FROM COW TO DELIVERY: Asheville entrepreneur Jonathan Flaum buys his Farm to Home Milk from longtime dairy farmer John Hostetler (lower photo). Since 1979, Hostetler has raised cows for milk production; his brand, Wholesome Country Creamery, includes 100 grassfed milk.
duced in the 19th century and widely used for milk processing by the 1960s — is that it eradicates dangerous bacteria and increases shelf life. But opponents of pasteurization say some bacteria in milk, such as Lactobacilli, has digestive benefits that should be preserved. And according to the “Real Milk” campaign run by the Weston A. Price Foundation, “Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and B2 … and is associated with allergies” and other illnesses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the North Carolina Division of Public Health counter that pasteurization is needed to kill salmonella, E. coli and other bacteria that can be deadly. Nonetheless, Hostetler’s household of eight drinks only raw milk — about 3 gallons a day, he says. “I prefer raw milk,” says Hostetler, adding that low-temperature, long-time pasteurized milk is “much better” than ultra-pasteurized.
“There’s a clientele in Asheville that’s super-knowledgeable about milk and really want that purity, the 100 percent grassfed and the cream-line milk, the unhomogenized.” — JOnaThOn FLauM
In Asheville, consumers seem receptive to low-temp milk as an alternative to raw or ultra-pasteurized: Flaum sells about 50 gallons of Wholesome Country Creamery milk each week, and that volume is growing. He recently began stocking the dairy’s milk, butter and goat milk at French Broad Food Co-op.
STRaIghT FROM ThE COW
By his explanation, milk comes from the soil. Minerals from the ground appear in the grass, corn and soybeans he grows for feed (all of his crops are non-GMO, he adds). Those same nutrients contribute to the health of the cow, the look and taste of the milk and, finally, the nourishment of the consumer. When the cow takes in more vitamins and enzymes from the grass, the person who drinks the milk gets more nutrients too, Hostetler says. In February, Flaum convinced the dairy farmer that there’s a strong market for 100 percent grassfed, minimally processed milk, although Hostetler still questions whether consumers will pay more when they can have a 70 percent grassfed product with only a slight difference in taste. (Wholesome Country Creamery’s 100 percent grassfed milk costs $1 more per half-gallon than its 70 percent product.) “Can the consumer afford [100 percent] grassfed?” he says. “I have done the blind test on the grassfed and on our conventional product that we produce here. I have yet to really pick [a difference] up.” However, the color difference between the two milks is obvious. The grassfed milk looks more yellow — or green; Hostetler attributes the color difference to chlorophyl and amino acids. The orange-yellow hue, in particular, comes from carotenes (a precursor to vitamin A), according to Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking. Whether consumers prefer milk from 70 or 100 percent grassfed cows, all Wholesome Country products are minimally processed, which is one of the biggest draws of the brand, says Flaum. “I think what folks in Asheville are liking about the low-temp pasteurization and the non-homogenized is that it’s as close to raw as they can get,” he says. Hostetler’s milk goes through a process called vat pasteurization: The milk is heated to 145 degrees for 30 minutes. That’s significantly cooler than the ultra-pasteurized process, which gives milk a longer shelf life but, some say, a more cooked flavor. High temperatures kill bacteria in milk. The whole point of pasteurization — intro-
While Flaum drives long distances for a product between raw and processed, some consumers already are drinking and buying raw in the Asheville area. One farmer, who asked Xpress to keep his identity a secret, sells about 50 gallons of raw milk a week in town. Nine states around the country, including South Carolina and Pennsylvania, allow raw cow’s milk to be sold in grocery stores and other retail locations. “The FDA’s already called me once,” he says. “He was real nice. We just had a real good conversation.” The dairy farmer told the official that his milk was for pet food, a legal use in North Carolina. “I said, ‘I don’t have any milk for you to inspect,’” the farmer recalls. “[The official] said, ‘Are you telling me you don’t have any milk?’” “I said, ‘No sir, I have three refrigerators full of milk, but you don’t inspect dog food, cat food, calf milk and stuff like that. If you can find anybody that I have ever told to drink this milk, I’d appreciate it if you’d tell me where they’re at, and I’ll meet you there, and we’ll talk to them.’” On every glass jar of milk he sells, the farmer attaches his own sticker, designating it for pet consumption only. The label isn’t FDA-approved. Kate and Kevin Lane use a state-issued, FDA-approved label at their farm, Homemade in Marshall. They sell about 50 gallons of raw milk from 100 percent grassfed cows each week. “I did everything I needed to do to become a pet-food company,” Kate says. “In North Carolina, that’s the loophole: You can sell raw milk for pets.” Although Kate surmises that some customers drink the milk or make yogurt from it, she says she’s not sure what happens to it after it leaves the farm. “We don’t give any advice for human use,” she says. “I know that the majority of our customers are not just buying it for their pets, but there actually are some who do significantly share it with their pets.” Raw milk is particularly good food for chickens and puppies, she notes. One customer even uses it as fertilizer, although this practice is expensive. In the past, the Lanes sold raw milk through cow shares, in which each customer owns stock in the cow that produces the milk. But that practice has been outlawed in North Carolina.
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SEPtEmBER 18 - SEPtEmBER 24, 2013
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