prevent the fat from separating. The result is
processed milk of no particular animal or
farm or season, and therefore of no particular
character. Some small dairies persist in
milking other breeds, allowing their herds out
to pasture, pasteurizing mildly, and not
homogenizing. Their milk can have a more
distinctive flavor, a rare reminder of what
milk used to taste like.
Raw Milk Careful milking of healthy cows
yields sound raw milk, which has its own
fresh taste and physical behavior. But if it’s
contaminated by a diseased cow or careless
handling — the udder hangs right next to the
tail — this nutritious fluid soon teems with
potentially dangerous microbes. The
importance of strict hygiene in the dairy has
been understood at least since the Middle
Ages, but life far from the farms made
contamination and even adulteration all too
common in cities of the 18th and 19th