I apologize if this is a reboot, but I am having trouble searching for this.
In my long slow quest to eat mainly whole foods and “don’t eat things that your great- grandmother wouldn’t recognize”* discovered “standard milk” non-homogenized whole milk, both organic and non organic. It tastes good, and oddly it doesn’t seem to give me the digestive upset that drinking a glass of 2% does.
My only problem is the solidified thick cream in the neck of the bottle. It is absolutely delicious if I add it to my porridge, or if I put it in a smoothy. In coffee it leaves greasy floating pools on the surface, almost as if I added butter. (I know, they are quite similar). But if I am not currently making porridge or smoothies, I don’t really know what to do with this blob. Yummy yummy thick cream.
*I’ve modified it to “someone’s great grandmother”. *My *great grandmother wouldn’t recognize sushi, pad Thai, or probably even avocados, but I am not giving them up.
Not the first thick cream in the neck of the bottle. It has a texture between whipped cream and butter. I would have to warm the milk first to have a hope of incorporating the thick cream into the rest of the milk.
W.A.G here, but I’m guessing that great great grandma would find homogenized milk to be an improvement unless she required lots of cream. Since all homogenization does is force milk through a sieve to reduce the fat globules to a small enough size that they will stay in suspension it doesn’t seem like it would be an obvious target to avoid in staying away from processed/adulterated foods.
I’m vegan so don’t know anything about current classifications of milk products, but in the last century ( and it continues in some places, although presumably in packets ) most British people had a daily early morning delivery of bottled milk with foil tops. ( From the mid 19th century by horse and cart, then by motorised vehicle [** Father Ted** had an e[episode devoted to** Pat the Milkman** and the capabilities of his electric cart. ] )
If I remember aright, Gold Top was the best and creamiest, Silver Top regular and some places had Red Top and Green Top ? ( one of which was unpasteurised ). Gold Top frequently had a clog of cream at the neck under the foil, and was notorious for — left on the doorstep before retrieval — attracting small tits to perch on the bottle’s edge and peck at the cream through the tin-foil. It was highly esteemed for human consumption.
Plus Robins also: Tits are a family of small British birds.
Beat it a bit to give it a creamy consistency, and eat it with strawberries or other fruit. If you’re not against sugar or other sweeteners, beat that in, too.
Also look for English versions of recipes for “pan de nata” – really good stuff, and simple to make (“nata” is the fresh milk cream that you’re having trouble dealing with).
Just shake the bottle. Or maybe that only works with fresh milk? Try shaking harder.
Since it’s “like butter” you can use it “like butter”. Traditionally, on fresh scones. Perhaps on cornpone or pop-overs. If that’s to decadent for you, my mother would just scoop some of the cream off the top and throw it away: it had more cream than shop milk anyway, and she thought we didn’t need the extra milkfat.
Also added to pasta souce (not italian at all, but you can eat pasta without being Italian), or even added to chilli-con-carne
You can make butter from it. Rather than hand-churning or shaking I recommend using an electric mixer.
It can also be used in heated cream sauces and cream soups. Every time I make cream of potato soup I have to go on a hunt for heavy cream, I wouldn’t mind some of yours.
It freezes pretty well, so if you don’t use it all up you can save it. It’s great on toast with honey if you whip it for a bit to get it fluffy. You can dice some chives and herbs and mix it in for a topping as well.
Seeing the listings on the website linked by the OP reminds me that 7-11 rings up its whole milk on the register as “Homo milk.” I’m a little surprised that no one has ever questioned that.
When it was very thick it could approach Devonshire Clotted Cream, which I used to have with either strawberry jam or grape jelly as a child ( in Devon ). Grape Jelly is more uncommon now.
Homogenization for milk was invented in the 19th century. For most people that passes the great-grandmother test. (Not me, but I’m almost 19th century myself.)
It’s also an industrial process that can’t be imitated by mere shaking. The milk is forced at high speed through a small nozzle to reduce the fat globules to 2 microns.
True story that I have never thought to share, but will temporarily hijack this thread:
I was in Midwest farm country. Sent to get “whole milk” for a sister-in-law for her toddler. I look, and there is “Vitamin D” milk. I was inattentive enough to buying food as a young buck to not quite recall: that’s the same as “Whole Milk” right?
I turn to the store employee and asked: “Excuse me, but is Vitamin D milk Whole Milk?”
“Yeh…” he says, sharing a smile with a few teeth missing. I go ahead and pull the carton out of the fridge.
then finishes: “…it’s 'ho milk because it’s Homogized”
I had already turned away from him. “Excuse me?”
He takes my carton, twists it, points to the word “Homogenized” and says, very slowly and clearly so that poor me could understand him:
“I said: It’s HO Milk [points to the word] because it’s HO-MO-Gized.”
I quietly say “Thank you!” and scuttled along. The checkout lady confirmed what I needed.
Near where I grew up in Wisconsin there was a gas station whose sign included the price for the 3 kinds of gas they carried with the 4th slot devoted to showing the price for a gallon of “HOMO MILK”. It was a source of jokes amongst us kids.
Growing up in Michigan we never have a second thought to “homo milk”; it was advertised quite widely. Often Canadians/Ontarians will claim that it’s local thing, but it’s really not.
These days I just see “milk”; I guess everyone can take it for granted that it’s been homogenized.
If I was getting more than I was using per each container, I’d probably collect it and add it to either a jar in the fridge if I used it within a week or so, or a container for the freezer if I took longer to use it. You could probably even use those little snack baggies to keep it in smaller servings. Write the date on the baggie with a sharpie.
Good ideas every one. My favourite is in porridge, and adding to cream soups… (I had forgotten I’d done that). Next time I make scones I will serve some reserved thick cream.
By the way I am not scared off by science words like homogenized. I buy it cause it tastes awesome. And usually on certain days I find it 50% off.
Just as long as I buy 2% or homo for the Mr all is good.
