Virtually all commercial milk has an unpleasantly moldy aftertaste. I'm surprised no one else tastes it, but I'm hypersensitive to moldy flavors (which is why, I suppose, I dislike moldy cheeses like bleu or gorgonzola). I've tried all brands, including organic, and all taste moldly (somewhere between production, storage, transportation, and packaging is a step that's never completely sterilized between batches).
Best I've ever found here in the northeast is Five Acre Farms milk, from a cooperative near New York City. It's not completely clean-tasting, but the mold flavor is very faint. They're not organic, but claim to use sustainable methods and to be free of hormones and antibiotics.
Here's a store locator. I mostly buy at Fairway and Key Food.
5 comments:
Well, it looks like your SIGA speculation might pan out very soon. Maybe you could buy some expensive, mold-less milk, or start your own cooperative, with the money saved.
I too am very sensitive to the taste of mold--as independently verified by a somewhat famous chef who called me at home a week after I (alone) complained that the bread, and the replacement bread, tasted a touch moldy; chef called me to say that I had been correct, some mold ultimately turned up in the poppy seeds. I have always attributed it as an acquired taste, since I am not squeamish about trying to rescue old food from my fridge by cutting off the unsightly bits and seeing if the rest still tastes good. Also, I like the blue cheeses etc., though I don't like moldy food at random.
all that to say: I don't doubt you are tasting something that you don't like, but I do doubt that all the different vendors of milk are making some similar slip of hygiene, that just doesn't make sense.
Thanks, anon #2, interesting.
I'm quite sure it's mold. I'm not sure they're all making the same mistake, and am not knowledge enough to guess at the specifics. But old milk gets moldy, and it seems reasonable to figure that one or more steps in the (complex) process from cow to store aren't absolutely squeaky clean/sterile.
I'm sure it's clean and sterile within reasonable (and regulatory) parameters, just as processed spinach can contain a certain percentage of bugs...which won't harm you. So I'm not arguing that it's unclean to the point of poor healthfulness. Just enough to disturb my weirdly sensitive palate. If I were sensitive to bugs, I'd taste them in spinach!
I know of a fellow with an extreme allergy to cockroaches. He couldn't drink pre-ground coffee. It ALWAYS has roaches, as he learned the hard way. Just not enough to trigger health or taste issues in 99.9% of the public.
Anon #1, my SIGA speculation already went to $16 once. I held, expecting $30-40.
I'm still expecting that, btw. But, as of now, creeping to three bucks doesn't exactly light me on fire! :)
interesting.
i can't drink mail straight because it tastes unpleasant to me. not mildly - extremely so. but i enjoy it in coffee, tea and love buttermilk, yoghurt, cream etc.
i thought i was alone!
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