Saturday, June 19, 2010

A Question

Work milk

I think the flavor of organic milk is superior to non-organic milk, and I try to buy it whenever I can afford the extra expense. 

But has anyone else noticed that some organic milk has a weird, chalky aftertaste or under-taste?  When I buy milk from Costco, where it comes in bulk, or when I drink the milk in our fridge at work (pictured above), which is delivered to us, I can't get past that odd extra layer of flavor.  I don't notice this taste in organic milk bought at a "regular" grocery store or bodega.

To make things more confusing, I recently discovered that the organic whole milk at work (I had only been drinking 2% or skim) does NOT taste chalky.

What is up?!

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4 comments:

Dave said...

I've never noticed a specific chalky flavor in any particular brand of milk, but I do find that different milk brands have their own taste profile.

The milk I buy from a local dairy (pasture feed only and processed and bottled right there at the farm) tastes richer and "milkier" than standard grocery store milk. Each of the "big brands" available around here (Hood, Garelick, and Guida are three of them) taste slightly different from each other. I think it has something to do with the feeds the dairies use and the blends of different dairy's milks at the bottling plant.

Jennette said...

Very interesting. I haven't done a "milk taste test" since I was in 4-H in grade school (and that was for fat content, not brand). My current theory about the chalkiness is that it has something to do with less-than-full-fat milk prepared and shipped in enormous bulk to places like Costco and whatever company delivers to my office.

Livia said...

Organic milk is sometimes pasteurized differently than non-organic milk in order to lengthen its shelf life. Also, milk from different breeds of dairy cows definitely does have unique flavor and texture. It could be one or both of these things. Or something else entirely . . .

Jennette said...

Thanks, Livia! I wondered if it might have to do with shelf life. The "use by" date on organic milk sometimes seems suspiciously far away.

I wish I could just get raw milk (from a trusted source, of course) and be done with it.

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