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A milkmaid, milk maid, milkwoman, dairymaid, or dairywoman is a girl or woman who works with milk or cows.
She milks cows and also uses the
A milkmaid, milk maid, milkwoman, dairymaid, or dairywoman is a girl or woman who works with milk or cows.
She milks cows and also uses the milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
to prepare dairy products
Dairy products or milk products are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as y ...
such as cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...
, butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
, and cheese
Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...
. Many large houses employ milkmaids instead of having other staff do the work. The term ''milkmaid'' is not the female equivalent of ''milkman
Milk delivery is a Delivery (commerce), delivery service dedicated to supplying milk, typically in milk bottle, bottles or cartons, to customers' homes. This service is performed by a milkman, milkwoman, or milk deliverer. (In contrast, a Cowman ...
'' in the sense of one who delivers milk to the consumer; it is the female equivalent of ''milkman'' in the sense of '' cowman'' or ''dairyman''.
In 1600s-1800s English "milkmaids" sold milk wearing a yoke holding two milk pails and vending vessels, and also decorated themselves for the London May Day procession.
*
*
Cowpox
As a result of exposure tocowpox
Cowpox is an infectious disease caused by Cowpox virus (CPXV). It presents with large blisters in the skin, a fever and swollen glands, historically typically following contact with an infected cow, though in the last several decades more often ...
, which conveys a partial immunity
Immunity may refer to:
Medicine
* Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease
* ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press
Biology
* Immune system
Engineering
* Radiofrequence immunity ...
to the disfiguring (and often fatal) disease smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
, it was noticed that milkmaids lacked the scarred, pockmarked complexion common to smallpox survivors. This observation led to the development of the first vaccine
A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifi ...
.
Cultural references
* A legend of aDun Cow
The Dun Cow is a common Motif (folkloristics), motif in English folklore. "Dun" is a dull shade of brownish grey.
Dunsmore Heath
The Dun Cow was said to be a savage beast roaming Dunsmore Heath, an area west of Dunchurch, near Rugby, Warwickshi ...
is about the milkmaid who guided the monks of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...
carrying the body of Saint Cuthbert to the site of the present city of Durham in 995 AD.
* There is a famous painting by Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , ; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...
entitled '' The Milkmaid'' ( 1658).
* Aelbert Cuyp, another Dutch artist, created the drawing known as ''A Milkmaid'' (c. 1640–1650).
* The eponymous heroine of Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...
's ''Tess of the d'Urbervilles
''Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman'' is the twelfth published novel by English author Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a Book censorship, censored and Serialized novel, serialised version, published by the British illustrated newsp ...
'' (1892) works as a milkmaid.
* The folktale The milkmaid and her pail
The Milkmaid and Her Pail is a folktale of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 1430 about interrupted daydreams of wealth and fame. Ancient tales of this type exist in the East but Western variants are not found before the Middle Ages. It was only in the 1 ...
is a cautionary tale about a milkmaid who spends her time daydreaming.
* The California native flower commonly called milkmaids is named for its resemblance to the hat often worn by milkmaids.
* Kid Harpoon
Thomas Edward Percy Hull (born 20 April 1982), known professionally as Kid Harpoon, is a British songwriter, record producer, and musician. In 2023, he won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and the Brit Award for Songwriter of the Year for ...
has a song called "Milkmaid"; the music video features actress Juno Temple
Juno Temple (born 21 July 1989) is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the comedy series ''Ted Lasso'' (2020–2023) and in the fifth season of the crime drama series '' Fargo'' (2023–2024). She earned Primetime Emmy Award nomi ...
.
* Tori Amos
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...
references a milkmaid in the first verse of the song "Father Lucifer”.
* The "8th day" verse of the song " The Twelve Days of Christmas" mentions "eight maids a-milking".
* The Philippines and India has a condensed milk
Condensed milk is Milk#Cow, cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of sweetened condensed milk, to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condensed m ...
brand called Milkmaid, a product of Nestle.
* The San Francisco Milk Maid is cookbook author Louella Hill, author of ''Kitchen Creamery'' (Chronicle, 2014).
* The character Milkmaid in August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...
's '' The Ghost Sonata''.
See also
*Milkman
Milk delivery is a Delivery (commerce), delivery service dedicated to supplying milk, typically in milk bottle, bottles or cartons, to customers' homes. This service is performed by a milkman, milkwoman, or milk deliverer. (In contrast, a Cowman ...
References
{{Milk navbox Animal husbandry occupations Dairy industry Gendered occupations