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The raw milk revolution — a world away from processed version
- The taste is spectacular. Smooth, silky, unctuous. Sweet almost, but not in the least rich, and with a body to it that's a world away from its anaemic processed cousin.
- If you drink it regularly, says Rosie, it tastes different every time: it changes with the season, with the weather
- Demand is rising, says Dave: “At first it was the older generation, who remembered what real milk tasted like. Now it's younger people, interested in authentic, unprocessed foods.
- The U.K.'s Food Standards Authority says bluntly it may contain bacteria “such as salmonella and E coli that can cause illness.
- In practice, says Dave, raw milk today is produced in clinically clean conditions, has no contact with the air, and is cooled to 4°C within five minutes. The risk is minimal.
- Besides tasting better, raw milk's proponents argue it is more nutritious, higher in vitamins, healthy enzymes and “good” bacteria than pasteurised milk. Studies have shown it can significantly reduce allergies.
- In the case of traditional breeds such as Guernseys and Jerseys, it is probably also more digestible. This is relatively recent and still disputed science, but the commonest type of milk in Britain (bar the Channel Islands), the U.S., and much of Europe bar France is produced by black-and-white Friesian and Holstein cattle and contains a type of protein known as A1.
- Traditional breeds and cows in Africa and Asia tend to produce A2 milk, as do horses, goats, buffalo — and humans.
- Hygiene aside, we have been sold the myth that milk is full of fat: a dairy industry delighted to sell its raw material twice (as “healthy” skimmed milk, and the skimmed-off cream) has somehow convinced us that whole milk is not good for us.
- It's less than four per cent. Milk is not a fatty product. It's been blended, homogenised, pasteurised, standardised, demonised.
