The New York Times weighs in on the raw milk controversy more than six months after our coverage began. In January of this year on Serious Eats Nathalie Jordi linked to a fascinating story in Salon that dramatically depicts the starkly different positions of raw milk advocates and opponents. Raw milk proponents claim that not only is it safe to drink, it can cure and reduce the effects of debilitating diseases like eczema, arthritis, and asthma. The subject of the Times story, Nina Planck, is a passionate raw milk advocate. The Centers for Disease Control is equally emphatic about the potential hazards of drinking raw milk, citing evidence that in recent years, children and adults have contracted E. coli and... More

Many dairy farmers are switching to organic methods to beat new federal regulations, according to the New York Times. That's all well and good, but when Jeffrey Steingarten and I did a blind milk taste test on our tv show a few years ago, the organic milks we sampled did not fare well at all.... More

From Ask MetaFilter: Why is there no more milk delivery in the US? It used to be common, now it's extremely rare. Why is that? The short(ish) answer: First, larger dairies meant cheaper milk, making it harder for milkmen to make a living, especially since they had to wash and reuse the glass bottles. Second, the advent of both supermarkets and cars meant housewives could buy supplies on their own schedules. Perfectly valid reasons, but man, plastic jugs and cartons are so dull. (Ronnybrook Dairy's milk is fatty and delicious, but I will cop to buying it at least partly because it comes in glass bottles.)... More

The NYT's Mark Bittman makes a pudding promise: " You can make not only a credible but elegant and delicious chocolate or vanilla pudding in 20 minutes flat, not counting the time it takes to chill. That’s not much longer than it takes to start with a box of powdered mix, add milk and heat it." I have to admit that for some reason I've just always assumed pudding was fairly complicated to make and so had never so much as looked at a recipe for it before; Bittman is also sure to make the point that starting with quality ingredients (like with natural milk, not ultrapasteurized, and maybe purchased from a farm or farmer's market) is the best path... More

Harold McGee knows everything, including the reason why milk, butter, olive oil and beer taste funny if exposed to light for too long.... More

Remember our post on Starbucks getting rid of milk from cows treated with rBGH in half its stores? Apparently, rBGH does not show up in milk--the fluid itself is rBGH free. However, cows given rBGH are at a much higher risk of mastitis, an udder infection usually treated with antibiotics, which do come through the milk. See the NRN Food Service Blog for a fleshing out of the semantics.... More