I drink raw milk.
I drink fresh, raw milk. Really fresh, really raw and always in season. In essence, I drink real milk. I’ve waxed poetic about my love of fresh cream before, but now it’s milk’s turn.
My milk is fresh, in season, grass-fed, full-fat and locally produced. It is rich, and luscious and creamy and it is a living food, teeming with beneficial bacteria, food enzymes and naturally occurring vitamins and minerals. It is not fortified; it doesn’t need to be – for every mineral, every vitamin contained in that cool glass of frothy white milk was placed there by nature as it is in all truly whole and unrefined foods. Real milk – raw milk – doesn’t need fortification as vitamins, minerals and enzymes remain intact instead of broken, denatured and destroyed through heat processing by standard pasteurization or, worse yet, the extreme temperatures reached through ultra-high-temperature (UHT) pasteurization.
Raw milk is a living food. It is dense in food enzymes and beneficial bacteria – two components of traditional diets that are severely lacking in the standard American diet in which foods have been subject to irradiation, pasteurization and other treatment. Raw milk, like any raw food, contains food enzymes – notably amylase, catalase, lactoperoxidase, lipase and phosphatase1. These food enzymes play important physiological functions in the human body; notably, they help our bodies to better digest our foods. Amylase helps our bodies to digest carbohydrates, while lipase helps us to digest fats. Lactase, though not an actual component of milk itself, but a result of the presence of beneficial bacteria in raw milk, helps to digest lactose, or milk sugar. Raw milk is also a good source of beneficial bacteria – which are critical to human health (learn more about beneficial bacteria and lactic acid fermentation).
I drink milk in season.
We don’t often think of milk as a seasonal food, but it is. The value of fresh milk and is at its height in spring, when grasses are green and lush and cows grazing on these fresh grasses produce cream particularly dense in naturally occurring fat-soluble vitamins – particularly vitamin A and E, though it also contains vitamins D and K2 in smaller quantities1. Moreover, the milk and cream of cows grazing on fresh pasture is extraordinarily rich in conjugated linoleic acid, a substance linked to reduced risk of cancer2, 3, 4. In traditional dairy-consuming societies, the milk of cows grazing on fresh, spring grasses was particularly well-prized5. Such milk, fresh and in season, is rich in flavor and that flavor changes, ever so slightly as the season progresses. Come winter, the cows go dry and we wait a few months for fresh milk once more – increasing our enjoyment once it arrives again in spring. There is nothing quite as charming and quaint as fresh strawberries paired with fresh cream when both hit their peak season in early spring.
I drink whole milk.
I drink whole milk, with its fat content fully intact – shaking the half-gallon mason jar until the cream that has naturally risen to the top combines with the milk. Real food is full-fat. Traditional societies consumed meat with accompanying fat, and milk with its full complement of wholesome, nourishing fats including vaccenic acid – a fatty acid with health benefits that could outweigh those of conjugated linoleic acid alone6. Despite what you may have heard to the contrary, fat – particularly dairy fat – may also play a role in protecting cardiovascular health; indeed, a recent study indicates that while fruit and vegetable consumption helped to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, they only did so when combined with full fat dairy7. Moreover, studies analyzing the role of dietary fat and human reproduction indicate that women consuming skim and low-fat dairy products experienced greater risk of anovulatory infertility while the consumption of full-fat dairy products actually decreased the risk of infertility8. And, despite current recommendations that children should consume low-fat and skim milk products as opposed to whole milk, evidence indicates that doing so does not decrease the risk of overweight in preschoolers9.
I drink local milk.
I drink locally produced milk, from people I trust and people I know care for their herd. Doing so ensures that the money I spend for the food I feed my family stays within my community and supports the very people actually producing the food I consume rather than the people marketing the food I consume. My decision to support my locally owned family-run farm means the continued viability of local agriculture within my community; moreover, it ensures that I can easily visit the farm, see the cows that my family owns through our cow share program and watch how they’ve been cared for. This system establishes trust, supports the local economy and continues to maintain the viability of time-honored traditions in agriculture. There’s a great deal of relief in knowing exactly where your food comes from, being able to ask questions and see firsthand how the cow was treated, what she was fed and how she was milked. There’s a great deal of relief in this system.
1. Raw-milk-facts.com (Accessed. Sunday, April 18, 2010) 2. Belury. Inhibition of carcinogenesis by conjugated linoleic acid: Potential mechanisms of action. Journal of Nutrition. October, 2002. 3. Bocca et al. CLA reduces breast cancer cell growth and invasion through ERalpha and PI3K/Akt pathways. Chemical-biological interactions. January, 2010. 4. O’Shea, et al. Milk fat conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) inhibits growth of human mammary MCF-7 cancer cells. Anti-cancer Research. September – October, 2000. 5. Price. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. 6. Field, et al. Human health benefits of vaccenic acid. Applied physiology, nutrition and metabolism. October, 2009. 7. Holmberg et al. Food Choices and Coronary Heart Disease: A Population Based Cohort Study of Rural Swedish Men with 12 Years of Follow-up. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. October 2009. 8. Chavarro et al. A prospective study of dairy foods intake and anovulatory infertility. Human Reproduction. May, 2007. 9. Huh, et al. Prospective association between milk intake and adiposity in preschool-aged children. Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
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Beautiful!
When I first started drinking raw milk I didn’t understand about the hush-hush surrounding it. Now I do and it makes me so sad. Doesn’t stop me from drinking it and talking about it, though.
we are Grade A Raw Milk producers around the Dallas Metroplex. We’ve been dairy farming for many years but just in the last two years saw the demand for Raw Milk from our neighbors and friends. If you’re seeking Texas Raw Milk please check out the website for Texas Real Milk and join the Raw Milk Movement and be supportative so we can help change the legislation in favor of our consumers and producers.
Raw Milk is Wonderfully Healthy!
Just read this, and heard from our farmer at the farmers market on Saturday that they are hoping this legislation will be passed by June. Joined and will be writing my representative! Very excited!
I am in the Dallas area, could you let me know how to contact your farm, desparately looking for real milk
We are in New Braunfels and are fortunate to be part of a (back door) co-op that offers fresh Raw Milk! We love it and are part of the Movement. Thank you for what you do and we are spreading the word about Raw Milk and it’s benefits.
I live in Schertz and would love to find a resource for raw milk to make kefir, cheese and yogurt. I was recently diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and cannot have the byproducts found in many foods, including dairy products. Thank you for the guidance.
I am in San Angelo and would also LOVE to find a good source for raw milk!
I feel so fortunate to live within 20 minutes of a wonderful dairy here in Central Texas for $7.50 per gallon. It is so fresh and wholesome, I believe we have had a lot less illness in the past year. Even the kids agree, they tell me they don’t like store bought milk anymore
Makes yummy yogurt too.
Unfortunately, I probably won’t openly tell our doctor, just don’t want to get read the riot act when I know this is so much healthier for us.
Hi Susan, I am in Central Texas too. Where do you get your milk? How wonderful your dairy is so close. Ours is a bit far.
Love,
Mary
Hooray! We are fortunate to have access to a dairy that also sells it’s raw product to local consumers. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to ladle that beautiful liquid gold from the big holding tank into my glass jars – and the flavor?! In spring?! I could go through a gallon a day, all by myself. Yum. (Need I mention the ice cream??)
We *also* have a dairy nearby that processes their milk before selling to consumers – both places have diehard fans, and I have not sensed any animosity between the groups or the dairies themselves. It is really great to have a choice in what milk we drink, and to have had the opportunity (and time) to learn about milk in raw and processed forms.
Hi Erin,
I’m moving to Anchorage over the summer and would love to know where I can buy raw milk and real fresh eggs.
Thanks for your help!
There are a number of farmer’s markets in Anchorage that have real fresh eggs available, it’s not too hard to find good eggs I think. I’ve heard the markets advertised on the weekends and on Wednesdays. (I live 160 miles south, but have gone up a few times). Good luck with the raw milk. I have tried to contact people on the Real Milk website that are listed somewhat near me and also the Weston A Price chapter leader listed on their website and have had no response whatsoever. You should also check out information in the Matanuska/ Susitna valleys where the farmers are. That is only 30-45 minutes from Anchorage. I hope you enjoy your time in Alaska. It is really a wonderful state!
I agree-having a local dairy nearby is wonderful. I have been enjoying pastured eggs, raw milk, yogurt, cream, stocks, meats, and cheeses from them. I have a question hopefully someone can help me with:
in the NT cookbook directions for making cutured butter/buttermilk, it says to let the cream sit out for 8 hours at room temp, then process the cream into butter and the remianing liquid is buttermilk. It also gives a variation to make sweet butter with fresh cream that hasn’t sat at room temp for 8 hours, but it does not say what to do with the leftover liquid. So last night I made sweet butter, and poured the remaining liquid into a glass container, covered and let sit overnight at room temp (75* F). This morning I put it into the refrigerator. Does anyone know if this is now cultured buttermilk?
I just found a local source for raw milk and am hooked!
Question: If I heat the raw milk to make yogurt or a cappuccino, am I killing all of the good bacteria/enzymes?
Thanks for the great post!
I make yogurt from raw milk and from my research, you just don’t want to heat it above 110 before or in the yogurt maker if you use one. I use a Euro Cuisine maker and have tested it. It does not go above 110. You will get a much runnier yogurt though. That’s just the nature of using raw milk. If you heat it to 160, then cool to 110, add the culture and make it, it will be thicker, but then is that defeating the purpose of using raw milk? Maybe. There is also a culture out there you can get online at Cultures for Health that you can make yogurt at room temp. I haven’t tried it yet.
What a great writeup on how wonderful raw milk is! I love that you talked about it being a seasonal food too. Ever since I read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration I’ve been wanting to make cheese from rapidly-growing grass to keep for the winter
Regarding heating- I think the general rule is that if you never heat it so it’s too hot to touch, it’s keeping all the good stuff. Nourishing Traditions has a raw milk yogurt recipe that doesn’t heat it too much.
You have to heat industrial milk before making yogurt because all the good stuff is killed so the bad bacteria aren’t kept in check.
I just purchased my first gallon of raw milk from a wonderful farm, but as I read that you mix the risen cream in before you drink it, I got concerned; my farm doesn’t sell cream separately, so if I want whipped cream or butter I have to skim cream off of my milk. Do you consider this to be less nutritious milk once the cream has been used for another purpose?
My dr. has been telling me that unpasturized raw milk soft cheeses are dangerous when you’re pregnant. This probably applies even more to raw milk, right?
My grandmother, mother, certain aunts drank raw milk & had oodles of healthy babies.
Unpasturized raw milk soft cheeses can be safe and healthy, depending on how the milk/cheese is handled.
Food advice for pregnant women is usually very generic and offers few explanations. They say, “Don’t eat ______” and they don’t tell you why not. One famous book even says “herbal tea” should be avoided. How is that good advice? It is almost no advice at all. The main goal is to be fully nourished and avoid getting sick. Every person has to assess risks before any activity. When I was pregnant, I ate and drank according to what I thought was good, nourishing, wholesome food. If you don’t feel safe consuming these foods while pregnant, do not eat them. Research the foods, assess the risk for yourself, and enjoy the foods you desire. Pregnancy doesn’t affect our IQ!
Soft cheese is said to be dangerous during pregnancy because its moist environment can harbor harmful bacteria like listeria. That said, I still ate them from time to time because I knew the prodcuers and their practices well and because the incidence of listeria (at least reported) is still quite low compared to other risks in our food supply (in the last three years, all the USDA’s reported listeria contamination occurred in cured, packaged meats). Regarding raw milk, however, I drank it like water during my pregnancy and birthed a beautiful, healthy baby girl well over 9 pounds. I consider it much more dangerous to drink pasteurized milk during pregnancy.
I too drink raw milk, from a local farm who grazes the herd on grass under the fruit trees. My husband and I are at a gallon a week, and we want to start making butter and up the kefir in our diet, so we are going to get two gallons a week. Hooray for Pleasant View farm in Eagle, Idaho! Thanks to them, we can get this wonderful REAL food.
Mmmmmm. I love raw milk. Great article!!
Jana
I was wondering, for those of you who buy raw milk from the farmer, are you required to sign a contract stating that you will not sue him should you get sick from his products, or become injured while on his property? I don’t know if this is standard practice, but it’s being required by my raw milk provider. Not that I would sue him anyway, for I do take responsibility for drinking raw milk, but it just seems odd to ask his customers to do this.
No, we just leave our money in a box & take the milk.
From Connecticut.
No.. they have a sign required by New Hampshire that says something along the line of there is always the risk of stuff with raw milk… but I just stick the money in the envelope and take the milk.
Anyone in NH or close like VT or MA.. Connolly Brothers in Temple NH.
They quick cool the raw milk so it doesnt pick up the barn flavors that some people have an issue with with raw hot milk.
BEst milk I have ever had in my life.
Beautiful! I tweeted and stumbled this. Gonna go pour a tall glass of raw milk right now.
Can someone tell me what raw milk taste like? I recently was able to get raw milk in our new area (northeast) and it left an after taste and almost made me gag! Is this normal for spring milk fresh from the farm? I was previously drinking raw cows milk from Whole Foods in FL or goats milk from a local FL farmer? When I can’t get raw milk I drink grass fed whole pasteurized milk from places like Natural by Nature. Does raw milk taste much different then pasteurized milk?
Ellie –
Raw milk should taste pleasantly, but mildly sweet – like really creamy pasteurized milk only a bit more complex. Depending on the level of lipase (an enzyme that helps to digest fat), the flavor might be mildly unpleasant or off-putting, cheese-like or faintly sour. Lipase is deactivated by heat, so heating the milk might improve the flavor but, then, what’s the point of getting it raw, right?
When our milk changes flavor, usually in autumn, I use it exclusively for cheesemaking.
Hope that helps.
– Jenny
You might need to find a farm that quick cools the milk. Some people like the barn flavors from milk that sits in the barn, or slow cools, but I think its better that the milk is quick cooled so you ONLY have the flavor of the milk.
Also make sure that they are only grass and hay feeding their cows.
Jean -
I don’t recall exactly what our herd share agreement entailed, but I believe it is pretty standard to have a clause about consuming raw milk at your own risk and not suing the farmer. We live in an extraordinarily litigious society, so I think these agreements and waivers of liability are becoming more and more standard.
- Jenny
Natasha -
I’m a big fan of whole milk AND fresh cream. If you can’t have both you can still skim the cream from the milk and use that in addition to milk. You will not have removed all the fat from the milk in this manner, and so it should still be, more or less, a good, wholesome food.
- Jenny
Kara -
If you heat the milk above blood temperature, particularly for an extended time, you’ll likely kill much of the enzymes and beneficial bacteria, but the CLA should remain intact and that’s a good thing. I don’t think it’s a critical issue, especially in such minute quantities.
- Jenny
Brandice -
If your doctor opposes the consumption of soft and raw milk cheeses, he or she will also oppose the consumption of raw milk. Whether you consume them or not is a solution that rests with you and your doctor. That said, were I to become pregnant again, I wouldn’t hesitate to continue consuming raw milk and raw milk cheeses.
- Jenny
Me too!
I am lucky, where I live it is legal to sell and consume raw milk. The only trick is finding a place that sells it.
Hi Jenny – Have you had a chance to read Devil in the Milk, by Keith Woodford? Fascinating, especially for people who find themselves “lactose intolerant;” there are some who think that the EU may only allow milk from A2/A2 cows within five years, but yet we have very little dialogue about it stateside. So many things to learn! I am up to my ears in goat milk if you ever want to try some for cheesemaking, I mean, feeding it to your pet… m
Laughed aloud at this. Wish to heaven that I could find raw goat milk for my, uh, pets.
I live in Japan and we have only one raw milk provider in the entire country (although non-homogenized but pasteurized cow’s milk is available in high-end supermarkets, and non-homogenized but pasteurized goat’s milk is available via online shopping). Am thinking of paying a goat farmer to keep one extra goat for me. I do have 9 pets so lots of reasons to get a goat.
Someone should come over here and start a raw milk dairy. The single provider in Japan charges $65 a gallon at the current exchange rate (1050 yen for 720 ml, so 5.2 bottles to make roughly one gallon = 5460 yen = roughly US$65.70). But I’m willing to pay it, and taking it “medicinally”. Hopefully demand will catch on enough that there will be more open competition price-wise, but I’m not counting on it.
I work on a farm that sells raw milk, so I’m involved in the production end. There’s nothing better than bringing home a gallon of fresh milk that was still in the cow a few hours ago! My husband is lactose intolerant, and raw milk has been a lifesaver for him. Great post!
I drink raw milk and I live in a city so I don’t have much options when it comes to sourcing it. Yes, “milk” is a seasonal thing. That’s why some of the top French cheese taste so much better in the Spring and Summertime.
Wonderful post, Jenny!
I’ve wanted to try raw milk and I can buy it here in Los Angeles, but it’s so expensive! I’ve read that California’s laws regarding raw milk dairies make it so costly. It’s about $5 a quart at Whole Foods — that’s $20 a gallon! If knows of a cheaper place to buy raw milk in L.A., please let me know.
yes, absurdly expensive. it’s maddening to me that you have to be wealthy to buy healthful foods such as raw dairy products. i have found at henry’s on ventura in woodland hills sells 1/2 gal of whole (organic pastures) for $7.99 and 1/2 gal of skim for $3.99. so as a compromise i buy 1of each and mix them. but $12 a gal is still way above what my family of 8 can afford. i continue to pray that we can move out of california to somewhere with land so i can have a cow and a goat and chickens and…. God willing, maybe someday.
you may want to contact Organic Pastures and find out what farmer’s markets they are at in LA, it’s cheaper than the store. For us on the Central Coast it’s $5.75/half gallon, where I was paying $8.29 at the health food store. I’m a big advocate of the dairy and their milk. I was just lucky enough to have just on in on a cow-share here, so am extremely happy.
Hi Laureen, I am also on the central coast. Which farmer’s market is Organic Pastures at? Sure would love to find it cheaper than I am currently paying!
Karen -
I’d encourage you to contact your local Weston A Price Foundation Chapter Leader: http://www.westonaprice.org/chapters/index.php#ca. They’ll be able to direct you to good sources of fresh milk and other nourishing foods. Incidentally, it’s my understanding that Whole Foods is halting raw milk sales across the nation so it’s unlikely you’ll be able to pick up milk from them even if you wanted to.
- Jenny
Great post! I love good, local, raw milk! I drank almost a gallon a day when I was pregnant, at my midwife’s suggestion! I only wish I didn’t have to drive 1 1/2 hours for “local” milk. Although, compared to the distance the stuff in the grocery stores travels, it is local!
There is something that I keep wondering, while reading so many real food blog posts on the importance of raw milk, whole milk, cream, and butter. I’m wondering if anyone can shed some light on this:
Cream and butter come from skimmed whole milk. What happens to the skimmed milk? Most the the real food community insists that skim milk is less healthy for drinking, and we are much better off drinking whole milk. I agree with and understand this point.
However, I just don’t understand where all of the the skimmed milk used to create the cream and butter that real-food lovers are using is going. Nobody seems to advocate using skim milk for anything, and yet there must be a lot of it out there.
I certainley understand the points, it’s just a question I continue to wonder about…
They use skim milk to fatten pigs… One reason I went back to whole milk.
Liz –
I was wondering when this question would come up. Traditionally, skim milk was used in primarily three ways: 1)in real buttermilk, 2) in the making of certain cheeses like Parmesan and 3) as a feed for pigs. It’s also important to note that modern skim milk is much different from traditional skim milk. First, it’s separated by centrifuge rather than the traditional method of actually skimming which was imperfect and left some fat content in the milk and it was often cultured as in buttermilk. Modern skim milk is often fortified with milk powder to give it a more appealing consistency.
Hope that helps –
Jenny
Our family has been consuming raw cow and goat milk for literally generations and NEVER gotten sick from it. On the other hand, I cannot use the store dairy products. I react to something they are putting in them or doing to them. My mother religiously stays away from store dairy products as she violently reacts (allergic) but the raw products don’t bother her. ??!! A nephew (not blood nephew, married into the family nephew) has asthma – he cannot touch the store dairy products but the raw dairy doesn’t bother him at all. The list goes on. We have friends who have had raw milk literally save their lives – one man was suffering from years of bad migraines and ulcers. He was not expected to live a very long life as the stress was very hard on him and it showed. He met us and then bought goats to milk. A year later he told us that the ulcers not only healed up but his migraines disappeared! That was almost 30 years ago – he’s not only still alive but he outlived his first wife and is married again! Another friend was born premature into an Amish family and her mother had no milk. Her family credits the goat milk she was fed for saving her life. As an adult she became a world known dairy goat breeder and raised 12 healthy children on raw goat milk. Now she has scads of grandkids.
Don’t fall for the lie that raw milk has diseases that will kill you – in today’s world, there is NO reason to have a cow or goat or sheep that is giving you milk with diseases in it! There are tests for these diseases and if your animals test clean, they CANNOT give you a disease. *Healthy* animals being raised and kept in *healthy and clean* conditions (i.e. well drained grassy pastures with lots of sanitizing sunshine) CANNOT make you sick! There is no excuse for not having clean healthy raw milk to drink from clean healthy dairy animals. Vet medicine is leaps and bounds ahead of what we knew just even 20 years ago. With the knowledge we have now, raw milk should be even safer and healthier than mankind has ever seen in our history of using dairy products. Instead, mega corporates have gained control of our government bureaus and are using them to promote scare tactics on the general public. Outright lies. Shame on them! My own goat herd has been tested repeatedly for CAE, TB, Johnne’s, Brucellosis, etc. and have always tested CLEAN. They can’t give me undulant fever via the milk if they don’t have brucellosis! Same for TB, etc. These animals run a large acreage with a huge variety of organic plants to browse, some pastures and some woods. They pick what they want. Milking is done by hand and the milk strained and put in the freezer to cool fast. I’m almost 60 years old. I am healthy and active with not a single cavity or filling in my mouth. Yes, my own teeth. I believe that raw dairy products have been a big reason for my healthiness. And now, once I finish my cup of hot cocoa (NOT chocolate) & raw cow cream, I’m leaving for work – we own a trash pickup service and we have almost 100 customers to pick up today and over 100 miles to drive. Yes, I throw trash.
Great post Anita! Amen to everything you say. I have recently started drinking full fat raw milk, full fat raw cream, eating fresh butter, fresh eggs and meats and organic produce from a local farm. I am lucky to live in New Hampshire where it is legal to buy some raw dairy products. I haven’t felt this good since I was a teenager. I have so many friends who are horrified that I am drinking this poison! Of course they are buying regular skim milk from the grocery store. Hmmm… how much poison is in that? I should also mention that I am in my mid-50′s and am not taking one medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. while they are younger than me and loading up on the meds. I only wish I had known about this when I was younger. Perhaps I wouldn’t be having so many horrible dental issues. You are so lucky to have all of this right at your fingertips! I had to search for 3 months to find a farm where I could get these raw products. Hopefully this will change as demand increases.
Beautifully written. I have avoided milk for the past 4 months or so. Before I drank only pasteurized milk as thats how it comes in the supermarket. For the past 1-2 weeks I have been buying raw cheese and WOW! What a HUGE difference! Raw cheese from grass-fed cows in the springtime is so amazing and healthy too! I can’t wait to buy some raw milk to drink straight and to add to smoothies!
Wonderful post! My husband and I started drinking raw milk about a year ago after I read Nourishing Traditions, Real Food and other works that evolved my nutrition thinking.
I feel fortunate that is legal to sell raw milk in Washington State, but very disheartened that Whole Foods and our local natural market chain, PCC, recently stopped carrying it because of the fear of litigation! (I went 12 rounds by e-mail with PCC and had a rather lengthy letter published in their monthly newsletter.)
It’s getting harder and harder to buy raw milk in Seattle. I have two retail sources left, and if those fail I’ll have to find another way to access it. How ironic that I can buy any manner of cheap junk food by walking less than a block, but I may soon have to cross county lines to get a wholesome food like raw milk.
I drive 20 minutes each way to pick up raw milk once a week from a local farmer. It is delicious and my whole family loves it. I cannot drink pasteurized milk because I’m lactose intolerant, but I can drink raw milk and it doesn’t bother me at all.
I’m really excited that there is a nearby source for me for raw milk. I will be getting some shortly. I am a bit worried though, since I’ve tried raw cheese and did not like it. But I’m excited to try it and make yogurt with it too. I could not source raw milk in WI or FL.
I wonder if anyone knows if consuming raw milk helps with skin conditions such as acne?
Also, @ Carrie, I live in the Seattle area. The Sno-Isle Co-op in Everett is the source for raw milk, or so I’ve heard. That is where I intend to go.
CArrie,
Manna Mills in Mountlake Terrace also carries raw milk… both goat and cow… at about $12.00 a gallon, There is another farm near Granite Falls… Bates Farm that is also selling quite good tasting milk at the co-op in Everett. I like it better than the Cascade Pride and Joy… even though they are also “organic” .
i get my raw milk and eggs from Meadowwood Farms in Enumclaw… http://www.meadowwoodorganic.com They have a cowshare and just bred a new cow, so they will have more milk available soon. A friend already drives down twice a month, and she picks up my milk and eggs… I pay $8/gal as a cowshare member, but do pitch in for gas… so factor in that cost.
My husband and I switched from 1% organic processed milk last summer to raw whole milk. We drink about 2 gallons a week (about half of that as kefir). Since switching from a low fat diet to a diet full of healthy fats, my husband’s hereditary high cholesterol dropped over 100 points, and his HDL/LDL level — which was always good — improved. My full-blown osteoporosis (I was classified as a “rapid loser”) has retreated to osteopenia, without resorting to prescription drugs (I hope to cure my osteopenia, too, but that may take a bit longer).
We’re taking fermented cod liver oil as well, but I give most of the credit to wonderful, healthy, fresh, delicious, local raw milk. Fortunately, it’s legal here in Connecticut. (Now if I can only get my husband to shake the milk rather than drink the cream off the top ….)
Hi Jenny! As always, amazing information! I just started getting raw dairy and so am linking to your information in my article which can be viewed here: http://amoderatelife.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-dairy-rage-has-turned-to-joy-our-raw.html
Thanks again for all you do!
Alex
I was wondering about the whole cholesterol and fat foods thing… My hubby has high cholesterol and has been advised to eat a low fat diet. I recently switched to raw whole milk and he thinks it will make him fat and I wonder if it will make his high cholesterol worse? (Triglycerides).
Can anyone point to any research or articles on whether consuming raw whole milk will increase bad cholesterol and total triglycerides?
Thanks!
For all those who have been “duped”, check out the docco, “Fat Head”. The gentleman in this one proves all the fallacies behind the “lipid hypothesis” study which was done back in the 70′s and is still believed by many to be true today. We know that there is no correlation between dietary cholesterol (non-oxidized from raw milk, egg yolks, grass fed beef, etc) and heart disease.
This documentary will also show you how vital cholesterol is in the body. With frequent appearances my Sally Fallon and the lipid expert herself, Mary Enig, you can’t go wrong here! I have used this documentary along with Food Inc., to single-handedly convert many who have been brainwashed by our gov’t. When we learn that the FDA is not out to protect us but rather to be in bed with Big Agra, Big Pharma, and Big Dairy, we will then start to live healthier lives. Big Dairy is worried about this health food (raw milk in this instance) gaining popularity and market share, that they are willing to spend millions and millions of dollars to pay the lawmakers in Washington to pass laws to benefit them. Laws that make it illegal to drink farm fresh milk from cows the way God intended. Laws that keep people sick and on maintenance drugs for the rest of their lives. Laws like this new BS food safety bill which will only squeeze out the little guy even more.
The more people we can get on our side to defend our food freedoms, the better chance we will have at being able to choose what we can consume.
I am not sure about the science behind it, but I know my husband’s cholesterol and weight both dropped when we switched to whole raw milk, grass fed beef, etc, etc. We eat far more fat and foods typically considered off limits and we are healthier for it!
I also drank raw milk during my pregnancy. I was pregnant with twins and struggling to gain weight for the babies and keep my iron levels up. So with the help of raw milk and lots of liver, I was super healthy and carried my babies full-term!
I raised my 7 children on raw milk and the butter I made from the cream that rose to the top of the glass gallon jar the milk came in. They were (and still are) lean, beautiful, and healthy. Our family just didn’t get sick! I attribute it in part to the REAL, whole foods we ate, including raw milk!
I’m so SUPER HYPED with reading all of these awesome posts because my sister-in-law has encouraged me to try some raw milk for all the great reasons behind it. Well I found a local dairy about 7 minutes away from my house…….its a street I never drive through except for today to find a certain school for my son. So when I drive by …….I was in shock with seeing the Dairy Sign. So I called and now I’m determined to find me a glass gallon jug to pick up my first raw milk experience.
I’ve never tried it……..but I”m crossing fingers that it will be ok !!!
Thanks everyone for your wonderful posts !!!!
P.S. I’m from Ponchatoula, LA……..so if anyone has any recommendations or advice…….please send them as I’m sooo new to this pending raw milk experience
Fat Head documentary is now on Netflix via Instant Play (view it on your computer or a TV that has internet connected via dvd player or Wii, etc.). It’s also on hulu.com
For those who didn’t like the taste of raw milk, it can take on an unpleasant taste if there are certain plants growing excessively in the pasture, such as wild onions. Most farmers who are intending their milk to be consumed raw pay attention to their pastures to make sure these strongly flavored plants stay out of range of the cows, but perhaps not all farmers are attentive to their pasture, and maybe newbie farmers don’t know.
We’ve just moved to a tiny flat in London. Wish I could have a mini cow for my balcony, out there with the veggies!
Hook and Son have started UK-wide delivery of raw milk once a week – such a great idea. But I was most excited to find that they are selling live at a local farmer’s market!
I have been consuming raw milk, cheese, and butter for 8 months, and gradually stopped my lipitor. I don’t know what to do, as my latest test showed total cholesterol 300 and ldl 195. Now my doctor wants me back on the statin. Just a note, I eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. I am a 60 year old woman. Any words of advise?
I just read The Magnesium Miracle. …….Check it out. It had lots of info on the relationship between magnesium and cholesterol. i have started taking mag for migraine and its been amazing to see other things feel better that i didn’t even know were a problem.
You may also need to go on a grain-free diet and absolutely NO sugar of any sorts. These foods cause inflammation which will raise up your cholesteral. Keep up with the raw milk! This is the best food out there. We tend to think of healthy as eating whole grains and such when in fact, it’s no good. give it a try for several months and see if your numbers improve.
So, you’re saying that raw milk tastes different, right? I wonder what it tastes like. Unfortunately, I’ll probably never know because it’s illegal to sell raw milk here in Michigan..
Drinking raw milk changed my health dramatically! The first glass I drank was like receiving food for the first time. I was surprised at my body’s instinctual response – I chugged. A second glass immediately followed. And a third. My body was starving for this food. I have since found out that raw milk was historically used to treat asthma. As a life-long asthma sufferer who was pelleted with drugs to calm my symptoms I am sickened that this wonderful healing product is illegal in so many states. Including mine. After 2 years of daily consumption, I no longer suffer any lung issues. I am now fermenting it to help heal the collateral damage done to my immune function by decades of prescribed medicines. At 58 life I can say that my life is more youthful than I ever could have expected prior to raw milk consumption.
Here in IN asking at the farmer’s market if anyone “sells milk” (not even “real” milk or “raw” milk) is sort of like asking if someone sells heroin. All of the sellers get this panicked look on their faces and aren’t even sure they want to talk to you. They look at you skeptically like you’re a covert operator from the FDA. Most of them say “we have a cow for our own milk” or “I don’t know anyone who sells it.” A few will sheepishly say “I know this guy… but I don’t know if I should give you his information.”
I have one phone number and a hint at a dairy (with no address or name) – both over an hour’s drive: tough on a one car family with gas well over $4 a gallon.
For now its low temperature pasteurized, non-homogenized which we can buy at a small store about a block from my office. I can’t seem to find any information on low-temp pasteurized, and if this process will preserve the good stuff in milk. Does anyone know anything?
Jenny, Good article. Where I live (NW Wash) we have a legal raw milk grass fed dairy and I am a big fan. So much so I was drinking 1 gal/week. To reduce my sugar consumption I now make Kefir and really love it just as much. So easy to make. In addition we are lucky to have super sources of grass fed (100%) beef, lamb, and soy free eggs from chickens who live in the grass pastures.
I love drinking raw milk, and where I live it’s not much more expensive than “organic” milk, which seems to be always ultrapasturized. I can’t understand the value of drinking ultrapasturized organic milk; can you?
This may seem off-topic, but I was so happy to see your sources were other than articles from the westin a price foundation. It seems like every traditional, real-food blog ONLY sites those articles, making me wonder if there are any other studies out there that corroborate what Sally Fallon thinks.
Thanks for a thoughtful article–well-researched and cited.
Thank you so much for this! I have been wanting to obtain raw milk for quite some time. I asked a local dairy farmer if they ever sold their milk raw just to make cheese or possibly butter. I was trying to be cautious, did I ever get my head bit off! Since then I have struggled to figure out where to find local raw milk in south-central Nebraska or north-central Kansas. The Real Food movement hasn’t really taken hold here as of yet. Does anyone know how I could find a fairly local raw milk supplier?
I only pay 30$ a month for 1 gallon a week of raw milk
I love it! I would drink more if I could take the time to make more yogurt and cheese out of it. I wish I could get my husband to drink it; He’s afraid of anything unpasteurized, ugh. I’m working on converting him. We already do grass-fed meats, and I use raw milk in my cooking, so it is getting better. He absolutely refuses to drink kefir or eat yogurt, though. sigh.
This was a wonderful post. If only our state governments would see the benefits from raw milk. You’d even see a huge decrease in dairy allergies since the food isn’t altered. It is illegal to sell raw milk in stores here and there are only a few farms that will deliver to our city. The cost is $37 a gallon. The best we can do right now is non-homogenized, low heat pasteurized organic milk ‘Kaluna’ brand that sells at our local Vitamin Cottage. With the kids and all my yogurt and kefir making, we go through 4-5 gallons a week. Too bad $37/gallon doesn’t fit our budget right now
(
Does anyone know if raw milk is ok for cats? I have been slowly transitioning my cats to a RAW foods diet and the one cat loves a tiny bit of milk and egg whites in the morning. I have tried giving her raw goats milk but she turned her nose and prefers the organic/skim/UP/cows milk at the moment. Any suggestions on getting her to make the switch? Or is it best to eliminate milk from her diet all together? Thank you!
Fabulous! I love, simply love raw milk! I wish it were easier to find or get here in New Mexico. I can get raw Goat’s Milk sometimes. I wish more word was put out about this and that most large scale dairy farmers knew this. Believe me, a lot of them don’t.
Thank you!
Lisa, I don’t know where you are in NM but we have a farmer from Texas who does cow shares and delivers all kinds of dairy and grass-fed meats in Santa Fe and ALB and maybe other areas that I don’t know of. Look him up on realmilk.com He’s just outside Lubbock. Believe it or not raw milk can be sold in NM but I don’t know that anyone is selling it. I love the milk and cream we get.
I need to find a Local Farmer with Raw milk. Awesome article!
Oh Jenny! What a wonderful article. And I love all the science behind it. I have one question…when I make yogurt with raw milk, does that effect the enzymes because the milk is warmed? Thanks for your help. You’re the best!
Love,
Mary
Thanks for this article! I’ve been contemplating giving raw cow or goat’s milk to my son, once I wean him from nursing. I’ve been looking for more information but I feel it’s hard to come by. My main questions are around storage, can I treat it similarly to breast milk? Any suggestions? Thanks!
I made a point of weaning both of my children from breastmilk to raw cows milk. Both nursed to 20+months but started taking a bottle of raw milk a bit before that. I pick up our milk in glass 1/2gal jars every Tues and it starts to sour a bit by the end on the week, I will often ask the kids is it yummy or yucky if we go over a week(yucky is soured, it never hurts them). They have dragged a bottle around with them for a few hours and still finished it. i would say treat it like breastmilk as they are both fresh raw milk. You will see the cream seperate and form globs just like when breastmilk was pumped and then left out too long. Hope that helps, my kids have been super heathy too. I have heard goats milk is closer to breastmilk, but dont have it local.
Can someone tell me if there is a store bought milk that is acceptable. I live 5 hours from the nearest dairy farm. I would love to get raw milk but at this point is seems impossible.
Jenny ~ How do you manage without milk for a season? We drink kefir for breakfast every day & also depend on homemade yogurt, buttermilk, & creme fraiche for wholesome, probiotic proteins. I can’t imagine going without it, & the farmers here have it all year round. I’m very curious about this …
Also, does this mean you go without butter for part of the year? If so, what do you use for a local whole fat?
Great post! It has made me quite emotional as, when I picked up my raw milk from the farm today, I was told that raaw milk will be made illegal in Ireland in the autumn. It seems so unfair that in a country where we are blessed with grassfed cows on every corner that the choice to consume raw milk will be taken away from us
I just purchased a herdshare a few weeks ago and am getting 1 gallon of raw milk each week. I thought that would be too much milk, but the stuff is so delicious I’m drinking it all. I wanted to make yogurt or cheese, but I haven’t had any extra milk leftover yet. Maybe I’ll get used to the delicousness and stop drinking so much soon. I do have to drive an hour to pick it up, but found some others to share driving with. And I signed a contract acknowledging that raw milk is very dangerous and swearing I will never give it to children. And I received information on the results of the regular testing that is done on the milk showing how “not dangerous” it is.
HELP JENNY!!
I have a question I hope you (or someone) can answer or at least offer some assistance. Even though I don’t like to use my raw milk for heated foods, when it’s all you have on hand (we never buy store milk – ever) you have to use it, ya know?! Well, here’s what’s been happening to me and I can’t figure out why: whenever I make things like potato soup, homemade vanilla pudding, even my last batch of homemade yogurt made the way I always do it, everything is coming out stringy. I don’t know if that’s a very good descriptive word, but I have no idea what else to call it. Stringy, slimey hunks of gunk are in all of my cooked dishes. What the heck am I doing wrong?? I’ve never attempted to make hot soups or puddings with raw milk before, so I’m not sure if it’s me or the milk. I also tried to make homemade tomato soup and that was an unqualified disaster – just a curdled, slimey, stringy mess. Ewww.
Anyone??
We drink our own fresh, raw goat’s milk. For people or land who can’t handle their own cow, goats are wonderful. Handled properly, the milk tastes better than any store milk.
Anyhow, in speaking with the “old” farmers in the area who have taken to the whole milk we get (who’s wives want them on skim milk but they loved the whole milk they grew up on), I was told, “Oh, whole milk is the way to go. When we wanted to fatten up the pigs, we gave them the skim milk. To keep them lean, you give them whole milk.”
Which throws conventional, modern diet “wisdom” completely off.
These are the once-boys who grew up on little farms where every little town had a creamery. They would help milk about 6-10 cows each day and haul it in to the creamery, and the town drank the local milk, cream, cheeses, etc.
I need some guidance here.
I have finally got my hands on raw milk from a farm in Tx. I will be getting 1 gallon whole raw milk, and 1 gallon skim raw milk.
I am aiming to make kefir and yogurt with it.
Has anyone made yogurt with raw milk and adding acidophilus powder from capsules instead of a yogurt starter?
Also how long does this milk typically last in the fridge? I am new to this and just want to be prepared for a healthier way of living.
Thanks!
Makes me want to move to a small farm with my own animals! TOO MANY RULES AND RESTRICTIONS