Some do it because it’s quicker or cheaper than a trip to the store (because they know the farmer, farmer lives close or delivers because farm is a friend/family member), and they’re supporting local producers instead of giant conglomerates
Fair point, my family has done this as well. However, I am not sure how much the us differs from German farmers. Here, the milk gets pumped and stored directly in a drum that warms it gently, pasteurizing it right after the milking. It is not yet homogenized, so you get the cream on top (and yes, that tastes different, fat is tasty).
The only places where you might get “Udder-to-Table” might be the mountain farms, but I think even those pasteurize or use most “raw” milk immediately for cheesemaking
However, I get the counter-culture argument, people want to be special
I mean, I wasn’t involved in the milking, I just bucked hay and tended the farm cats, but I’m pretty damn sure the milk on the family farm was pasteurized similarly (they’re Swiss immigrants). You started milking when you were 12 and the farm sold when I was 10. We’d spend the equivalent of a couple months up there a year, a week or so at a time.
The taste everyone is trying to replicate that you “can’t get” that’s on farms, it’s aluminum cups. Drink milk from aluminum cups. Tastes better.
Fair point, my family has done this as well. However, I am not sure how much the us differs from German farmers. Here, the milk gets pumped and stored directly in a drum that warms it gently, pasteurizing it right after the milking. It is not yet homogenized, so you get the cream on top (and yes, that tastes different, fat is tasty). The only places where you might get “Udder-to-Table” might be the mountain farms, but I think even those pasteurize or use most “raw” milk immediately for cheesemaking
However, I get the counter-culture argument, people want to be special
I mean, I wasn’t involved in the milking, I just bucked hay and tended the farm cats, but I’m pretty damn sure the milk on the family farm was pasteurized similarly (they’re Swiss immigrants). You started milking when you were 12 and the farm sold when I was 10. We’d spend the equivalent of a couple months up there a year, a week or so at a time.
The taste everyone is trying to replicate that you “can’t get” that’s on farms, it’s aluminum cups. Drink milk from aluminum cups. Tastes better.