Milk In Bsas

[Marive]

If anyone's interested in non-cow milk (goat, almonds, etc) you can find a few brands at Casa China in barrio Chino, but they're quite pricey though.

 

[la_guachita]

For me the reason the milk is gross is because the cows are treated with bovine growth hormone which makes their udders swell and become infected, causing pus and blood to get into the milk -- that's why it has to be ultra pasterized. Then to treat the infection they are given antibiotics, which also get in the milk.

Raw milk from grass-fed healthy cows is fine.

There is a company called La Choza that has not raw but naturally produced milk and yogurt. You can also return the glass bottles, so if you can afford it at $16 a liter it's a much more righteous option.

 

[kerriem]

We are curious about the milk we buy here in BsAs.

We are from Australia, where we have plentiful fresh milk that MUST be refrigerated. It is curious for us that it seems you can only buy long life milk here.

So, two questions:

Are there any milk experts out there who could shed some light on what the milk contains/the milking process etc?
Does anyone know somewhere we can buy FRESH pasteurised milk?

Thanks!

Finally, a use for the knowledge I gained growing up on an (Australian) dairy farm! The difference between fresh and long life (UHT) milk is the temperature to which it is heated during processing. Fresh milk is heated to about 75 degrees Celcius for 15 seconds which kills most bacteria but as you know only gives it a shelf life of a few days. UHT is heated to about 170 degrees Celcius for two or three seconds which kills off almost all bacteria and hence gives it a much longer shelf life. No chemicals are added to UHT, it is pure heat treatment that gives it the long shelf life. As for people wanting untreated milk straight from the cow, well I acknowledge that this has been drunk for generations but you should know that whatever is in the cows udder (dead cells, infections) or on the cows udder (mud, poo, wee, dead skin cells) goes straight into the milk bucket along with the milk (apologies if I've just put anyone off their morning coffee!). Obviously people are free to drink what they want but the elderly and very young had a habit of getting sick from untreated milk which is why milk is now heat treated to kill bacteria.

 

[kerriem]

Thanks Montauk_Project! Have you bought the powdered milk? If so, what does it taste like?
I agree with you that the milk is SCARY! (just like the curiously long lasting vegetables, but that's for another forum topic!!!!)

I find that the fruit and vegetables here last a lot longer than in Australia because (almost) everything is in season and grown locally. In Australia a lot of our fruit and vegetables are in cold storage for six to twelve months, so when they're brought out of cold storage they're half dead within three days. Hence the carrots you buy from Coles go black five seconds after you've put them in the fruit bowl when the carrots from my Grandma's vegetable patch would last weeks as do the carrots you find here. I am loving it here because the fruit and veg has actual flavour and tastes more nutritious simply because it hasn't been sitting in a warehouse for six months. Granted it is a pain not being able to find certain fruits that aren't in season, but that is something I've just grown used to and is easy enough to work around.