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Milk is my main drink. I don't drink beer or wine, it's mostly just plain milk for me. And while there is a substantial taste difference based on the % of fat,

Milk is my main drink. I don't drink beer or wine, it's mostly just plain milk for me. And while there is a substantial taste difference based on the % of fat, I have never seen a difference in taste between pasteurised and non-pasteurised. I actually bought a bottle of raw milk from a farmer just to try it. No negative effects, but it just tasted insipid compared to 5.4% fat milk I can get at the supermarket. People who claim a taste difference between raw and pasteurised, I'd very much like to see someone taste the difference on the same cow's milk blind, before and after pasteurisation. I just don't think it affects the taste much, and certainly not as much as fat %. And for people who claim health benefits, I would like to see a double blind study demonstrating those benefits.

franktankbank 1y ago
You may be onto something about the different cows. This was while I lived in France temporarily. I had no idea that I was drinking raw milk. I was commenting how delicious it was and a coworker said "oh is that the stuff you have to boil". Me "wut". It was much better than the supermarket milk I could get.
- ceejayoz 1y ago
  It isn’t raw if it’s been boiled. That’s pasteurized. At a higher temp than the supermarket stuff, even.
  - franktankbank 1y ago
    Might not have been clear. I wasn't boiling it because I couldn't read the french instructions.
- AlexandrB 1y ago
  The confounding factor is milk fat. In my experience higher fat milk just tastes better regardless of any other factor and milk straight from the cow will have up to 5% milk fat compared to 3.25% for "whole" milk. Try drinking a shot glass of 10% cream sometime, it's amazing.
bitexploder 1y ago
What the cows eat matters for how milk tastes too. Cows can get sick. Udders can get infections. Milking processes (machinery) and its ease of cleaning can vary. Bacteria is everywhere. Pasteurization is a cheap, effective and has no real drawbacks. This whole raw milk thing is just silly and has become political for some silly reason.
bluGill 1y ago
I think the main difference is fresh. When I was in high school I stayed with a dairy farmer who brought in a jug of milk from the tank for breakfast after milking the cows. After that I can't drink regular milk. Pasteurization does affect taste though. Around me there are two different dairies, one does regular pasteurization and one does vat pasteurization and I can tell the difference. There is ultra pasteurization which is just gross. I've never put unpasteurized head to head against equally fresh pasteurized though, and given what I now know I'm not going to.
- AlexandrB 1y ago
  I love ultra pasteurization. I'm lactose intolerant so I have to drink "lactose free"[1] milk and in Canada such milk is often UHT pasteurized since it has to stay on the store shelf longer (lower inventory turnover). It's amazing that we can, non-chemically, disinfect a dairy product in such a way that it will stay good for months even without refrigeration. In Mexico I suspect that almost all milk is ultra pasteurized since it's not refrigerated in stores and has wicked-long expiration dates. It's also some of the best-tasting milk I've had so I think that flavour has more to do with some of the other milk processes (like skimming) and the livelihood of the cows rather than with how it's pasteurized. [1] In practice this is just milk with the lactase enzyme added at some point during production.
- nindalf 1y ago
  I have no doubt that milk that is 15 minutes old tastes great. My question is if that jug of milk was divided in two and one half was pasteurised, would people be able to tell the difference? You're saying yes, I'm saying I'd like to see blind tests of people tasting both.
  - bluGill 1y ago
    IF you read close you will see that I didn't say yes. I said that I don't know and am not willing to be part of such a blind test. I will state clearly that all the unpasteurized milk I had was less than an hour old and tasted great, while all the pasteurized milk was unknown age but likely at least a day old and tasted worse. Is it fresh or pasteurization that makes a difference is not something I know.

franktankbank 1y ago

You may be onto something about the different cows. This was while I lived in France temporarily. I had no idea that I was drinking raw milk. I was commenting how delicious it was and a coworker said "oh is that the stuff you have to boil". Me "wut". It was much better than the supermarket milk I could get.

ceejayoz 1y ago
It isn’t raw if it’s been boiled. That’s pasteurized. At a higher temp than the supermarket stuff, even.
- franktankbank 1y ago
  Might not have been clear. I wasn't boiling it because I couldn't read the french instructions.
AlexandrB 1y ago
The confounding factor is milk fat. In my experience higher fat milk just tastes better regardless of any other factor and milk straight from the cow will have up to 5% milk fat compared to 3.25% for "whole" milk. Try drinking a shot glass of 10% cream sometime, it's amazing.

bitexploder 1y ago

What the cows eat matters for how milk tastes too. Cows can get sick. Udders can get infections. Milking processes (machinery) and its ease of cleaning can vary. Bacteria is everywhere. Pasteurization is a cheap, effective and has no real drawbacks. This whole raw milk thing is just silly and has become political for some silly reason.

bluGill 1y ago

I think the main difference is fresh. When I was in high school I stayed with a dairy farmer who brought in a jug of milk from the tank for breakfast after milking the cows. After that I can't drink regular milk. Pasteurization does affect taste though. Around me there are two different dairies, one does regular pasteurization and one does vat pasteurization and I can tell the difference. There is ultra pasteurization which is just gross. I've never put unpasteurized head to head against equally fresh pasteurized though, and given what I now know I'm not going to.

AlexandrB 1y ago
I love ultra pasteurization. I'm lactose intolerant so I have to drink "lactose free"[1] milk and in Canada such milk is often UHT pasteurized since it has to stay on the store shelf longer (lower inventory turnover). It's amazing that we can, non-chemically, disinfect a dairy product in such a way that it will stay good for months even without refrigeration. In Mexico I suspect that almost all milk is ultra pasteurized since it's not refrigerated in stores and has wicked-long expiration dates. It's also some of the best-tasting milk I've had so I think that flavour has more to do with some of the other milk processes (like skimming) and the livelihood of the cows rather than with how it's pasteurized. [1] In practice this is just milk with the lactase enzyme added at some point during production.
nindalf 1y ago
I have no doubt that milk that is 15 minutes old tastes great. My question is if that jug of milk was divided in two and one half was pasteurised, would people be able to tell the difference? You're saying yes, I'm saying I'd like to see blind tests of people tasting both.
- bluGill 1y ago
  IF you read close you will see that I didn't say yes. I said that I don't know and am not willing to be part of such a blind test. I will state clearly that all the unpasteurized milk I had was less than an hour old and tasted great, while all the pasteurized milk was unknown age but likely at least a day old and tasted worse. Is it fresh or pasteurization that makes a difference is not something I know.