Growing up as a kid in the '60's we had milk delivered to our home twice a week. Mr. Kelloway, in his blue and white pin striped overalls and jaunty cap, would arrive in his panel truck. He would gather up bottles of milk and cream, stow then in a metal carrying rack, then swing up the pathway on his impossibly long legs. If were not home, he would tuck those bottles into an aluminum cooler made specifically for this purpose that sat by the back door. We used to hide the spare house key under there, too.
The milk was, of course, pasteurized. Pasteurization of milk, (the process of heating it to 161.6 degrees for 15 seconds) became mandatory in most states by the 1930's. The topic of pasteurized vs. raw milk is one that is hotly debated. Many people want the right to choose to use and enjoy raw milk, believing that the pasteurization process kills many of the valuable nutrients in milk and changes the chemical composition of it in undesirable ways.
At our house, the milk is served up raw. It is not without the occasional pang of uncertainty, because we have been well and properly convinced by the government that drinking raw milk is a danger.
But when I waver I think about how humans have prized milk from goats, cows, yaks, camels, sheep, reindeer and even horses for as long as the earliest records have been kept. Early human artifacts have traces of milk residue... humans have been drinking raw milk for 30,000 years.
My goats are tested for any harmful diseases, and we keep the milking gear spotlessly clean. Milk goes from the udder to the kitchen to be filtered and quickly chilled. I join in the long standing tradition of humans who enjoy dairy from healthy animals, just as nature intended.
2 comments:
This picture is utterly awesome.
Mr. Kelloesy used to give us rides around town in the milk truck. He would let us deliver the milk as well.
When I was buying goat milk from people who had four children all doing 4-H with goats at the same time (MUCH surplus!) I started out pasteurizing it, which was easy enough, but eventually I quit. There was a very slight difference in taste (they had a herd butterfat average of 8%, oh, yum!). I am acutely aware of the benefits of pasteurization, since my uncle had to drop out of college and spend several years unable to work with an undiagnosed case of brucellosis from raw milk from dubious sources. But if you are constantly aware of your herd health, there's no need.
All these goat stories are making me nostalgic.
Mary Anne in Kentucky
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