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I milk my own herd of dairy cows and goats. I drink the milk raw, and it is far superior to pasteurized milk both in taste and purity. Raw milk is nearly perf

I milk my own herd of dairy cows and goats. I drink the milk raw, and it is far superior to pasteurized milk both in taste and purity. Raw milk is nearly perfectly sterile when it comes out of a freshly cleaned teat. After that, virtually every microorganism wants to grow in it. The equipment must be handled and cleaned with precision and diligence. Any contamination provides a seed that will grow uncontrollably. I test every batch of milk that I will consume, using both coliform and aerobic plates. This required a non-trivial investment in minor lab equipment, but it is the only way that I feel safe. The tests have caught mistakes that we did not even know we made, but they also give a high degree of confidence that the milk is pure. In contrast, commercially pasteurized milk assumes that the milk is contaminated. As such, the regulations actually allow the tests that I run to show unsafe levels of pathogenic organisms. Sure, the heat kills them, but it does not remove them from the milk. All of their proteins are still there and will be consumed. I used to get sick from drinking store bought milk, and I believe it was due to the literal shit that they allow to enter into the process.

unmole 5y ago
> far superior to pasteurized milk both in taste and purity. How does pasteurisation make the milk less pure? > Sure, the heat kills them, but it does not remove them from the milk. All of their proteins are still there and will be consumed. So? > I used to get sick from drinking store bought milk, and I believe it was due to the literal shit that they allow to enter into the process. Loads of people also believe that MSG gives them headaches. I find your theory equally implausible. This sort of perception of superiority is very common among people who make a fuss about natural, organic or raw foods. Considering that rest of population does just fine, maybe adjust your priors a bit.
- manquer 5y ago
  pasteurisation and heating in general breaks down some molecules in the milk that makes it less "pure" and alters the taste you can feel.
- dcx 5y ago
  I feel that this use of the imperative mood and the brusque, flippant dismissal of OP’s rare and interesting experiences are not just unjustified but do HN a disservice. If you have enough encounters with the medical system, you quickly learn that human bodies are actually insanely high variance and ridiculously poorly understood. The knowledge frontier is wide but super shallow. Gut bacteria. Epigenetics. Rare mutations. Differences in tolerances and sensitivities. WEIRD. Interactions of multiple conditions. OP is sharing work that obviously requires a baseline of high intelligence, plus his empirical observations. Writing this off as all just being in his head seems insulting in context. I also want to point out that of course dead bacteria can harm you! Would you eat pasteurized feces, or month old raw meat? Bacteria excrete waste products which are known to be toxic to humans, e.g. cereulide. Plus heat resistant endospores, e.g. botulism. And FYI there are a ton of known bioactive plus heat sensitive organic compounds in food. Please adjust your own priors a bit towards open-mindedness and intellectual humility - people here are as smart as you are. Shutting others down like this discourages them from sharing frontier knowledge with us.
  - Handytinge 5y ago
    Thank you for writing this. I also found some of the OPs claims dubious, but something about the commenters wording really put me off. This is a community that benefits from the discussion of unique experiences, rather than dismisal of them.
peoplefromibiza 5y ago
> I drink the milk raw, and it is far superior to pasteurized milk both in taste and purity. I've grown up with cows, sheeps, goats and my family lived on farming Pasteurized milk is not in any way less pure or tasty than raw milk. Actually the opposite is true: pasteurized milk flavour can be taken for granted, raw milk? not at all. > Raw milk is nearly perfectly sterile when it comes out of a freshly cleaned teat But the environment is not. Unless you farm your animals in a sterile environment, which is highly unlikely and probably undesirable too.

unmole 5y ago

> far superior to pasteurized milk both in taste and purity. How does pasteurisation make the milk less pure? > Sure, the heat kills them, but it does not remove them from the milk. All of their proteins are still there and will be consumed. So? > I used to get sick from drinking store bought milk, and I believe it was due to the literal shit that they allow to enter into the process. Loads of people also believe that MSG gives them headaches. I find your theory equally implausible. This sort of perception of superiority is very common among people who make a fuss about natural, organic or raw foods. Considering that rest of population does just fine, maybe adjust your priors a bit.

manquer 5y ago
pasteurisation and heating in general breaks down some molecules in the milk that makes it less "pure" and alters the taste you can feel.
dcx 5y ago
I feel that this use of the imperative mood and the brusque, flippant dismissal of OP’s rare and interesting experiences are not just unjustified but do HN a disservice. If you have enough encounters with the medical system, you quickly learn that human bodies are actually insanely high variance and ridiculously poorly understood. The knowledge frontier is wide but super shallow. Gut bacteria. Epigenetics. Rare mutations. Differences in tolerances and sensitivities. WEIRD. Interactions of multiple conditions. OP is sharing work that obviously requires a baseline of high intelligence, plus his empirical observations. Writing this off as all just being in his head seems insulting in context. I also want to point out that of course dead bacteria can harm you! Would you eat pasteurized feces, or month old raw meat? Bacteria excrete waste products which are known to be toxic to humans, e.g. cereulide. Plus heat resistant endospores, e.g. botulism. And FYI there are a ton of known bioactive plus heat sensitive organic compounds in food. Please adjust your own priors a bit towards open-mindedness and intellectual humility - people here are as smart as you are. Shutting others down like this discourages them from sharing frontier knowledge with us.
- Handytinge 5y ago
  Thank you for writing this. I also found some of the OPs claims dubious, but something about the commenters wording really put me off. This is a community that benefits from the discussion of unique experiences, rather than dismisal of them.

peoplefromibiza 5y ago

> I drink the milk raw, and it is far superior to pasteurized milk both in taste and purity. I've grown up with cows, sheeps, goats and my family lived on farming Pasteurized milk is not in any way less pure or tasty than raw milk. Actually the opposite is true: pasteurized milk flavour can be taken for granted, raw milk? not at all. > Raw milk is nearly perfectly sterile when it comes out of a freshly cleaned teat But the environment is not. Unless you farm your animals in a sterile environment, which is highly unlikely and probably undesirable too.