organic milk

[GakFoo]

why does it have so much longer of a shelf life than regular milk?

it seems like it would be the other way around

 

[Cap33]

According to the carton, it's ultra-pasteurized.

 

[DallasHorn]

I do not know, but I buy it. This year I have some seedlings for foods we eat, and also plan to hit up the Farmer's Market every weekend. I am a big believer in slow food. Local home grown stuff just tastes better.

 

[DeadHeadHorn]

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[Brisketexan]

I just don't want my kids to reach sexual maturity at age 8, so we avoid foods that are pumped full of hormones, milk being the chief culprit.

And yes, I know that there is supposedly no accepted data on the presence of hormones in milk and early onset puberty, but geez, it makes pretty good sense to me. And what the hell -- it doesn't cost that much more to buy the organic, so I went with "better safe than sorry" on that one.

We also buy organic eggs, and are looking into getting our own chickens (our neighbors have their own, and it rocks -- 1-3 eggs every day). I really like the natural foods, locovore trend, with the rule of "if your grandma wouldn't recognize it, you probably shouldn't eat it" as a good guideline. Of course, my grandma wasn't that sophisticated, and had never eaten sushi, so I gotta make some exceptions (although I already don't eat "chilean sea bass," and am thinking of adding bluefin tuna to that list as well -- the species are way overfished).

Goddamit. I am becoming more of an enviro-hippie every day. I still think that patchouli stinks, though, so I got that going for me.

 

[SomeMildLanguage]

It is "more" pasteurized than regular milk. Ultra-pasteurized.

 

[Stuck_At_Work]

Organic milk is the way to go. Period.

 

[DeadHeadHorn]

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[WhoseHouse]

So the "March 23" date on the Horizon 1% I bought >3 weeks ago is not a misprint?? I have been very skeptical of it but it still smells ok.
I used to get Promised Land and it would spoil fairly quickly, is it not organic?

 

[CaptainEd]

Horizon and Central Market Organics are the way to go. I am very picky about my dairy and expiration dates and have never had a bad experience with either.

 

[GakFoo]

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[Ahab]

I have read a number of things recently about problems with the organic milk industry. There is criticism that the industry has completely watered down the "access to pasture" requirements. According to one book I read, there may be little difference between the corporate organic milk products and regular milk (at least in regards to the way the cows are fed and pastured).

 

[utexas_61]

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[Brisketexan]

While I'd like for the cows to be fed and pastured better, it's really all about the hormones for me. I don't want to jack my young kids up on hormones.

I'll have enough problems with the effects of the natural hormones when they become teenagers, thankyouverymuch.

 

[Sii]

Horizon milk is really good

I was skeptical but it tastes much better than the normal store milk we used to buy

 

[Napoleon]

I thought that the pasturizing (sp?) process took a lot of the wholesome goodness out of milk. (I've never had it any other way, so I don't know.)

 

[bozo_casanova]

OK, a lot to address on this thread:
Horizon in a jug is conventionally pastuerized. In a carton it's "ultra pasteurized", which is why it lasts so long.

That's not necessarily a good thing, though, since normal pasteurization only goes to about 160, and UHT pasteurization gets into the 250-275 range, it may reduce the nutritional quality (less likely) and makes the milk taste "cooked". The upside is that it lasts so long. 7/10 people in Europe drink ultra.

As for Horizon, I'm dubious, just like I am with USDA organic labeling in general - the milk comes from a long, long way away, with cattle in industrial conditions who are side by side with non organic dairy cattle and minimal supervision. I think it's sort of absurd that you can call corn fed and heavily supplemented cattle products organic. I don't get how a cow that doesn't see pasture is producing organic anything. But at least it's probably hormone free (probably), which is a really big deal.

That being said, HEB employees have told me that Central Market dairy products come from local, Texas dairy farms running cattle on pasture.
I haven't followed through on that, because maybe I don't want to know, but Central market organic milk is certainly cheaper and appreciably fresher than horizon, and the grass diet makes the milk taste better, so the fact that you are supporting actual organic farming (at least if HEB is to be believed), is a good thing.

 

[kevwun]

You have to be careful with organics. Supermarkets know that they can charge extra for anything called organic. If it's a big deal to you, do some homework on where the stuff is actually coming from.

 

[RabidLonghorn]

I had to give up reg milk ans start drinking soy milk, it is better for you than normal milk.

 

[Benson32]

nothing better than horizon whole milk. i buy two gallons a week.

 

[Mrmyke709]

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[CottonEyedHorn]

Our family switched to Organic about a year ago and we haven't looked back. It flat out tastes better (no matter the brand). Between my son and I, we go through a lot of whole and 2%.

 

[William Cannon]

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