yum yum, peach protein shake
No no, I don't heat my raw milk.
Here's the thing about raw milk. When milk comes out of a cow, if the cow is healthy, the milk is healthy. Nothing bad in it. If it's not handled correctly, it can get contaminated with stuff. Like, if the farmer doesn't wipe off the teats before milking the cow, there can be bacteria on them that then gets in the milk. Legally, farmers can leave milk at room temperature (and it could be a warm barn) for up to two hours before refrigerating it. That gives bacteria plenty of time to grow.
When you buy milk from the grocery store, most of it comes from factory farms. There are hundreds of cows trapped in tiny stalls where they stand in their own waste. A lot of the cows have mastitis, an infection of the mammary glands, that they get because they are given growth hormones that increase their milk production. Because of the infection, they often have blood and pus in their milk. Many of the cows also have pneumonia from the unsanitary, overcrowded living conditions.
You would not want to drink that milk raw. That's why in most states, there are laws saying you cannot purchase unpasteurized milk.
But if you get raw milk from healthy cows in clean barns, and if the milk is refrigerated promptly (the farmer I get my milk from says his milk sits out 10-15 minutes at most before it is in the refrigerated tank), there is no bad bacteria in that milk. Not only is there no bad bacteria in there, there is good bacteria that is supposed to be in there, like probiotics. There is also an enzyme called lactase, that helps you digest the lactose in milk. That's why lactose intolerant people can often tolerate raw milk. Pasteurizing milk kills good stuff as well as bad stuff.
So no, I don't heat my milk before I drink it. There is nothing bad in it that I need to heat to kill, and I would just be killing good stuff that I actually want in my body.
Here's the thing about raw milk. When milk comes out of a cow, if the cow is healthy, the milk is healthy. Nothing bad in it. If it's not handled correctly, it can get contaminated with stuff. Like, if the farmer doesn't wipe off the teats before milking the cow, there can be bacteria on them that then gets in the milk. Legally, farmers can leave milk at room temperature (and it could be a warm barn) for up to two hours before refrigerating it. That gives bacteria plenty of time to grow.
When you buy milk from the grocery store, most of it comes from factory farms. There are hundreds of cows trapped in tiny stalls where they stand in their own waste. A lot of the cows have mastitis, an infection of the mammary glands, that they get because they are given growth hormones that increase their milk production. Because of the infection, they often have blood and pus in their milk. Many of the cows also have pneumonia from the unsanitary, overcrowded living conditions.
You would not want to drink that milk raw. That's why in most states, there are laws saying you cannot purchase unpasteurized milk.
But if you get raw milk from healthy cows in clean barns, and if the milk is refrigerated promptly (the farmer I get my milk from says his milk sits out 10-15 minutes at most before it is in the refrigerated tank), there is no bad bacteria in that milk. Not only is there no bad bacteria in there, there is good bacteria that is supposed to be in there, like probiotics. There is also an enzyme called lactase, that helps you digest the lactose in milk. That's why lactose intolerant people can often tolerate raw milk. Pasteurizing milk kills good stuff as well as bad stuff.
So no, I don't heat my milk before I drink it. There is nothing bad in it that I need to heat to kill, and I would just be killing good stuff that I actually want in my body.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Ok so what's the taste difference?
RNY Gastric Bypass 1-8-08 350/327/200 (HW/SW/CW). I spend most of my time playing with my food over at Bariatric Foodie - check me out!
Between raw milk and pasteurized milk? I don't know, it's hard to say. I haven't really done a taste test. When I was buying pasteurized milk from the store, I bought skim milk. When I buy raw milk, though, I get whole milk. It's not homogenized, so the fat (cream) rises to the top. Sometimes I pour a little of it off (you can use it to make butter), but then I shake the bottle to mix it all up. So I'm drinking milk with more fat in it than skim milk, so that might account for the taste difference more than the fact that it's not pasteurized does.
It's also coming from grass fed cows. Milk you buy at the store usually comes from cows that have been fed all sorts of stuff you would not imagine anyone would actually feed a cow. They feed them some corn and some soybeans, but they also feed them things like potato peels (purchased in bulk from french fry factories), stale bubble gum still in the wrappers (the dairy industry actually did a study that determined up to 30% of the cow's diet could be stale bubble gum in the wrapper before it began to significantly affect the cows milk supply), stale bread (again bought in bulk from bakeries and usually fed to the cows still in the wrappers), etc. I'm guessing that what the cows eat affects the taste of the milk. But I don't know how to describe it. If I saw it tastes clean, does that make any sense?
And it may be partly in my head that it tastes better. But I'm not sure how much of the taste difference would be attributed to pasteurization, or to diet, or to fat content, or what.
It's also coming from grass fed cows. Milk you buy at the store usually comes from cows that have been fed all sorts of stuff you would not imagine anyone would actually feed a cow. They feed them some corn and some soybeans, but they also feed them things like potato peels (purchased in bulk from french fry factories), stale bubble gum still in the wrappers (the dairy industry actually did a study that determined up to 30% of the cow's diet could be stale bubble gum in the wrapper before it began to significantly affect the cows milk supply), stale bread (again bought in bulk from bakeries and usually fed to the cows still in the wrappers), etc. I'm guessing that what the cows eat affects the taste of the milk. But I don't know how to describe it. If I saw it tastes clean, does that make any sense?
And it may be partly in my head that it tastes better. But I'm not sure how much of the taste difference would be attributed to pasteurization, or to diet, or to fat content, or what.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
I grew up with "Raw milk" which was just fresh cows milk and it has the cream on the top and it's sweeter and richer. I had a hard time going to whole store milk; it seemed not rich; very watery. Although, I am now drinking 1% and no big deal. But until I was 17--fresh cows milk from the farm was all we ever had.
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