What does raw milk taste like?

[Hopefulmama]

This may sound like a dumb question, but does raw milk have a more "earthy" flavor than the kind you get at the store-pasturiezed and homogenized? I found a local source, but will I have a tough time transitioning my family?

Thank you!

[Bellabaz]

It does taste more "real" I guess. Its richer. I don't know how to put it. For me the smell bothered me a little bit. But my dh and dd1 loved it and transitioned with no problem. She was 2 at the time we started buying it. I was the only one who didn't actually love it. I loved where it came from and that it was real, but the smell bothered me so I would only use it for coffee. I couldn't just drink it. But I am not a big milk drinker anyways.

[BaBaBa]

not 'earthier'. I'd say 'milkier'. What you think of as milk flavour is just completely intensified, fresher. i can't imagine you'd have anyproblems transitioning unless someone already doesn't like milk.

[lakeruby]

I agree with the pp who said "milkier." I absolutely LOVE it, and won't drink skim or lowfat milk. I do shake mine up before pouring it into a glass because I don't really like getting large bits of cream when I'm drinking it. I think people who already like milk will fall in love with raw milk. If you don't like milk, raw milk might be tough to switch to at first, but I read about milk production (I recommend The Untold Story of Milk, but there are several newer books out now that I haven't read) and how they cook milk, and then force it through micro-sprayers to homogenize it, not to mention the huge sad nasty confinement dairy operations that the milk comes from-- and after reading that book I looked at milk in a whole different light. Now those plastic gallons of store-brand milk (or any brand, really) totally gross me out. I mean, my stomach quivers at the thought!

[sunny*pa*mom]

I agree with the other posters. Pasteurized milk tastes watered down to me. It's the same way a store bought tomato tastes bland next to a fresh tomato from your own garden. My family transitioned with no problems.

[BedHead]

My daughter and I are the only ones who will drink it. My two boys have had it - I've given it to them when they asked for a glass of milk, mixed about half with the store bought milk, and they couldn't tell. So it isn't the taste they don't like, it's the idea. Hubby refuses to drink it too. He had a taste of it at the farm and won't touch it at all. He says it's the taste he doesn't like but I know that if I gave him some on the sly like I did with my boys he'd never know. So for them it's the idea of it being unpasteurized they don't like, not the taste.

I find it tastes SO much better than store bought milk - I bought some organic full fat milk for myself last week and even it tastes like chalk now compared to the raw.

[mosesface]

the number one response i get after serving raw milk to a friend who has never tried it is, "HEY! IT TASTES LIKE MILK!"

it really does. it tastes like milk.

once you get over that initial shocker, you can start to appreciate the differences, the richness, etc. that all the pps have mentioned.

[birdword]

I think it tastes like whatever the cow's been eating (just like human milk changes flavour) so I find raw milk has kind of a sweet grassy taste. Whatever it tastes like it's way more yummy than the pasteurized stuff!

[mmhinton]

As pp have talked about, it tastes "real"... but it did take me awhile to get past the mental aspect of it to actually drink a glass (rather than only using it on oatmeal, baking or smoothies). My older son (3 1/2) loves it, my younger son (nearly 2) is still breastfeeding and will barely drink cow milk at all yet (not that I don't offer it anyway

It did take me a while to "transition" myself and my husband - but not the kids. And, someone mentioned shaking - I'd recommend that EVERY time you pour! "Real" milk does separate in the fridge!

Good luck!

[AJP]

It definitely tastes milkier in general. In addition, raw milk available for purchase usually comes from a single source, as in one farm, one small herd, even one single cow, so consequently there can be a lot more variation in flavor than you'd find in grocery-store milk. What the cows are eating, the time of year, the weather, the stage of lactation, how quickly the milk is chilled, how it's stored, even the breed of cow, can all change the flavor of raw milk significantly. So even if you do try it from one particular source and don't like it, that doesn't mean all raw milk will taste the same. If that happens, it's worth trying other sources to see if the flavor is more to your family's liking, if raw milk is something you want to incorporate. Milk from the grocery store is typically pooled from thousands of cows from multiple dairies before it's processed (pasteurized, homogenized, etc.) in centralized facilities, and that pretty much eliminates any variation in flavor, and of course the processing removes and changes flavors as well.

I have a cow, and the difference in her milk's flavor between when she's eating primarily alfalfa hay and when she's getting more green grass or grass hay is pretty dramatic.

[Elizabeth2008]

well, first of all, it tastes BETTER than conventional pasturized homogenized milk so I doubt you would have trouble transitioning your family. The flavor is essentially the same, it just tastes fresher, creamier and better! lol... i don't know how else to explain it.

[rere]

It depends what time of year it is(as in what the cows are eating).Sometimes it tastes a little arm pitty.My daughter loves it though and she is very particular and didn't start drinking it until she was 4.

[jeminijad]

My DH won't drink the raw Jersey milk that I love- it is too grassy for him! It also has a much high milkfat % than the Holstein grocery store homo milk, and he just didn't like that much cream.

So I got him milk from another farm, from Ayrshire (sp?) cattle that weren't 100% grass fed. He liked that better... it was closer to what he was used to.

So it is possible that you will have trouble.