by Lou Bendrick
Full Circle’s ultra-pasteurized offering, versus small-farm Blue Hill’s raw milk: Which mooved tasters the most?(Photos by Jason Houston)
Putting aside for a moment
the dietary arguments against drinking cow’s milk—we’re not calves, it’s
liquid meat, it’s snot-producing, so hard to digest, etc.—conventional milk
deserves vilification for many reasons. Conventional dairy’s ethically
repulsive and planet-reaming process involves more or less torturing cows to
lactate year-round; pumping their ailing, grain-fed bodies with hormones and
antibiotics right up until they become hamburger; butchering their anemic
offspring for scallopine and pet food; and, last but not least, polluting our own water
supplies with both their excrement and agricultural runoff. Oh, wait. That
wasn’t last. I forgot to mention that conventional milk is trucked hither and
yon. But don’t take my word for any of this; here’s yet more information on the malevolent
liquid that complements a slice of chocolate cake so nicely.
One way that milk lovers
can sidestep these issues, at least in part, is to buy more sustainable forms
of milk: certified (or in-spirit) organic and/or local. But if taste is the
guide, as is so often is the case, is one of these morally better milks more
delicious than the other? Or are they all just white, taste-neutral beverages?
I assembled a panel of tasters
to sample six greener whole milks. Why whole, full-fat milk? Because I
think it tastes better than low-fat and I’m the decider. That’s why. And before
you ask, Horizon milk—the organic brand owned by Dean Foods that has the
biggest market share by far—is conspicuously absent from this tasting
because it isn’t sold in my local stores and didn’t want to burn tons of fossil
fuel searching for it.
Notes: The more time the cow spends on pasture, the more likely the flavor of the
cow’s milk is to change with the seasons. The milk we tasted last week might,
at least in some cases, taste very different at other times of year. “Ultra
pasteurized” refers to milk that has been heated at higher temperatures for
longer, and has a shelf life of two to three months, and is alas often employed
for organic milk, which is often shipped farther and is more expensive—and thus
slower-selling—than conventional milk.
And now, the results …
Organic
Valley Organic whole milk
Price: $4.99 per half gallon
Eco upside: Organic Valley is a farmer-owned cooperative. For this Massachusetts
panel, that meant we drank a regional milk from New
England pastures, one that’s USDA Certified Organic. Organic Valley says
its cows are “raised humanely and given certified organic feed—never any
animal by-products—and our pastures are certified organic.” On the downside:
Although regional, the milk is still trucked a fair distance and, not having
visited the farms, who the heck knows how happy the cows are? Certified Organic
mandates access to pasture, not actual time spent on it.
Feedback: Tasters
were all over the map on this ultra-pasteurized milk, which was pure white.
Comments ranged from “funky tasting” to “smooth and buttery.” Someone said it
tasted like “raw milk,” with a grassy, moldy flavor. Overall, tasters liked the
texture, which was described as “totally thick” and as having “legs that stick
to the glass.” Overall rating: “Pretty good.”
Jersey dairy cows at High Lawn Farm, in MassachusettsHigh Lawn Farm whole milk
Price: $2.99
per half gallon
Eco upside: This local milk comes from a herd of pretty happy-seeming Jersey cows*
from a charming, medium-sized dairy 12 miles from my house. This milk is not certified
organic but the cows “feed off
fresh grass in the summer months, and almost all of their winter feed comes
straight from our corn and hay fields,” according to High Lawn’s website. The
farm doesn’t use genetically modified seeds, harmful pesticides, or feed with animal
byproducts or artificial hormones. Downside: The website also says that the
farm purchases grains from agribiz villain Cargill to augment the corn and
alfalfa it grows for both silage and hay.
Feedback: Eww.
That’s what got blurted out at first sniff. After sipping, tasters were a
little less sour on this all-white milk, but still deemed it “a little
synthetic and boring.” “Nothing interesting,” said one taster, dismissively
pushing his glass away. “The milk of my childhood,” yawned another.
Full Circle organic whole milk
Price: $3.49 per half gallon
Eco upside: This is my local supermarket chain’s in-store, cost-conscious brand,
which is USDA Organic. Downside: Where did the milk come from? How far was it
shipped? Were these cows really content or merely greenwashed milk machines? I
just don’t know.
Feedback: The
panel got a bit drunk on this white milk, swooning with comments about the
“clover in its nose” and its “earthy, creamy” and “sweet” texture. “I like this
one a lot,” said one, while another said it was akin to drinking “light cream.”
“This one deserves a cookie,” said one lady, who reached for a Newman-O (adding
“I’m gonna get me some palm oil”).
The Organic Cow organic whole milk
Price: $3.79
per half gallon
Eco upside: This USDA Organic regional milk is sourced from “nearly 100 New
England family farms.” Downside: New England is a fairly big region, so who
knows how far the milk was trucked. The Organic Cow website offers, via the Fun
Facts For Kids page, the bovine bit of trivia that a group of 12 or more cows
is called a flink. Shockingly, the site does not offer the requisite meet-the-farmer-via-cheery-photo
montage. However, the carton itself features a profile of a Vermont farmer—who
appears to be a helluva nice guy—taking a relaxed-looking cow for a leisurely
walk. Most important, the cow was wearing a bell. And as you know, you can
never get too much cowbell.
Feedback: Swirling
and sniffing like a wine enthusiast, one taster noted this ultra-pasteurized
milk’s “nice grassy nose.” Its flavor, though, left panelists wanting. “We’re
back to processed flavor,” sighed one man. “Super-homogenized!” said another.
Texture-wise, a kinder taster allowed for “some creaminess,” whereas another
found it to be “mouth-coating.”
Blue Hill Farm’s dairy operation
Blue Hill Farm whole milk
Price: $4 per half gallon (paid in cash at the farm, no records for the gummint to
find)
Eco upside: This local, unpasteurized (aka “raw”) milk comes from a picturesque farm
owned by chef Dan Barber’s Blue Hill restaurant and situated a few miles from
my house. Disclosure: The farmer is a friend of mine. The flink—15 to be
precise—of Dutch and Normande Belted ladies hang out on the rolling green pastures
in the sunshine doing that swishy-tail thing. Downside: There’s a lot of
controversy around the health and safety of raw milk. Advocates say the un-pasteurized stuff
is healthier for cows, people and the earth; the FDA and even many greens say it’s
a health hazard that could cause dangerous foodborne illnesses. Grist’s take is somewhat
in the middle, and the
Ethicurean has a detailed analysis of both the health and illness claims.
Feedback: Unlike
the other “milky” white milks, Blue Hill’s was yellowish, like eggnog with a darker
yellow ring. “Smells like a barn,” said one taster suspiciously. After tasting,
someone hooted, “I love raw milk!”, while another gagged, saying “It tastes
like I’m licking a cow’s ass.” Yet a third closed his eyes, sipped deeply, and
confirmed cognitive dissonance theory: “It’s like silage, but I could acquire
this taste.” The queasy taster, meanwhile, had pushed her chair away from the
table and was eyeing her glass as if it were full of spiders. “I’m not putting
that in my mouth again,” she wailed, to which another taster testily countered,
“This is the only milk my kids will drink.” The wailer then crossed her arms
while one of her “friends” snickered and made lewd milking gestures into her
glass. Taste summary: “Very grassy.”
Stonyfield organic whole milk
Price: $4.49
per gallon
Eco upside: USDA Organic – but Stonyfield is a Big Organic operation, which means
that its impacts, both good and bad, are magnified. The company gives
10 percent of its profits to green efforts. Downside: Stonyfield’s milk may
have been sourced from far away, even abroad, and who knows, despite the warm-and-fuzzy farmer profiles on
its website, the cows could be lined up like cordwood at some huge, insensitive
operation. The site does offer farm webcams, at least one
of which showed cows that were indoors, not frolicking in the sunshine.
Feedback: This milk also earned mixed comments. The raw-milk lovers sipped it with a mix
of Anna Wintour-ish disdain and disaffection: “It’s a basic milk,” someone
sighed. Meanwhile, the raw-milk hater sniffled that it was “pure comfort—happy, cool, and sterile.” Most offered
neutral comments “It makes me think of those little cartons,” and “a lunchroom
milk.”
The bottom line
On taste alone, Full
Circle’s ultra-pasteurized, in-store brand won this tasting, a result that will
surely make the raw milk terroirists irate.
Advice for dairy drinkers: No matter what you do, bag conventional milk. If you
can, find a local dairy farmer you trust and let taste be your guide. And if
you must reach for Big Organic, learn more about your potentially greenwashed
beverage by checking out the Cornocopia Institute’s dairy
report and scorecard. Lastly, consider drinking from the milk of human
kindness and cutting back on animal foodstuffs altogether. But when it comes to
dunking cookies, I think that’s easier said than done.
*Bovine factoid: Jersey
cows’ milk is not only naturally high in butterfat but also, according to
High Lawn’s web authors, the rather smallish cows themselves possess the “most
beautiful, doe-like face of the entire bovine kingdom.”
Related Links:
In Court Case, FDA Takes a Strong Stand Against Unabridged Food and Health Rights
Is raw milk becoming too popular for its own good?
