Raw Milk

[Fastpedaller]

We've seen a lot of places selling raw milk. I'm sure it's no use to me (lactose intollerant) but surely pasteurisation has been used for a very long time for a reason. Anyone care to comment?
Drinking the milk of another species seems strange anyway - how did it become popular, and why not horses?

 

[briantrumpet]

I drank it for years as I was a herdsman and got it fresh out of the tank (it does taste lush), but there are good reasons for pasteurisation.

I can't see that drinking cows' milk (or goats', or camels', or whatever) is much weirder than eating meat, on an evolutionary basis. Is it weirder than eating honey?

 

[wiggydiggy]

I'd imagine me drinking raw milk would be like triying to swallow a brick as I'm partial to UHT Red Top as my milk of choice.


View: https://youtu.be/N0Gm4uiJXfM?si=8EaDh809rte2Ihup

 

[classic33]

Can't drink raw milk, but can quite happily use it in tea/coffee.

 

[roley poley]

I would cycle past the milkman on my way to work at 5.00am as a postman and buy a bottle of silver top to chug down leaving the empty bottle on one of his customers doorsteps.... no problem it was part of my breakfast regime ...they are few and far between these days most people buying from the supermarket now

 

[Bazzer]

Drank it for years after my parents moved to a more rural location. Whilst still at school and I got a weekend job as a milkman in the same area, it was overwhelmingly the most popular milk. I also used to do bottling and the taste of the milk, which a few minutes earlier had been in a cow, just after chilling was superb.
When Mrs B and I bought our first house in an urban location, I had to stop drinking it because neither the milkman nor ASDA stocked it.
As to drinking milk, isn't it a cultural thing? I thought some cultures think it is weird us drinking cow milk. I am sure there are many people in this country at least, who think eating insects is gross, yet it is not uncommon in some other countries.

 

[Dogtrousers]

There's some faddism around raw milk emerging from (as usual) the US. Overstated and unsubstantiated claims that it has various benefits and that pasteurisation destroys important super-components (insert totally made-up nonsense). It is, as usual, total cobblers made up for clicks.

It's not a super-food nor is it evil toxic stuff that'll kill ya. It's milk. There are some risks that certain groups need to be aware of if consuming unpasteurised milk.

Some cheeses are traditionally made with raw milk and there is some risk around them and vulnerable people should avoid/be cautious.

 

[briantrumpet]

There's some faddism around raw milk emerging from (as usual) the US. Overstated and unsubstantiated claims that it has various benefits and that pasteurisation destroys important super-components (insert totally made-up nonsense). It is, as usual, total cobblers made up for clicks.

It's not a super-food nor is it evil toxic stuff that'll kill ya. It's milk. There are some risks that certain groups need to be aware of if consuming unpasteurised milk.

Some cheeses are traditionally made with raw milk and there is some risk around them and vulnerable people should avoid/be cautious.

Good summary. In general, well-produced raw milk is safer now than when pasteurisation was introduced (as long as all the tests for various bovine diseases are part of the regime, as they are in the UK), not least because of the stringent cleanliness tests and the relative ease with which modern milking equipment can be kept sterile). But given how effective pasteurisation is, on a population-wide level, it's beneficial to ensure that vulnerable people - the young, old, and pregnant - are safeguarded.

 

[Electric_Andy]

We lived on a dairy farm so drank "raw" milk full time until I left home at 20. The shop bought milk actually tastes creamier, as it's mixed and blasted through tiny holes so the fat breaks up evenly. From our 10,000L tank, the tap was at the bottom so you'd get less of the cream, unless the tank was on a stir cycle. I used to take Dad out a cup of tea whilst he was milking, and sometimes if the tank was mid -cycle and we'd run out of milk indoors, he'd squirt in the milk straight from teat to cup!

 

[briantrumpet]

We lived on a dairy farm so drank "raw" milk full time until I left home at 20. The shop bought milk actually tastes creamier, as it's mixed and blasted through tiny holes so the fat breaks up evenly. From our 10,000L tank, the tap was at the bottom so you'd get less of the cream, unless the tank was on a stir cycle. I used to take Dad out a cup of tea whilst he was milking, and sometimes if the tank was mid -cycle and we'd run out of milk indoors, he'd squirt in the milk straight from teat to cup!

Never did that, haha. Always scooped the milk out of the top (when I was herdsmanning it wasn't a 'sealed' tank with a ladder 'like they modern ones'), so the creaminess was never a problem... and extremely good for making clotted cream yum!

 

[Marchrider]

I know of someone, or at least my dad knew them (this is going back to the 1980s) who used to work in a dairy, he used to bottle some of the unpasteurised stuff and take it home - his wife got brosolosis and died.

 

[CXRAndy]

I've had milk from the cow, tastes fantastic. Obvious the risks of hygiene are why milk is pasteurised.

Get full fat pasteurised if you like the taste

 

[presta]

I think Twitter's been earwigging in my browser history, this appeared at the top of my timeline immediately after I read this thread


View: https://x.com/DrNeilStone/status/1903722717183881287

 

[Dave7]

Many years ago while on holiday in Devon we called in at at farm that had a sign advertising cream teas and fresh milk.
We enjoyed the scones n cream etc then asked for a pint of milk. The farmer said "i'll go and milk the cow".
A while later he came back with a bottle of milk, straight out of the cow and still warm.
I am still here