Where's the great milk?

So, where's the best darn milk? Lo and behold I finally found something great: Straus Family Creamery an organic dairy/creamery only 36 miles (58 km) away from me, in Marshall, Marin County, by the coast. Incidentally, that coastal area, Tomales Bay, is more known for its shellfish farming. I hope to soon sample some Pacific Oysters, Mussels and Clams.

This stuff, Cream-top Whole Milk is as good as it gets. The one attribute that was hard for me to find was unhomogenized, which means that the fat-soluable vitamins gets to stay in the milk. I had gotten used to it in Sweden, Ekologisk Gammaldags mjölk (transl: organic old-fashioned milk). The Straus milk bottle is also better since you can shake it before pouring, the swedish milk comes in a one liter Tetra brick that can't be resealed after it has been opened. I wanted milk the old fashioned, natural way. I don't want my vitamins* added back afterwards, manufactured in a BASF chemistry lab. Now afterwards (of course...) I discover that this wonderful tasting milk is even mentioned in the 'Milk' Wikipedia article, how about that:


"Unhomogenized milk has made a small comeback in a few areas, such as the west coast of the United States where Straus Family Creameries, based originally out of Marin county, sells one line of organic milk with the cream still on top in old-fashioned glass bottles."

Details: $3.79 for a half gallon (~1.9 liters) in a glass bottle, plus a $1.25 bottle deposit, money you get back when you return the bottle. Milk does taste better from a glass bottle, but plastic bottles are also available. After doing the math, the half gallon bottle ends up being 30% cheaper than the single quart size.

Other great tasting Straus products includes their tangy whole-milk yogurt, which I will mix with local honey, just like I did in Greece, and their real butter. All natural, organic and no funky ingredients.

* ) The commercial production of vitamin D3 can be obtained via organic solvent extraction of animal skins (cow, pig or sheep) followed by an extensive purification. Cholesterol typically is extracted from sheep wool and after thorough purification and crystallization can be converted via a laborious chemical synthesis into (pre-vitamin D). The major producers of vitamin D3 used for milk and other food supplementation are the companies F. Hoffman La Roche, Ltd (Switzerland) and BASF (Germany). Source: Dept of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences. University of California, Riverside