I first discovered Straus milk when we were living in central California, out in the middle of nowhere. Straus milk, it is not an exaggeration, is one of those little things that made living such an isolated life bearable. It is pasteurized but not homogenized, which means it's not raw milk but the milk and cream have not been bound, and usually when you open a bottle (which is glass and re-usable--take it back to the store to get your deposit back), especially of the whole milk, there is a clot of cream at the top that must be stirred in. (Or skimmed off to be used separately!) This milk has such a wonderful flavor--I thought immediately after the first sip I took of it that *this* is what milk is supposed to taste like.When we moved to Portland I kind of figured that Straus milk was one of those things we were giving up by moving here, because they're in Marin county (just north of San Francisco) and I'd seen their ice cream here in Portland but not their milk. My "local and sustainable" side is kind of twisting on itself right now, trying to justify drinking this milk.....but it's only from *California*, not Mexico, or Peru...
Okay, so it'll probably only be a once-in-awhile luxury. One I'll look forward to.
7 comments:
Mmmm. I totally miss Straus since leaving SF - especially with the cream floating on top... MMMMMM. Morning Coffee!
Can't find anything local that comes close.
Do you know about Noris milk? Same deal, but local and.....they deliver to most of Portland though not, alas, to Parkrose.
Huw--Maybe they'll start shipping across the continent, and then you'll really have "local and sustainable" guilt!
Magpie--have you tasted Noris? All the milk-drinkers in our house agree that it just doesn't taste very good. I'd much rather have the Organic Valley. I think they also produce a non-homogenized....but it's in plastic bottles and it only comes in whole milk.
Though now it's occuring to me that perhaps we need to try Noris again. We only tried it once, and maybe it was just an off batch, where the cows ate something weird? I just looked at their website and it does look like it's the same kind of operation as Straus. I will give it another shot.
Yummy; yay! I'm so excited about living somewhere we can find milk that doesn't taste like it's gone sour in the processor.
I haven't tasted Noris milk myself. I haven't had a glass of milk in at least 30 years--it all tastes awful to me. But the former farm boy I'm married to says Noris milk tastes like the real thing.
Okay, Magpie, I now have a bottle of Noris in my fridge. I tasted it. And it tastes....good! I think you may have helped us resolve this local/sustainable vs. longing for delicious Straus.
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