We have had a lot of new raw milk customers lately and it has been so fun to dive into the many differences of farm fresh milk versus pasteurized milk from the store. Knowing the source of your farm fresh milk is important. When cows are fed a 100% grassfed diet from pasture in the summer and high quality hay in the winter they are healthier and happier. The direct result of this is sweet tasting, nutrient dense milk with lots of cream!
It has been amazing to hear stories of so many who previously “gave up” on drinking dairy. Some of these folks believed themselves to be lactose intolerant, didn’t like the flavor of store bought dairy products or have heard a lot of misinformation about hormones and adverse health effects. After switching to raw milk we see so many healed from intolerance. Raw milk actually contains the beneficial enzymes our body needs to break down dairy properly as it is a whole food. Flavor is another major difference. We actually have youtube videos on our channel of blind taste testing preformed on AU campus of organic pasturized milk vs our own organic raw milk. Ten out of ten chose the raw milk and we even converted a few nut milk drinkers! Like I mentioned before knowing your source is extremely important. On our farm we do not use any hormones, antibiotics, vaccines or pesticides. I believe these factors directly impact the nutritional quality of the milk along with shelf life and flavor.
Nutritional details aside, fresh milk is so versatile in the kitchen. Did you know that cow’s milk is not naturally homogenized? The cream actually rises to the top therefore when you buy milk straight from the farm you have to shake the jar to reincorporate the cream back into the milk before you pour it. The cream topped milk also makes it very easy to separate the cream for butter making, adding to your coffee and so on.
A few weeks back I talked about tips to save money on your grocery bill and one of the biggest money savers is using farm fresh milk to make your other dairy products. I am certainly not a scientist so I do not understand it but you can actually double your money with farm fresh milk! It’s true you can take 2# of milk and make it into 2# of cheese and 2# of whey! The same goes for taking cream and making butter. If you take 1 quart of cream and churn it you get one hefty chunk of butter and 1 quart of buttermilk. Things like buttermilk and whey aren’t commonly used nowadays but check out any old fashioned recipe books and the possibilities are endless with these incredibly nutritious ingredients. Buttermilk and whey create the most divine pancakes, luscious muffins and mouthwatering biscuits.
Sourcing farm fresh milk is somewhat tricky especially if you live in a state like ours. NYS law says that with a Raw Milk Permit through Ag and Markets our farm can only sell milk on the farm. That means we can’t take it to a farmer’s market and we can’t deliver it. If you are local enough to our farm we invite you to stop by and try it for yourself. If you are farther away, check out www.realmilk.com an incredible resource for connecting raw milk farms to consumers via zip codes. Want to help change the law? Email rawmilkmove@gmail.com and sign the petition. Have questions about farm fresh milk? Ask away, we are an open book.
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