In Praise of Milk
If you're of a certain age you may remember that milk used to taste better. A cold glass of milk being a treat. And plain whole milk being just as good (or better) than half and half in coffee. Those were the days of local milk home delivery, in glass bottles. Somewhere along the way in the 1960s-1970s all that changed as we traded freshness and flavor for convenience. Of course, as people get older they tend to drink less milk anyhow so for most the loss seems less acute, or goes unnoticed. Younger folks have no idea. But if you live in Virginia or the DC area you may be able find outstanding retro milk — produced without the use of hormones or antibiotics — from the Homestead Creamery, sold in certain Whole Foods stores, and other outlets, and also home delivered in a limited area around southwest Virginia.
Yesterday, a cold, rainy day, I made some chili and cornbread for supper. To make the cornbread I needed milk. But for some reason my local Whole Foods store no longer seems to stock quart cartons of milk. I didn't want to buy half a gallon and throw most of it out and I noticed that the store did carry glass quart bottles of Homestead Creamery milk (at an outrageous price). Out of curiosity I bought one. Later, while cooking, to test the milk I poured myself a small glass to drink straight up. Memories came flooding back. This is damn good milk! In fact, it was a struggle to resist drinking several glasses then and there. Milk often undoes my digestion so I reckoned it wouldn't have been safe but gosh, I could've willingly downed the entire quart.
The company doesn't have a web site. I don't know how you could find where, exactly, the milk is sold, but if you see it you might want to give it a try.
Posted by George Kenney on December 28, 2011 7:12 AM 
« Damn His Eyes | Main | On the Power of Naming Things »
Comments
Whole milk in our fridge today: http://www.ronnybrook.com/
It's not so expensive. A bit more than other locals, but the deposit is dear. Bring the bottle back!
Compared to commodity versions, it is butter.
[Turns coffee into almost an entirely different beverage. Yum! g.]
Posted by: Peter | December 28, 2011 1:30 PM