The Organic Dilemma

Let me tell you, it's difficult to get through Christmas without milk. Christmas cookies and chocolates are begging for a tall glass of milk. I've turned in desperation to the milk in our fridge from time to time, but it just isn't the same. It's watery and... weird.

I reasoned that really, I don't have a problem with the pasteurization per se, it's just that I like knowing where my milk is coming from, and that it isn't full of hormones, Johnne's, and puss from infected udders. I don't suffer from arthritis, lactose-intolerance, Crohne's disease, or any other problems that raw milk might help treat. So theoretically, if I could find trustworthy organic milk, all of my problems would be solved.

I asked my mom to buy organic milk, but she has read this blog and she knows that most of the organic brands are owned by the mega-corporations that find loophole after loophole to make their CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) milk count as "organic." All organic milk is not created equal. She knows that non-organic milk is produced under conditions that are less than desirable, but she can't buy raw milk and organic milk might not be much better than the normal stuff. Due to the lack of a clear solution, we continue buying the stuff we've always bought.

So once again, the problem comes down to the access to reliable information. What organic milk sticks to the original spirit of the organic label, believing that great milk really does come from happy cows?

Luckily, I found an organic milk scorecard from the Cornucopia Institute (Slogan: "Promoting Economic Justice for Family Scale Farming"). The investigation covered all kinds of dairy products, including ice cream, raw milk, yogurt, and goat milk and cheese. The original study was published in 2006, but Cornucopia's website says the scorecard is "updated". They rated 107 organic dairy brands on many different factors, including:

• the amount of pasture time for the herd
• the use of hormones and antibiotics
• the health and longevity of the cows (cull rate)
• the source of replacement animals (organic or conventional farms)
• their organic farm certifier

(See http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/10/29/horizon-aurora-and-woodstock-organic-milk-get-the-smackdown-from-cornucopia/)

We do our grocery shopping either at Giant or Safeway, both of which get milk from suppliers who were rated in the lowest bracket. It's not a better product; it's a rip-off. There are good brands available, though, including Whole Foods 365 Organic and Organic Valley. Kroger's brand is a no-no, but Harris Teeter's brand scored somewhere in the middle. I was surprised that Trader Joe's organic milk is just as bad as Giant and Safeway's.

My favorite part of the scorecard (aside from the fact that now we know what organic brands to buy) is that the #1 rated brand is Animal Farm, located in Orwell, Vermont. Orwell's Animal Farm is where we find the nation's happiest cows? Really?

The Milkless Month

Even though I love the sense of community that comes with a cow share operation, there are certainly drawbacks to being locked into a weekly delivery system. December means the end of the semester, so I'm out of Charlottesville for a month during the break. I had hoped that break would correspond with my cow's dry season, when she'd naturally stop producing milk. Apparently Gertrude is too tough to let the winter slow her down. For the four weeks that I'm gone, the milk doesn't stop coming, and even though I can't pick it up (I'm not quite crazy enough to drive four hours round-trip every Friday) I can't stop paying for it. I'm not really paying for milk, I'm paying a cow boarding fee, after all.

So I'm left with two dilemmas: I'm milk-less, and my milk is homeless.

The homeless milk is the easiest predicament to solve. It turns out that it's pretty easy to find someone who is willing to take on an extra half gallon of milk during the holidays. It's another reason cow shares can be tough--the amount you recieve every week is completely inflexible. You can't get any more or less than your share allows. When I posted my half-gallon as single and ready to mingle on the local raw milk forum, there were many interested parties who needed extra milk.

Of course, it's illegal for anyone to financially compensate me. Nobody can buy it from me. However, bartering and thank you gifts are legal. My holiday milk donations are earning me home made granola and candles.

So my milk isn't going to waste, problem #1 solved. What about me? I'm used to drinking whole, raw milk, and I find myself now with a fridge full of pasteurized 1%.

I'm despondent.

Homemade cheese (and yogurt, and butter)

I think it's worth it to stop for a moment and re-define dairy products we eat without thinking about, and terms that are traditional but have lost their meaning. The reason we call milk "skim" if all the fat has been taken out is because normally the fat floats to the top, and you skim it off with a spoon--then it's "skimmed milk."

You know how we say milk that has gone bad has "soured"? Pasteurized milk just turns bad, but raw milk actually sours thanks to the bacteria still alive inside of if. If I skimmed off the cream from my milk and let it sit out at room temperature, in a couple days it would be totally edible sour cream. The sour cream we buy in stores is from pasteurized cream that is re-introduced to its bacterial friends, then re-pasteurized once the bacteria have done their work. Yogurt is milk that has slightly soured under heat.

The buttermilk you can buy in the store is not anything like the milk left over after you make butter. (To make butter at home, just buy 100% cream, put it in a jar, and shake it around for about 15 minutes. The fat separates from the liquid and you get butter and butter milk--see picture). Buttermilk from a store is actually slightly fermented milk, which they make by adding lactic acid to pasteurized milk.

Believe it or not, cheese, like milk, does not spontaneously appear on grocery store shelves, nor is its creation dependent upon a factory. I've actually experimented with cheese making at home for a couple years, so my experience here pre-dates all awareness of raw milk. The simplest way to make cheese is to heat milk to just under boiling point, then add in acid of some kind (vinegar, or lemon or lime juice work well) to make the milk curdle. After that you pour the curds and whey through cheese cloth (remember Little Miss Muffet?), letting the whey drain off and holding onto the curds. Press the curds together, and presto! Home made soft cheese!

What I find so amazing is that raw milk manages to preserve itself naturally, which explains how it was used so extensively by many cultures without any method of pasteurization. Cheese keeps longer than milk, as do fermented and soured milk products. The acid in fermented milk products keeps harmful bacteria from growing, making it safe to eat for a longer period of time. People have been finding ways for thousands of years to get the health benefits of dairy without constantly consuming fresh milk. What's more, they had to make the products on their own, without fancy machines or labels. Home made mozzarella is within your grasp!

A Brush with Reality (and Oniony milk)

In late October, this email graced my in-box, highlighting the joys and pitfalls of free range cattle operations. I laughed, then prepped for onion milk cheese-making. Normally we drink our milk so fast that I don't want to spare any for cheese, or even butter. I was honestly a little disappointed when my milk turned out to be onion-free that week.

"Hi Shareholders.

Last week we fenced off a paddock from the milking herd where we had spotted some fresh, wild onions. Unfortunately, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and our girls, who care more about presumed pasture delicacies than fresh breath, broke through the fence. Although this has never happened before, we can't guarantee that it won't happen again. We can assure you that it won't happen again this season because the girls devoured all the onions!

Off-tasting milk is not yummy to drink but still good for you so here are some recommendations for onion-flavored milk:

Sausage Corn Chowder

• 1 pound sausage
  
• 1 cup diced onions
• 1 cup diced red bell peppers
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk
  
• 12 ears corn, sliced from cob and creamed slightly in food processor
  
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 teaspoons sliced green scallions (optional)

Over medium-high heat, brown and crumble sausage in soup pot. While sausage begins to brown, add onions and red peppers, cook until tender and sausage is no longer pink. Drain. Add flour, stir well into mixture and cook 5-6 minutes. Add milk and combine with sausage mixture. Add cream corn and simmer for 20-25 minutes until base thickens. Add garlic powder, salt and pepper. Garnish with scallions on top in soup bowl.

Yogurt Cheese

~1 quart plain raw yogurt
~cheese salt
~herbs (basil, garlic, chives, black pepper, and dill)

After making fresh yogurt, pour into colander lined with cheesecloth. Tie corners of the cloth into a knot and hang the bag to drain for 12 - 24 hours, or until the yogurt has stopped dripping and has reached the desired consistency. Remove cheese from bag; add salt and herbs to taste. Store in covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. A tasty treat on crackers or bagels.

Feel free to email if you have any questions we might answer regarding the cows' untimely onion episode. We're sorry if this has left a bad taste in your mouth and are sure the future will prove better with predictably delicious milk. Thanks so much for your understanding."

Meet Gertrude

Even though the dairy industry insists that there's no difference between organic, non-organic, and raw milk, we've probably all seen the commercials for California dairy with the tag line, "Great milk comes from happy cows." My cow's name is Gertrude. According to the farmer who milks her every day, she's a very gentle cow and to date has never attempted to kick him. Good girl. When I met her on the farm's "Shareholder Appreciation Day: A Chance to Give thanks for Udders," she was wearing a rather rumpled winter coat and a blue bow on her tail so that I could identify her. She rotates through various pastures with the other cows and a flock of deliciously free-range chicken friends, who are tasked with scattering the manure into more effective fertilizer. I know that she's tested negative for TB, and Virginia is a brucellosis-free state, so there's no worry there. She's also old enough that she would have died already if she carried Johne's disease. She is fed a little grain each day (it makes milking time rather exciting for a cow), but spends most of her time grazing.

I'll admit, this is all still a little weird to me. You have to understand that about three months ago I was a "normal" milk drinker. My parents don't even buy organic. I absolutely did not get milk from a cow with a name and an easily identifiable diet.

Yet I found myself driving the two hours from Charlottesville to Amelia in order to see my cow first hand, because that's what this is all about, right? A direct relationship with your food source, human and animal. And if you're going to get raw milk, I think you'd better know where it's from and who is handling it before it gets to you. Plus it was an adventure, and an excuse to road trip to a new part of Virginia at a time when gas prices had fallen to well below $2.

I enjoy celebrating the small farm. What seems like a bizarre relationship to many of us now was not just a few decades ago. My parents had easy access to raw dairy growing up, and some of my older cousins grew up drinking raw dairy. More to the point, they grew up drinking milk and eating other food that came from a farm they were familiar with. Although this is anecdotal evidence, none of my family members are dead yet (at least on account of dairy-related diseases), and I'm not either.