They taste identical to me, but I know many people prefer one to the other on grounds of taste.
Is there research out there showing that some people can reliably make the distinction?
My wife says she much prefers 1% to 2% based on how they taste. Can people really reliably make that distinction?
Are you drinking it, or just putting it in your coffee?
Seriously, I can’t imagine not being able to tell the difference. It’s like “can you tell the difference between milk and cream?”
I could ace a blind taste test (pretty sure I could tell skim from 1% and 2% too, not sure about the latter two from each other). Not only do they taste quite different because of the fat content, they have an entirely different mouthfeel and consistency.
I used to beg my mom when I was little to buy the whole milk I preferred, she insisted on 2% which wasn’t half as good.
Uh, yes. This isn’t like comparing Pepsi and Coke. Skim milk is watery compared to whole.
Sounds to me like you’ve already done the research yourself. Why are you asking us? Do you not believe your wife and other acquaintances?
Okay, maybe the above was a bit snarky, and I apologize. I guess you’re trying to take a poll of how common it is to tell the difference. Personally, I have trouble telling the difference between 1% and 2%. I can easily tell the difference between whole and skim, and I like the whole better, but it is not enough of a difference to override skim’s health benefits.
Not only can I taste the difference, I can SEE the difference.
Yes, I can tell the difference between cream, whole milk, and lowfat/skim milk. Part of it is taste, and part of it is mouthfeel. Lowfat and skim milk taste and feel more like water than milk.
If you’re used to skim milk, then whole milk seems like paint in comparison. It even looks different when you pour it on your cereal or in a glass.
Growing up one of the places I lived was a dairy farm. Used to have milk direct from vat. Now all I get is crap with three week shelf life low fat. Between whole and low fat there is a huge diff. Between long shelf life and what I used to drink is huge diff. I won’t drink the current colored water we get.
They taste very different, and even the feeling they give in the mouth is very different.
Who needs pasturazation? Straight from the vat; those were the days! I remember having to shake the bottle (yes we used glass bottles) in order to mix the cream on top with the rest of the milk. My mom always sent a gallon or two with me when I went back to college every week and my roommate gained eight pounds one semester because he used to just suck up the cream on top.
Totally different. Even in tea. Occasionally I’ve put Widget’s whole milk into my tea by mistake, instead of our 2.5% (the cartons look the same, except one has a green flash and one has a blue), and I knew the second I tasted it. If you’re used to semi-skimmed, then whole milk feels like it coats your tongue.
A few weeks back they switched our brand of semi-skimmed from 2.5% to 1% - I didn’t notice the writing on the carton, but again, I knew something was weird as soon as I tasted it. It tasted like I’d somehow put water in my tea.
? You can’t tell? Like folks have said, you can see the difference. I will tolerate skim in oatmeal, but I have to have at least 1% on cereal. I much prefer 2% though.
Not sure if I’ve ever had whole, but I imagine it does look like paint compared to skim.
Once I bought 1% milk by mistake and could tell it was not the 2% milk I thought I had bought. I can also taste the difference between non-pulp orange juice from concentrate versus non-pulp orange juice from concentrate with added calcium.
Yep. Taste, appearance, and mouth feel are all different. They may even smell different, I’ll have to do a test. The senses would be unanimous if whole and skim made different sounds.
Everybody’s different so I am not saying it’s impossible, but I have real difficulty believing that somebody could not tell the difference between whole milk and skim milk. I’m not sure I could tell the difference between 1% and 2%, but I can tell the difference between whole and 1% or 2% and between those and skim. The consistency of skim is (to me) radically different from any of the others and I don’t like it at all.
Yeah, when you’re accustomed to 2%, skim looks slightly bluish; my guess is that it’s slightly translucent and catches the light strangely. Skim also tastes a lot like powdered milk when you’re not used to it.
I can tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi, though I would agree that both probably taste the same in a bowl of cereal.
And what good would that do you in a blind taste test? 
IIRC Whole milk is 3.7%, so going from whole to 2% is about a 25% loss of a ingredient, just like in recipes, some ingredients you can leave out with out much effect, others are noticeable, and reducing one of those by 1/4 or 1/2 can make the product quite different.
Sorry, I feel for you.