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yes rebargon, right on, more for aesthetic reasons I think than anything else. Pasteurizing was for killing bacteria (which nowadays we should have in our guts). I guess a lot of people don’t like the look of cream on the top, personally, I couldn’t wait to skim it off, for coffee or whipping cream or sometimes even for butter. Now everything is for the masses, and of course for the dairies to make more money.
You’d think they would have skimmed the cream, as it is more valuable, and gotten us used to having skim milk. There must be another answer. Whatever it is, I’ll bet it involves money.
Homegenizing milk is a “marketing” issue. Humans generally have a taste for fat which is why it’s difficult to get many folks to switch to low-fat or skim milk. Homogenizing mixes the fat consistently throughout the product and makes it more palatable to many.
Pasteurization is a public health matter done to control the spread of tuberculosis. Cows in the pasture come into contact with wild deer which are carriers of TB. The only way to prevent the spread of TB to human consumers is to pasteurize the cows’ milk.
Now, ask me why it’s illegal to spit on the sidewalk.
yes, but I remember (in Britain) when all milk was delivered door to door, before bottling and put in whatever containers were on the doorstep,before homogenizing and pasteurization and even back then the cows had to be TB tested, and I never heard of anyone getting TB. Also our herd,(in Canada) had to be tested for TB regularly. I guess it is better we have all these safeguards now, what with “mad cow” and “foot and mouth” deseases etc. Just be thankful your milk doesn’t come from China! LOL
Alfred, I think Nature is always trying to tell us something, but it might not be that we shouldn’t eat dairy. Ever wonder why yogurt doesn’t seem to affect those that supposedly have the lactose intolerance? It’s the active cultures (microorganisms) in the yogurt and what that does to the milk which helps us digest yogurt more easily. I do believe that we will be sanitizing ourselves right to our graves! We need beneficial bacteria in our digestive tract to digest our food and also to obtain vital nutrients from the food we eat, but with all of the antibiotics and sanitizing we do–we loose much of our intestinal flora and that makes us much more prone to getting all sorts of digestive problems and not have better health. I remember when pediatricians in CR used to tell my sister, let the baby play in the garden, it will help her immune system learn to live with bacteria and fight harmful ones that can truly make her sick. They don’t really say much of that anymore, but we need to share our bodies with microorganisms that can benefit us or we’ll end sharing it with the ones that will make us sick.
LOL happygirl, “recalling” all the dairy we eat would not be a pretty picture! But, you never know, if someone stands to make massive amounts of money, then they might just try to convince us to buy imported dairy from China! God help us all….
I couldn’t agree more. We are becoming so obsessive about germs, and sanitizing our hands with alcohol gels, that we are essentially not giving our immune systems a workout. Also we are creating resistant germs in the process. Some methods of disinfection are necessary, but we have to be very careful not to upset the balance. This is why when you take antibiotics you should take acidophilus, I think that’s how it’s spelled, to renew your gut flora. Now doctors are actually getting on board and recommending it.
Not sure about the yogurt, but I remember a commercial that showed 100 year old plus women, in eastern Europe I believe, eating it and attributiing longer life to its consumption.
Besides destroying all the beneficial bacteria in milk through the pasteurization process, the milk industry also puts a substance in the milk to make it really white. Raw milk is NOT white, it is a creamy color, but the milk lobby decided it would be more palatable if they could make it white white. I can’t remember what this stuff is, but I don’t want to drink commercial milk. I gave up my cow share and now buy a product at the health food store that is flash pasteurized but NOT homogenized. Your body cannot utilize the beneficial fats in cream if it’s been homogenized, and dairy fat has a high content of Omega 3, vitamin e, and conjugated linoleic acid, but only if the milk comes from free range, grassfed cows. I don’t drink milk per se, but rather ferment it with kefir grains I got from a local farmer in Costa Rica. Kefir has a higher content of beneficial bacteria than yogurt, which only has a couple of strains a opposed to about a dozen strains in kefir. Cows that are free range and grass fed have a lower incidence of all diseases; it’s when they are cooped up in a pen in unsanitary conditions, fed tons of milk-producing hormones, and then milked to the point that their teats become infected and ooze pus — THAT is one of the reasons why the milk is pasteurized. Responsible organic dairies who supply raw milk routinely check for e.coli, TB, etc. I’m sure it’s just me, but I’d trust a dairy farmer before I’d trust Dos Pinos! As for those yogurt commericals, they were all staged. That aside, there is lots of evidence that consuming a beverage such as kefir will boost your immune system and keep you healthy. I’ve been drinking this stuff for ten years, and was pleasantly surprised that many campesinos in Costa Rica also drink it. And now I have an overabundance of kefir grains, so if anyone wants some, let me know.
Maravilla, I did not know commercial milk was made whiter with chemicals. That separated milk we had in CR did have a more beige tone especially the cream on top. We did not get sick from it, so I’m sure it was fine.
Vegetables are another thing in the US, getting marketed for looks. Try buying a tomato that tastes like a tomato used to. They are all pasty and tasteless now. Even the locally grown ones do not have the same taste as before. I’ll bet they have even genetically modified the seeds these farmers use.Beef, chicken, vegetables and grains. If they all get screwed up, there’ll be nothing left to eat.. Remember “Soylent Green?”
If you made butter from the cream of that raw Costa Rican milk, it would be BRIGHT yellow, like the butter we used to get in the States, waaaaaaay back when. That’s because the cows in CR are grassfed, and that’s what makes the butter fat so vivid. I don’t know who decided that it was a marketing strategy to make milk really white, because it’s not naturally really white. Soylent Green may be closer to the reality than we’d like. I try not to eat any GMO foods; that’s why I buy everything organic, but I don’t know what kind of seeds they use in CR, which is why I’ve been hoarding every kind of seed imaginable and brought them all down to my house in CR so I can use them to plant my garden. When my husband asks me why I’m drying seeds from some great-tasting tomato or orange bell pepper, I tell him I’m preparing for the famine. LOL
Maravilla: You’re too funny (LOL). You might want to get in touch with groups that monitor original seed varieties in CR thru the public universities & the museum. I love to use heirloom seeds in my gardens–they’re so much better tasting and at least I don’t have to worry that I’m eating God knows what gene from what animal in my beautiful tomatoes or peppers. They do take more work, especially in a tropical climate such as CR, but I think they’re well worth it. The humidity is always an issue when storing seeds there. During the rainy season, I could see anything that wasn’t moving or being aerated start to turn moldy. The humidity levels coupled with the amount of microorganisms in the air is astounding. It would be great if you started a seed swap in your area of CR–When people taste the difference, they never want to go back to the insipid stuff they sell at the supermarkets. I hope you invite us to your gardens once you’ve set them up in Costa Rica–they’ll probably be a beautiful sight. Pura Vida.
“M” You are indeed a hoot! LOL, But a wealth of information too. I was wondering why the Tico margarine was so yellow, till I saw the butter. It surprizes me why they love margarine all that much. I guess they were told it was good for you too.
For sure they have to be doing something to the seed stock. Vegetables look perfect, they just taste like under-ripened garbage. Like I was saying about the tomatoes, they are all flesh, no liquid in the seed parts, and the flesh is dry and mealy.
Nutrirional value has to be way down on everything we eat now also. Artificially ripened fruits and veggies, can’t be as healthy as those ripened on the tree or vine.
Just keep drying those seeds. Who knows, maybe one day you can go into the seed business?
rebaragon,
I haven’t completed my move to San Ramon but I am interested in heirloom seeds, would you share where you get such seeds from in Costa Rica? Both the wife and myself enjoy the old heirlooms. We both love tomatoes with lots of acid, wonderfull taste!!!maravilla,
We have a home 5 kilometers north of San Ramon, between Los Angles Sur and Los Angles Norte, on the Arenal highway. There is a organic co-op just below us to the southwest. Not really being up on the names of the roads (the ones that have names) and such I can’t tell you exactly where it is but if you are interested my neighbors (Tom & Mary Anderson) know it well and can provide me with directions from San Ramon to the place.
Edited on Oct 14, 2007 16:30Edited on Oct 14, 2007 16:30
Hi Artedwards, In the US I buy them from Heirloom catalogs, but in CR your best source will typically be the campesino who is proud to be growing his own “criollo” vegetables and many ticos will also share their flower/tree seeds. The organizations that tend to have seed banks in CR are mostly for research and sometimes they don’t share, but it never hurts to try. I worked with most of these orgs on projects so I knew some people and that was helpful, but it might not be necessary. They might not be able to give you seed, but they can direct you to where you can find some. Mind you, I haven’t worked in the country for 6 years now, but I think these #s should still do. Be prepared to speak to them in Spanish and ask for the Agricultural depts or seed banks “banco de semillas” or “bancos de germoplasma”. Also, make sure you ask them where you can get “semillas autoctonas” or “semillas criollas” and that you don’t wish to obtain genetically manipulated seed: Universidad Nacional (UNA) 506-261-0035, Universidad de CR (UCR) 506-207-4000, IICA 506-216-0222, CATIE 506-556-1933, EARTH 506-713-0000 and CONAREFI (Comision Nacional de Recursos Fitogeneticos from UCR) 506-433-8525. I really think it will be a lot of fun looking for them, but farmers tend to be the most generous ones with info and seeds. I hope this helps and let me know how it goes. Best of luck! Pura Vida.
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