Earlier today, Nancy put her cool hand on my forehead and told me that I had a fever. “Milk?! Why milk?”
I guess not that many people in my office like milk, which caught me by surprise. I used to drink a glass per day. I still love milk. Always have, always will. It only made sense to do a milk taste test. Right?????
(Michael Mooney, milk-drinker extraordinaire, I know you’re with me on this one.)
It turns out that milk is very difficult to taste test. They all kinda taste… similar. I wonder why that is. I thought there’d be more of a difference, but then again, what do I know about pasteurization?
THE MILK JUGS – We chose to go with all 2% instead of whole milk.
A. Promised Land (2%) – Floresville, TX
B. Kalona SuperNatural (2%) – Kalona, Iowa
C. Sprouts’ milk (2%) – national brand
D. County Line Farms – Earth, TX
BONUS MILK: Mill-King (1%) – McGregor, TX – Bought this at Ruibal’s in Carrollton. It’s also found at Green Grocer.
THE TASTE-TESTERS
The web team (minus two milk-haters), an intern, our brand manager, and our advertising art director.
WHAT THEY SAID
*We had 8 taste testers, but I’m only putting 5 of their comments down below. Some of the comments were lame. (i.e. “Geez, I don’t know, they’re all MILK.”)
A. Promised Land (2%) – Floresville, TX – Bought this at Sprouts
Taster 1 – tasty, good consistency
Taster 2 – had a moldy flavor
Taster 3 – thinner
Taster 4 – goes down smoothly
Taster 5 – a mild milk taste
B. Kalona SuperNatural (2%) – Kalona, Iowa (low temp pasteurization, no homogenization) – Bought this at Sprouts
Taster 1 – thinner body
Taster 2 – went down smoothly, mild flavor
Taster 3 – thicker, tastes good
Taster 4 – more creamy
Taster 5 – pretty average, run of the mill milk
C. Sprouts’ milk (2%) – national brand – Bought this at Sprouts
Taster 1 – thin body, less flavorful
Taster 2 – also went down smoothly, but had more flavor to it. hint of sweetness. best for cereal.
Taster 3 – strong finish
Taster 4 – thinner than the first two
Taster 5 – sweeter
D. County Line Farms – Earth, TX – Bought this at Bolsa Mercado
Taster 1 – thicker body, good taste, long aftertaste
Taster 2 – by far the thickest. For sure in a milkshake, but not good for chugging
Taster 3 – kind of sweet
Taster 4 – sweet, slightly thicker
Taster 5 – creamy flavor
THE RESULTS
Holy dang cow. It was a tie between all four of the milks. Each one received two votes. I think this shows how homogenized these dairy producers are making their milk. (That’s just my two cents.) Raw milk would probably make a better taste test ingredient. Mill-King wasn’t able to be part of the test, because it only comes in 1% and whole, but its milk is probably the sweetest out of all them. It’s almost like cereal milk. Mmm. Get me more of summathat.
