Milk choices
To help you find your best milk for everything from dunking to cooking, here are the choices:
Whole: This milk is usually homogenized to a milk fat content of 3.25% to 3.5% and is the standard milk used in recipes. Whole milk sales surpassed 2% for the first time in the first quarter of this year, as some consumers are returning to full-fat dairy products.
Reduced-fat: This includes 2% and 1%, which reflect their homogenized milkfat content. Like whole milk, reduced-fat milk can be fortified with vitamins, minerals and protein.
Skim: Also called fat-free or nonfat. Skim contains no milkfat and the most lactose, as lactose typically rises when fat falls. Skim will tend to curdle more than other milks in cooking.
Grass-fed: While the grass-fed term is unregulated by the government, this milk is an area of growth as consumers become increasingly concerned with the ethical treatment of cows and awareness grows of the enhanced soil health from pastured animals.
Grass-fed also offers nutritional benefits including higher omega-3 fatty acids. Note, the term may mean different things to different producers; grassfed does not mean the cows were exclusively fed grass (their natural food) and not supplemented with grain. Not all grass-fed milk is homogenized.
This milk can lend a grassy note and richer color when used in cooking.
Organic: As with grass-fed, let the buyer beware. Certified organic milk doesn’t necessarily mean cows were solely raised on grassy, sunny pastures on small farms with mom cows raising their young.
Controversy is intensifying over alleged shortcuts by so-called Big Dairy that does not operate within the spirit or laws governing organics. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s organic seal is only as good as the agency backing it up.
Organic milk typically costs more than non-organic, and if it doesn’t adhere to standards or pass transparency muster, is it worth the premium price?
Lowest in a report from the consumer watchdog Cornucopia Institute, receiving a one- and zero-cow ratings for organic milk, were most big brands, including Horizon, Target’s Simply Balanced, Kroger’s Simple Truth, Trader Joe’s, Hormel’s Applegate Farms, Kemp’s Dairy, Wal-Mart’s Great Value, Costco’s Kirkland Signature and Aldi’s Friendly Farms.
A2: Becoming available only recently, A2 milk is also called heritage milk or the original milk coming from old-line breeds that produce just the A2 protein. Some A2 enthusiasts predict it will change the industry, as initial research indicates that it does not cause many of the allergic and digestive issues found with much of the modern milk containing the A1 protein. All other mammals including humans produce only A2 milk. Not all A2 milk is homogenized.
Lactose-reduced or -free: Lactose is a sugar found in milk. While lactose-reduced or -free milk represents only a small percentage of the milk share, it grew nearly 30% in the last three years. Non-white, non-Hispanic households are more likely to purchase lactose-free milk.
Ultra-filtered: This milk removes some of the natural sugars and all of the lactose, then adds protein, calcium or other nutrients.
Raw: Raw is pure milk straight from the cow. It is unpasteurized and non-homogenized.
Drinking or cooking with raw milk is legal in all 50 states. It’s the laws concerning the sale of raw milk that get complicated.
In 1987, the FDA mandated pasteurization of all milk and made illegal any transport of raw milk across state lines. Wisconsin law allows “incidental sales” to consumers directly from the farm where it is produced, as long as it’s not a “regular” business or it involves advertising of any kind, according to the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Farmers can consume their own cow’s raw milk, and farm employees can buy it for their personal consumption.
In Wisconsin, raw milk is illegal to sell in retail stores. A hodgepodge of laws exist in the other 49 states: 29 allow some form of selling, with 20 states prohibiting all raw milk sales as of 2016, according to ProCon.org. Heating raw milk when cooking or baking often effectively pasteurizes it.