Secret ingredients help to make the things we love even more enjoyable. They enable peak performance in various objects and help make the delectable dishes we love, taste even better .
But sometimes, a secret ingredient can wind up giving us more than we bargained for . Such was certainly the case for an unsuspecting group of students/teachers after it was discovered that one anonymous mother used breast milk in her brownies .
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What is a “secret ingredient” anyway?
In the simplest of terms, a secret ingredient is a highly guarded component of a dish/product that helps to give it a competitive edge. More often than not, a secret ingredient enables a product to perform and/or taste better.
Companies like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and KFC all use highly coveted secret ingredients in their recipes.
Back in 2007, a former secretary who worked for Coca-Cola was sentenced to eight years in prison after it was discovered that she was trying to sell trade secrets to Pepsi for the sum of $1.5 million.
Even amateur chefs/bakers like to think that they themselves have a secret ingredient that sets their dishes above the rest.
Some of my own secret ingredients include adding chocolate to chili, sprinkling cinnamon over sweet potatoes, and dumping three shots of Worchestershire sauce in absolutely everything I cook.
Recently, one mother took the concept of a secret ingredient too far.
In an alleged Facebook post captured by the parenting page Sanctimommy, the anonymous mother claimed to have used her own breast milk while making a batch of homemade brownies.
What’s worse is that she served them to her child’s fellow students/teachers at the school bake sale.
“I need some advice,” the mother’s post began. “I made brownies for my school bake sale that had breast milk in them .”
“I didn’t have to run to the store and didn’t think it was a big deal,” the post continued.
The mother reasoned that some of the kids at the school could use the extra nutrition and that it wasn’t even all that much, to begin with.
Unfortunately for her, some of the other parents at the school had entirely different opinions.
” One of the other moms found out and are[sic] blowing it way out of proportion. Idk what to do! Any suggestions?” the post concluded.
Not surprisingly, parents of all ages and stages had a lot to say on the subject.
“Breast milk, like blood or semen, can carry diseases , which is why legit donation services screen the milk before passing it along to moms and their babies,” wrote Facebook user Reine Victoria.
Other users were left scratching their heads as to why the mother would’ve used milk in the first place.
” What brownie recipe requires milk ?” Facebook user Katie Runn asked with incredulity. “Unless you’re making frosting or ganache? Either way… gross.”
Then there were some who took a more satirical stance.
Facebook user Tonya Galvez wrote, “I once took Pee Nut butter cookies to a bake sale. People were all up in arms about 2 of the ingredients in them. Then I got arrested .”
All jokes aside, unless you’re a nursing baby, ingesting breastmilk really isn’t a good idea.
As was mentioned earlier, breast milk that isn’t bought from a certified milk bank may contain several harmful pathogens for an infant/adult — including hepatitis, syphilis, and HIV .
Compounding the health concerns is the fact that black market breast milk is outrageously expensive.
Black market breast milk is a hot commodity. According to Business Insider, mothers have been known to sell their milk for more than $2 per ounce .
To put that into perspective, a 2-liter carton of milk will cost you roughly $4.89 at the grocery store.
By comparison, a 2-liter carton of black-market breast milk, priced at $2 an ounce, will run you upwards of $135.
It becomes even more costly when you factor in how much newborns actually consume.
At 2-months, a baby consumes on average 4-5 ounces of milk every 3-4 hours. Even at the absolute minimum, that’s still close to $60 to $80 a day !
As of now, the validity of the mother’s post has yet to be confirmed.
The sheer ludicrousness of this anonymous “Booby Crooker” wannabe’s post would appear to suggest that it’s a joke. However, there are still those who remain convinced of its legitimacy.
