
Jan. 28th, 2014 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipAdelaide zoological gardens,
To whom it may concern,
I have learned that you have recently acquired some capybaras. May I ask if any of these are, or are likely to be, milk-producing?
This request may seem unusual, so I shall provide some explanation. Some colleagues and I are working our way through the cheese of the famous Monty Python cheese shop sketch which engages in a hypothetical conversation between a consumer in a cheese shop that doesn't actually have any cheese. After asking for some two score different cheeses the consumer, in frustration, asks for "Venezuelan Beaver Cheese", which typically generates some amusement.
Venezuela does not have any beavers of course, but both the beaver and the capybara are both of the order rodentia, which is certainly close enough for our purposes. If we were to acquire even a small volume of milk from the capybara, it would be our intent to subject it (the milk, not the capybara) to HTST pasteurization, and then produce a simple cheese through heating, separation of the curds and whey, and adding a touch of lemon and salt, according to taste.
Naturally enough the zoological gardens would be recompensated for any cost incurred in the milking of the capybara.
Yours most sincerely,
Lev Lafayette, BA (Hons), GradCertTerAdEd (Murdoch), GradCertPM, MBA (Tech Mngmnt) (Chifley)
mobile: 0432 255 208
January 28, 2014
To whom it may concern,
I have learned that you have recently acquired some capybaras. May I ask if any of these are, or are likely to be, milk-producing?
This request may seem unusual, so I shall provide some explanation. Some colleagues and I are working our way through the cheese of the famous Monty Python cheese shop sketch which engages in a hypothetical conversation between a consumer in a cheese shop that doesn't actually have any cheese. After asking for some two score different cheeses the consumer, in frustration, asks for "Venezuelan Beaver Cheese", which typically generates some amusement.
Venezuela does not have any beavers of course, but both the beaver and the capybara are both of the order rodentia, which is certainly close enough for our purposes. If we were to acquire even a small volume of milk from the capybara, it would be our intent to subject it (the milk, not the capybara) to HTST pasteurization, and then produce a simple cheese through heating, separation of the curds and whey, and adding a touch of lemon and salt, according to taste.
Naturally enough the zoological gardens would be recompensated for any cost incurred in the milking of the capybara.
Yours most sincerely,
Lev Lafayette, BA (Hons), GradCertTerAdEd (Murdoch), GradCertPM, MBA (Tech Mngmnt) (Chifley)
mobile: 0432 255 208
January 28, 2014
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Date: 2014-01-28 11:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-10 08:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-10 11:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 05:08 am (UTC)Best of luck! :D
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Date: 2014-01-28 07:08 am (UTC)They could use it a promotional fundraiser!
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Date: 2014-01-28 08:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 07:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 08:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 08:18 am (UTC)Really hope this is possible!!!
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Date: 2014-01-28 09:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 09:50 am (UTC)If you could contact the zoo vets about this it would be world of awesome.
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Date: 2014-01-28 10:43 am (UTC)Just curious, though - why are you pasteurising the milk? I've done very little cheese-making, and only with cows milk, but it's always seemed like unnecessary hassle to me.
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Date: 2014-01-28 10:57 am (UTC)I do suspect that capybara milk is not typically considered for human consumption.
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Date: 2014-01-28 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-02 11:36 am (UTC)Your query to the zoo was forwarded to me.
As I recall, it should really take you very little time to work your way through the cheeses of the sketch seeing as there was NO CHEESE. We can debate whether the conversation was hypothetical or not; I recall it to have been an actual conversation, though the cheese shop I would concede was most likely hypothetical.
I regret that we, like the aforementioned hypothetical cheese shop, will be unable to provide any Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, nor any of the required ingredients. It may be that the two females will soon be producing milk, as we suspect they may be pregnant, but we intend the milk to be used to feed the offspring. Additionally we would likely need to anaesthetise the animals to collect milk samples, and I regret this is not a justifiable reason to anaesthetise our animals.
I wish you well in your endeavour. You may have more luck sourcing japo-scandinavian veal substitute.
Warm Regards
David McLelland BSc(Vet), BVSc, DVSc, MANZCVS (Zoo Medicine), Dipl ACZM, Dipl ECZM (Zoo Health Management)
Thursday, January 30, 2014 6:22pm
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Date: 2014-02-02 01:09 pm (UTC)*gives Dr. McLelland a round of applause*
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Date: 2014-02-03 04:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 04:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 04:56 am (UTC)Indeed this is so!
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Date: 2014-03-06 04:51 am (UTC)Jeez, where is their sense of scientific curiosity??
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Date: 2014-03-06 05:16 am (UTC)Also, your icon!
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Date: 2014-03-07 12:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-07 02:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-06 09:31 am (UTC)