Organic Milk in High Demand
If you haven’t heard, organic food is big business. This article from the Billings Gazette tells how organic milk is flying off the shelves so fast that stores are running out. Companies are offering subsidies to farmers who produce organic dairy products.
In some ways, this is the dream come true of the pioneers of the organic movement. But many of them would be shocked to see how corporations have convinced the government to loosen the definition of the term. It’s hard to know how many consumers know that the organic products in the supermarket aren’t as pure and wholesome as the name suggests. It’s still progress, and anything that reduces our reliance on chemicals is a good thing, but it would be nice if companies acted for the greater good rather than the bottom line.
Most brands of organic milk available locally here in Southeast Michigan are highly processed in that they are both ultra-pasteurized and homogenized. So, until recently, I always preferred two local brands of non-organic milk, Guernsey and Calder. Calder makes a cream-line whole milk that’s fabulous—and at $2.49 a half-gallon (before deposit for the glass bottle it comes in!), it’s pretty reasonably priced. Guernsey makes good products. I particularly like their heavy cream, they used to have cream-line 1/2% milk, but they discontinued it a few years ago.
Lately, I’ve discovered Thomas’s Organic Creamery milk. They make one thing–cream-line, organic, whole milk. And with sell-by dates usually approaching 3-weeks, its fresh-fresh-fresh, and the taste is simply a revelation. Even at $3.49 a half-gallon, it’s worth every penny.