Where to start?

In the supermarket, naturally.
After spending a Saturday morning shopping at Whole Foods and really reading labels, I came home with fewer groceries then usual. I also came home with a list of products to research. Just standing in the egg section alone was discouraging. I only found one brand of truly free range, organic eggs. At least that was what the crate said. The dairy shelves are full of choices - Horizon milk, Organic Valley, Stoneyfield Farm yogurt and even some fresh milk that was neither organic or hormone free. Some milk is pasteurized and others ultra-pasteurized. Straus Dairy products come from California. Horizon products come from shadowy mega feedlots that have stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Stoneyfield....whoa...New Hampshire? So, Organic Valley remains my top choice. And if I buy it in the gallon jugs - it isn't ultra pasteurized.

I didn't know what ultra-pasteurized (UP) was until I read about it in Ricki Carroll's Home Cheese Making.
To quote: "UP milk is heated to 191 degrees for at least one second, which destroys all organisms in the milk. It also gives milk a slightly cooked taste, like that of evaporated milk. The purpose of UP treatment is to give the product greater shelf life. UP milk will last at least 28 days (which certainly helps when you are transporting it across the country). UP milk is less then ideal...the protein structure is damaged and the enzymes destroyed. You may as well drink water."

Well. Wikipedia says something along the same lines without the comments on taste. UP is also labelled as UHT (Ultra-high temperature processing). The infamous on-line encyclopedia does mention that this seems to be used primarily to extend shelf life.

What's funny - or sad, depending on your view of things - is that I'd almost be afraid to drink raw milk. Think about all those pathogens - salmonella poisoning here I come. I have to shake my head at that strange fear - how did it get placed there? Where did I learn to be afraid of milk from the source?

Perhaps it is a multi-hued answer that crosses from marketing, disease outbreaks and ends up in the reality of a huge pink udder squirting milk into a suctioned pipe. I have liked my milk appearing magically in the supermarkets of my world. And even so - I have also tasted milk a day fresh from the farm and found it to be something unlike anything I could ever buy in the markets today. Hell, I don't even drink milk any more - why? It's fairly tasteless compared to a big glass of water. I just look at it as extra calories and a source of nebulous calcium that I can get in other ways. I've discovered tasty dairy products, but yummy milk alludes me.

The good news is that according to the Cornucopia Institute (a watchdog organization for organic agriculture) most of my favorite dairy companies are rated quite high. They've ranked the dairies across the country and my three top favorites: Organic Valley, Straus and Stoneyfield all do quite well. See the Dairy Ranking for yourself.

Perhaps I'll continue the search for a local source of organic milk that is truly fresh - not transported along the interstate to my market's dairy case. For now, I'll keep wandering the market and see what else I find.