Raw Milk: Interesting Time Magazine article

I saw this article in Time online and thought it was of interest. I remember when I was a child a friend of my father once removed owned a dairy farm where we often went fishing and hunting. Once my father had the opportunity to drink raw milk that was so fresh that it was stilll warm. He said it was absolutely delicious. Of course being a doctor, he wouldn't let us kids drink it. Note the reference to the north side health food store. Hmm...makes me curious.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article ... 25,00.html

Some earlier LTH discussion on raw milk here

The Tribune had an article this week about French cheesemakers authorized to use the appellation for Camembert. Currently, they can only get the appelation if they use unpasteurized milk, which restricts them to sales only within France, though.

According to the article, the raw milk has more 'barnyard' and 'grassy' flavors, missing from pasteurized milk. Some of the farmers, though, want to (a) please domestic consumers wanting a pasteurized product, and (b) expand their market outside of France. They are proposing using microfiltration, to avoid changing the flavor with heat.

The producers agree on the change to permit filtration, the Appellation d'Origine Controlee opposes it.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... nworld-hed

Mr. T. wrote: I remember when I was a child a friend of my father once removed owned a dairy farm where we often went fishing and hunting. Once my father had the opportunity to drink raw milk that was so fresh that it was stilll warm. He said it was absolutely delicious.

Up until the death of his brother four years ago, my FIL raised pure bred Holsteins for milk and had on average, 40-50 cows. That meant basically that on every visit to the in-laws meant a minimum of 6-8 hour in the milk parlor.

I am not going to pretend to be some expert on bacteriology or anything related. However, I will say that no matter how well you santitize the equipment and no matter how well you wipe the udders before and after the milking, it is impossible not to introduce some bacteria into the milk. Also realize that while you are milking, Betsy is munching on grain and occasionally relieving herself. (And I have been to a number of the Amish
dairy operations in Ohio and milking "old style" IMO is worse than using modern equipment.

Yes, when I was a kid, my great aunt had a veal operation and gave us raw milk (and raw eggs). I think that a lot of the taste difference relates to the fact that raw milk tends to have a higher concentration of milk fat than store bought milk.

I would pass on raw milk. (especially when I remember how dirty cows get this time of year.)

Real Food has quite a lot on this subject, too much to summarize. One point one of the raw milk farmers makes, is that pasteurization allows you to get dirtier, where selling raw milk demands a higher standard of cleanliness. Sort of the way, instead of fixing the salmonella problem in chickens, as other countries have done, we simply outsource responsibility for cleanliness to the consumer.