Moo juice

Reivax said:
Does anyone here drink 'raw' milk, as in, fresh from the cow? I ask because my family has recently been offered some, free of charge, from an acquaintance dairy farmer. I understand that there is some debate about the health benefits/risks associated with its consumption. This arises due to the fact that raw milk is unhomogenized and unpasteurized.

What do you guys and girls think?

(If I do decide to drink it and get ill, that sucks. But I'm not going to hold any of you responsible, the decision is mine alone.) :p

Thanks in advance for your replies!
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I have drank "raw" milk and consider fresh from the teat (with a bit of chilling) to be the best tasting milk around. I wouldn't recpmmend it for every one, as it is extremely difficult to keep for any length of time in this state. The big problems with most consumer milk are in the high heat fast pasteurization which dramatically alters the taste, and in the homogenization and blending of the milk from multiple entire herds of animals. I prefer unhomogenized milk pasteurized using the slow and low (low heat ~ 145°F for ~30 minutes) method, which come from heritage breed family milk cows,...but it is difficult and expensive to be so choosey.
 
Amapola said:
FYI homogenization is just to mix the milk up so it does not separate.
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It's possible to buy unhomogenized (but still pasteurized) milk commercially.

BTW, since this thread is somewhat random anyways, check out this milk. It might not seem like anything remarkable at first glance, but read through the customer reviews to see how glorious it really is.
 
I grew up on raw milk, and find the stuff now available pretty much unpalatable. That said, a good part of this had to do not with the rawness, but with the fact that it was also unhomogenized, unskimmed milk from grass fed guernsey cows. It was rich, creamy and delicious. It was also rigorously tested and monitored by a family farm that took great pride in its product.

I know many people would contend that milk is milk and you can't tell the difference, but I have tasted enough truly fine milk to know that it makes a difference what kind of cows produced it, and what they ate.

If you trust the testing and sanitation of the farm in question, then I see no reason not to drink the milk. If you like the idea but don't quite trust the rawness, perhaps you could pasteurize it yourself. I don't think it's all that hard to do.
 
Tony said:
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2010/07/the_rawmilk_deal.html
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Read this: Link and then read this.

The FDA published that news release before their test results were even in. And once the test results were in, exonerating that farm... where is the news release for that?

I'll be the first to admit there are some goofy people on the "let's all drink raw milk because god wants us to" band wagon. But there are some EQUALLY goofy people on the "raw milk can kill you from 30 paces" band wagon. And unfortunately some of them work for the FDA.
 
This is actually a big debate in New Jersey right now. It is illegal to sell raw milk in the state, for health reasons. So people are driving to Pennsylvania to get their raw milk. As an Animal Science professor, I don't see the issue in raw milk IF the dairy is run in a clean manner, with proper testing, etc. The problem is, the IF part. Some dairies are run quite nicely, others not so much. But with proper oversight, I don't understand why our state doesn't revise the current ban.
 
Free milk? Fresh from the farm? Good heavens, yes, take it! There are few things better, in my opinion. Real cream for your berries or coffee.. yum! Others have already brought up making cheese, making your own butter is also quite easy, and so delicious.

If you are concerned, you know, it also is quite simple to pasteurize the milk at home.
 
slingblade said:
As a youngster, hubby used to drink it (in a glass, okay?) straight from the cow and still warm.
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Um, I see nothing wrong with this. We used to squirt it right into our mouths when we were milking the cows. You get enough pressure that you don't even have to get close to the utters. I remember it being nice and warm but actually a little too creamy for my taste.
 
Cheetah said:
But, but...but..it's for free!

But seriously, how big is the risk?
We used to drink a lot of fresh cow milk and my grandparents probably drank it exclusively.
You cannot let your life be ruled and dictated by all kinds of things that might just possibly happen.
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From the FDA:
Have any illnesses or deaths been caused by consuming raw milk products?

Based on CDC data, literature, and state and local reports, FDA compiled a list of outbreaks that occurred in the U.S. from 1987 to September 2010. During the 27-year period, there were at least 133 outbreaks due to the consumption of raw milk and raw milk products. These outbreaks caused 2,659 cases of illnesses, 269 hospitalizations, 3 deaths, 6 stillbirths and 2 miscarriages. Because not all cases of foodborne illness are recognized and reported, the actual number of illnesses associated with raw milk likely is greater.
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[Bolding mine]
Note that this compilation started after the 1985 LA listeria outbreak, which killed 48 people, caused by cheese made from unpasteurised milk.

So, some risk, no benefits, no thanks.
 
catsmate1 said:
From the FDA:
[Bolding mine]
Note that this compilation started after the 1985 LA listeria outbreak, which killed 48 people, caused by cheese made from unpasteurised milk.

So, some risk, no benefits, no thanks.
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Are you reading the same thread you're posting in?
 
BenBurch said:
TB is carried by raw milk.
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So is rabies......... There have been at least two cases of people in the US requiring treatment after consuming unpasteurised milk from cows with rabies, there are ~150 cases of bovine rabies in the US each year.
 
catsmate1 said:
So is rabies......... There have been at least two cases of people in the US requiring treatment after consuming unpasteurised milk from cows with rabies, there are ~150 cases of bovine rabies in the US each year.
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alarm·ism
noun \ə-ˈlär-ˌmi-zəm\
Definition of ALARMISM
: the often unwarranted exciting of fears or warning of danger

*ETA

Most healthy people who drank the milk or cream are not at risk for contracting rabies, Garner said. However, people with certain medical conditions, including suppressed immune systems or oral sores, should call the Health Department to determine whether post-exposure treatment is needed.
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Delicious Sauce
 
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Tony said:
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2010/07/the_rawmilk_deal.html
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Wow
Some, like Wisconsin raw-milk champion Max Kane, dismiss infectious disease altogether: "The bacteria theory's a total myth," Kane told one interviewer. "It allows us to have an enemy to go after similar to how it is with terrorism. It's food terrorism."
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The loons are out.........

And I learned something I didn't know before, Edsel Ford died of brucellosis from raw milk.
 
catsmate1 said:
Wow
The loons are out.........

And I learned something I didn't know before, Edsel Ford died of brucellosis from raw milk.
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... in 1943 ...

Oh, and the Wiki entry for him has this as "citation required" and cause of his death as stomach cancer...
 
Having worked on a dairy farm, you couldn't pay me to drink raw milk from cows. It's disgusting.
 
meg said:
Free milk? Fresh from the farm? Good heavens, yes, take it! There are few things better, in my opinion. Real cream for your berries or coffee.. yum! Others have already brought up making cheese, making your own butter is also quite easy, and so delicious.

If you are concerned, you know, it also is quite simple to pasteurize the milk at home.
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And again, from my personal perspective, low heat over longer time is much better (less affects taste) than brief periods of high heat. It is time consuming and thus more expensive to do this in a large dairy operation, but at home the time is your own and the taste difference is significant. From the standpoint of the typical bacteria in milk it doesn't much matter if you heat the milk to 145 for 30 minutes or to 280 degrees for 2 seconds, but from a taste standpoint, which is my primary concern, the difference between the gently warmed milk and singed moo-juice is distinct and easily discernable.
 
Trakar said:
And again, from my personal perspective, low heat over longer time is much better (less affects taste) than brief periods of high heat. It is time consuming and thus more expensive to do this in a large dairy operation, but at home the time is your own and the taste difference is significant. From the standpoint of the typical bacteria in milk it doesn't much matter if you heat the milk to 145 for 30 minutes or to 280 degrees for 2 seconds, but from a taste standpoint, which is my primary concern, the difference between the gently warmed milk and singed moo-juice is distinct and easily discernable.
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From my own very small experiments with my own family and our fresh goat milk, we could not taste a difference between milk pasteurized at 145F for 30 minutes or 165F for 15 seconds. The latter I found easier and faster to do.
 
meg said:
From my own very small experiments with my own family and our fresh goat milk, we could not taste a difference between milk pasteurized at 145F for 30 minutes or 165F for 15 seconds. The latter I found easier and faster to do.
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Perhaps the slightly higher goat-milk fats and slightly lower sugar content make a difference. It may be the partial carmelizations of bovine lactose that messes with the flavor. One the other hand the amino acid chains and content of goat and cow milk are very different as well, and in goat milk the medium length chains are much more resitant to changes in temperature than the ones found in cow milk.
 
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