Ask anyone who knows me - I can be stubborn. Alternative health and food trends often leave me skeptical at all the hype. It took me 3 years to start drinking kombucha, and another 4 months after that to even research its health benefits. Now, I'm so 'into' it that I make my own kombucha.
So how did I become a raw milk convert? This morning I got an email from a local dairy owner, offering a (raw) milk share from her soon-to-be lactating cow, Bessie. Shares are about $3.50/gallon, 50 cents more than the local organic milk I've been getting from the grocery store. Usually the cost (and having to drive 30 miles pick the milk up) would be enough to tip the balance towards store-bought.
But... I looked at the pros and cons between store-bought and farm share, and raw milk won out:
Raw milk share
| Store Bought Milk
|
Raw Milk Reason #1: Raw cream-top milk can make butter (one of my favorite things)!
With a steady supply of raw milk, I could make:
~ butter
~ buttermilk
~ drinking cream
~ sour cream
~ yogurt
~ yogurt-cheese
~ frozen yogurt
~ cottage cheese / farmer's cheese
~ tons of other cheeses
Raw Milk Reason #2: When raw milk starts to sour, the natural probiotics start to ferment the milk. This is different from how pasteurized milk spoils, as it isn't fermenting, simply 'putrefying'... again, eww. Soured milk is still very much edible.
With soured milk, I can make:
~ sour cream!
~ baked goods like biscuits, corn bread, & pancakes
~ cottage cheese
~ paneer
~ buttermilk replacement
Raw Milk Reason # 3: Health Benefits?
So, like I said, I'm a little stubborn when it comes to special diet trends. I don't believe everything I read. But! There are certain things that I understand and accept:
- Pasteurization = Heating. Heating any food decreases its nutrient levels. Therefore, raw milk contains more intact nutrients.
- Pasteurization destroys enzymes and little bacteria buddies. Enzymes and lactic-acid-producing bacteria found in raw milk are our friends, and their presence helps our body become a more diverse and balanced ecosystem.
- There are lots of other claims people have made that I don't have the patience or inclination to explain. Food Renegade has a great Real Milk post that outlines more health benefits of raw milk.
Raw Milk Reason #4: Rebellion
Raw milk is illegal. Buying milk on the black market (or would that be the white market??) makes me feel like I'm living life on the edge...
What are your thoughts on raw milk? Are you a convert? What do you use it for? And where do you find it?
You might like:
- Make Yogurt!
- Yogurt Cheese: How-To
- Chocolate Almond Milk: How-To
- Kombucha - Brew Your Own 'Booch
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Real Food Forager, Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free, Cooking Traditional Foods, Little Farm in the Big City, Frugally Sustainable, Mind Body and Sole, Kelly the Kitchen Kop, White Wolf Summit Farmgirl, GNOWFGLINS, Real Food Freaks, Food Renegade, Natural Mothers Network, Midnight Maniac, Butter Believer, Healthy Home Economist, and Prairie Homestead!