I’d put off buying local milk because, unlike most local produce, local milk costs about twice as much as the industrial variety. I’d taken sort of middle road, buying milk from an Iowa (that’s not so far away!) dairy that doesn’t treat its cattle with artificial hormones. I drink a lot of milk (one of my tools in trying to stop or reverse my bone loss without signing on to long-term drug use), so that high price would make a dent in my grocery budget.
Then my sister started gushing about the great taste of milk from the Twig Family Dairy (sorry, couldn’t find a link), which her husband bought at the local HyVee supermarket. I don’t think of this sister as a milk-drinker, so her enthusiasm made an impression. I bought a jug of Newhouse Dairy skim milk (marketed through Good Natured Family Farms) at the Community Mercantile, brought it home and tried it. I was pretty sure it must have been mislabeled. Surely, that wasn’t skim milk! It was downright tasty and had a bit of velvet to it, sort of like 2 percent milk.
Then, I bought a jug of Twig Family Dairy skim milk at Checkers supermarket. Funny, it seemed to have been mislabeled, too. Although the flavor was a little different from the Newhouse milk, it was similarly opaque (not blue!) and velvety.
I’m afraid I’m going to have to accept the notion that milk from Bossie, the dairy cow in the field, tastes different–meaning much better–than the milk produced by big commercial dairies. The reasons are many, ranging from the type of food (grass versus “dairy feed”) to the type of cow (such as Jerseys and Guernseys for traditional operations versus Holstein for the big folks). Whatever the explanation, it would be hard not to notice the difference.
As usual, fresh food (even pasteurized food) tastes best when it’s local, although I’m not as charmed as some people by the glass half-gallons in which our local milk is sold. I don’t mind the deposit ($2 to $2.50) and I like that the bottles are reused, but they’re heavy, hard to hang onto and breakable. Still, a minor inconvenience, I suppose.
There’s also the question of whether you believe Monsanto and the USDA on the safety of using rBST/rBGH (that is to say, genetically engineered, or recombinant, bovine somatotropin, also known as recombinant bovine growth hormone), which is commonly used to increase milk production. (If you want to know more on that question, do a Google search on “what do commercial dairy cows eat?” or “Is rBST safe?” You’ll get widely divergent explanations.)
I don’t have time to read it all, though; I’m too busy finding somewhere to trim my budget.
14 responses so far ↓
1 Rebecca // May 25, 2007 at 7:18 pm
I have yet to search out a source of local milk here in Pittsburgh, and you’re right, it is more expensive, but you are convincing me. And if you believe Nina Planck, raw whole milk isn’t fattening, for some reason, and the calcium is metabolized much better.
2 Janet Majure // May 25, 2007 at 8:10 pm
I obviously didn’t have to look very hard, since local milk is available in the supermarkets as well as the “natural” foods grocery. However, I did try to get a list of Kansas milk bottlers and was disappointed to learn that such a list isn’t available on line. Maybe Pennsylvania has one, though.
Meanwhile, with the skim milk tasting so good, I’m not sure I care about drinking milk with more fat! In the unlikely case I want to go raw, I learned that it’s legal in Kansas to sell raw milk on the farm where it’s produced, but the only allowable advertising is a sign posted on the farm property.
3 Maxine // May 26, 2007 at 2:49 pm
*So, in your opinion,which would be best with Kaluha?*
4 Janet Majure // May 26, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Whatever you have in the refrigerator. ;-)
5 Lori // May 29, 2007 at 9:11 am
It’s Iwig Dairy … their logo is difficult to read. My husband grew up within a few miles of this family run dairy. We also bought it at Dillon’s.
You are correct it tastes better and worth the money!
6 Lynn // May 29, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Tim and Laurel Iwig farm near Tecumseh, between Lawrence and Topeka. You can go there to buy milk if you don’t find it in local stores. They have a coffee-flavored milk that is way better than Starbucks Frappucinos, and they have a root beer-flavored milk that I haven’t tried.
They don’t seem to have a website, but if you google Iwig dairy, you’ll find lots of newspaper stories about them.
7 Janet Majure // May 29, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Thanks, Lori & Lynn. Guess that explains why I could find nothing about the dairy online. I’ve checked, and what Lynn says about news stories is true. I’ll let you pick your own article to read rather than give a link.
8 Industrial wins consistency contest | foodperson.com // Oct 25, 2007 at 8:51 pm
[...] And those cows’ milk might taste a little different when they’re grazing on fresh grass rather than hay, silage or some other kind of feed. That didn’t occur to me back when I started drinking local milk. [...]
9 Chelsea Iwig // Mar 12, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Hello, I am the daughter of Tim and Laurel Iwig and I am writing to clear up some info. First of all the reason our milk has more flavor is mostly due to the fact that we put it in glass bottles. When milk is put in plastic, the chemicals from the plastic seep into the milk making it so that the milk basically tastes like plastic. The glass allows the milk to retain its natural flavor. We do still milk mostly holsteins with a few Jerseys and holstein-Scandinavian Red crosses. The Jersey milk has more cream in it, but I don’t know how much it affects the flavor of the milk especially the 2% and Skim because we skim off the extra cream anyway. Now concerning the price. Yes we know the price is high, but it is the absolute lowest price that we can have and still survive. The company who makes our glass bottles has a monopoly on the business, so they can charge as much as they want to for the bottles and they have increased their price to us several times since we opened up three years ago. Also, the grocery stores price is much higher then the price that we charge at our store on the farm. (3320 SE Tecumseh RD, Tecumseh, KS) We like to encourage our customers to just come out to the store and buy it. That way, you can also see how we make it and even pet the baby calves. I will be finishing up the website soon and it should be up by the end of the month.
10 Janet Majure // Mar 12, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Hi, Chelsea, Thanks for stopping by! I have several more questions for you and/or your parents, but I’ll do them by phone or in person one of these days. I’ll look forward to seeing your website.
11 Anita Osler // May 3, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I tried “Twig” or Iwig milk for the first time this past week. I had convinced my husband we should try milk in a glass. While I am the “hippie” at heart he was won over by the nostalgic thought of milk in glass jugs. The milk was AWESOME. I am originally from california so I am used to fresh produce and had never had fresh milk. I compare my reaction to the first time my husband ate a strawberry direct from the fields. Nothing compares. We are sold and will not go back to “industrial” milk. My husband hasn’t even noticed we are drinking skim milk yet. Can’t wait for his reaction when he figures that out. :-)
12 Janet Majure // May 3, 2008 at 10:33 pm
That’s great, Anita. Let us know if he ever does notice!
13 Nalini Johnson // Aug 28, 2008 at 7:28 am
Visit http://www.realmilk.com for a list of local dairies that sell raw milk, including a list for Kansas!!
I am new to raw milk, except I really am not. It turns out that the raw milk I purchased on a Kansas farm (Jakoinc.com) tastes just like the milk I grew up on in Mexico City. Now I know why I don’t like milk anymore, it’s because it’s not the stuff I grew up on, until I learned about realmilk.com, and now I want nothing else! I feel great, and it turns out raw milk is good for arthritis and many othe ailments. Here is to good old fashioned milk straight from the cow to the fridge!
14 Janet Majure // Aug 29, 2008 at 10:40 am
Thanks for the link, Nalini. I have to admit I’m ambivalent about raw milk, but I do think that if people want to drink it and do so knowingly they should be able to do it. Glad you found something that works for you!
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