Cow milk questions

[dragonfly1113]

I have always said that when I move to the country I want a milk cow but I remember drinking it when i was a child and didnt like it. When i go to the grocery store I get the red top milk (whole milk they call it) I mentioned this to some friends the other day and they said they didnt think I would like it and told me where I could buy it at a restaraunt here locally. So I went there today and bought a half gallon of white milk and a half gallon of chocolate. It has been pasteurized but is not homogenized. It comes in cute half gallon glass bottles. I thought it tasted just like the red top milk. It was really good. Had to shake it up real good because it had thick cream at the top. Does pasteurization change the flavor any? The reason i ask is because everyone has always told me that drinking milk that is not from the store takes getting used to and I loved it and thought it tasted like red top milk. Thanks,
Susie

[no1cowboy]

I had a gersy for years and never had a problem with it, pasteurization is just heating it to a point for a period of time, I have never noticed a differance in tast.goat milk tasts differnt and takes getting used to and butter milk will tast differant.

[georgec]

I think fresh cow's milk is sweeter. For one thing the cream content is higher. "Whole" milk has had some of the cream taken off, it's just a certain percentage to call it "whole".

[Russ_NEPA]

Now Cowboy, don't go passing on those old time notions. I have served our fresh raw cold goats milk to people who have sworn that they once had a bad experience with goats milk and would never drink it again. I first told them it was raw cows milk from a local farmer. Once they tried it and told me how much they liked it I spilled the beans. I personally can't distinguish fresh goat's milk from fresh cow's milk.

But either raw goat or cow's milk must be better for you than the old, overprocessed stuff the USDA passes off in the supermarkets.

Russ

[MullersLaneFarm]

Fresh Jersey milk will be sweeter & 'thicker' than any store bought whole. Fresh Holstein milk will be about the same as store bought whole.

I had one Public Radio reporter from Chicago (doing a piece on raw milk) say that fresh Jersey milk tasted like melted ice cream.

[xoxoGOATSxoxo]

I think both fresh cow milk and fresh goats milk taste the same, and both taste better than the "red top milk" cows milk that you get from the store. The red top is cow milk, right? Not like soy or anything? I guess it must be cow because you say it is whole milk....

Pasterization doesnt change the flavor, no. Both pasterized and raw taste the same, but pasterized is safer to drink if you are not used to drinking raw.

I think that there is some evidence that mechanically homegenized milk (homogenized cow milk) has an enzyme that can cause more plaque to stick to your arteries. It has not been proven. Neither goat milk nor unhomogenized cow milk have this enzyme.

[Stephen in SOKY]

Dragonfly, you've got a PM

[Donna from Mo]

Sometimes Jersey cream is so rich that it leaves little clumps of cream when you shake the milk up, and some people have a problem with that.

[haypoint]

If you were raised on whole milk from the store, milk from your cow will taste different. If you were raised on milk directly from the cow, store bought milk wold taste different. Is is generally what you are used to. Also, if I poured you a glass of milk that was what you normally drink and told you it was goat milk or whatever, you'd think it tasted different even tho it is what you regularly drank.
One year we had several deer in the freezer. Even tho I think venison tastes wild/gamey that's what I ate regularly for a few months. We had company come over so I put on some nice beef New York Strips. Tasted odd to me, I thought it was spoiled. It was fine, I just wasn't used to the taste. Same for milk and a lot of other things.
Pasturization is heating to kill and bacteria in the milk. Homogination is mixing ther milk so the cream doesn't come to the top.

[doing it in NM]

A lot of the taste has to do with what the cow has been eating, if wild onions are out it is stronger, along with a few other weeds they like to eat.

[Alice In TX/MO]

The important questions are:

1. Are you in the country now and planning to get the milk beast?
2. Do you realize how *much* milk you are going to have to deal with per day if your milker is a cow?

[Christiaan]

Raw milk is going to taste slightly like the beast it came from. Storebought is going to taste like the milk from a couple of thousand cows, mixed together, pasteurized and homogenized. So, there is a difference. You get used to whichever one you're drinking and that becomes the "normal" flavor.
Take a chance, live on the edge!
I had wanted to do our own milk cow, too. Unfortunately my arthritis is progressing to the point where I can't do that kind of thing twice a day for 10 months. Oh well, life is full of choices.

[Scrounger]

Originally Posted by Russ_NEPA

Now Cowboy, don't go passing on those old time notions. I have served our fresh raw cold goats milk to people who have sworn that they once had a bad experience with goats milk and would never drink it again. I first told them it was raw cows milk from a local farmer. Once they tried it and told me how much they liked it I spilled the beans. I personally can't distinguish fresh goat's milk from fresh cow's milk.

Russ

Dunno - I was raised on cow's milk (had our own cows) and my wife was raised on goat's milk (had their own goats). She hates cow's milk and I can't stands goat's milk. Goat milk tastes "dirty" to me. I've had it fresh from the "tap", cold, from several different goats, several different farms, several different BREEDS - it ALL tastes the same - "dirty" - compared to cow's milk. I sure could tell the difference.

[js2743]

i think different breeds milk taste different i like jersey the best i guess its the cream that makes the difference. some breeds dont produce the cream like some others do maybe you just remember drinking milk from a cow that didnt have much cream. it wasnt as rich as could have been, my grandmommy called it "old blue john milk". the milk was kinda blue looking like it had been mixed with water was very weak looking she wouldnt use it.