Whole, 2%, or skim milk

Originally Posted by Aliantha

We mostly drink milk straight from Jersey cows, so the cream content is high. Well, when I say straight from the cow, I don't mean we get down on our knees and suck it out ourselves (although that image is quite amusing). My Dad's neighbour has a number of Jersey cows and he keeps us supplied.

The interesting thing I've noted is that the shelf life of the pure untreated milk is so much longer than any treated milk I've ever bought. It keeps for up to two weeks (or more) in a 3 degree fridge.

In the US, we have this horrible "ultra-pasteurized" milk that scares the crap out of me. It keeps for approximately a month. Yes. A month. The most terrifying thing is that when it starts to go bad, rather than smelling or tasting awful or turning into cheesy chunks like milk ought to, it tastes perfectly normal but develops mucilaginous lumps that float, suspended, mid-milk, until you accidentally encounter one in your mouth. HURL.

The likelihood of this happening before the expiration date is compounded by the way many grocery stores order huge amounts of milk twice a month, for the discount, and simply keep a bunch of it in the back coolers until it's ready. Sometimes, the back coolers aren't quite cool enough. I have run into this at two different stores, which is why I now go to a hippie store and buy the normal pasteurized milk that goes bad in the proper and normal sour way after ten days.