Attention Rebellious Jezebels - I haven't said anything about your "cheese".

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I haven't said anything about your "cheese".

May. 7th, 2008 at 5:19 PM

So it turns out people love talking about dairy! Which really, I ought to have expected.

I have to clarify a terminology point, though. Apparently, for many of my North American readers, "skim milk" refers to what I wouldn't consider milk at all. To me, there is milk - which has the cream left in it - and there is skim milk, which is anything where some of the cream is skimmed off. There are varieties of skim milk, with varying fat levels, but anything that cuts the fat is "skim".

0% milkfat is something I can't really comprehend. What? What?

So apparently, a lot of people object to "skim" milk, but are perfectly au fait with what I would *also* consider skim milk. (1%, 2%, etc.)

(What? 99% NO FAT? What? SERIOUSLY YOU PEOPLE.)

Actually, I think my Dad joked about this once. As in: "Oh, now your mother's drinking 97% fat free milk! Soon we'll all be on 100% fat free milk!" And we laughed, because it was funny to think that such a thing could ever exist!

Obviously, it's all about what you grow up with. And if I visit any of you, I will make sure to visit the grocery store first.

Music:Tam Lin - Fairport Convention

Comments

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morchades wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 07:39 am (UTC)

There's also dry and condensed milk too.

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karenhealey wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 07:42 am (UTC)

Well, yeah?

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morchades wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 07:43 am (UTC)

Just making sure you knew.

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karenhealey wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 01:40 pm (UTC)

Oh, okay! Yeah, and we get the UHT scary lasts forever milk, too.

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gypsyliz wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 05:53 am (UTC)

*shudders* Oh god. I grew up on that crap. It's cheap, and keeps along time when you're poor, lmao. I can't look at a can now without shuddering though.

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damienroc wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 07:39 am (UTC)

It's worth noting that whole milk is ~3.5% fat. So 2/3.5= ~57% of the original fat and 1/3.5= ~29%.

This I found out while on vacation in Denmark and my mom sent me to buy milk. Since my dad was watching his cholesterol, I felt it wise to pick something that was a bit lighter on the fat. I grabbed the 3.5%, thinking that was good.

My mom yelled at me since we already had skim milk for him. Upon returning to the store, we were informed that 3.5% WAS whole milk.

I think 1% and 2% are generally considered 'semi-skimmed', at least in England.

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labellementeuse wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 08:27 am (UTC)

We had someone come in and ask for half-and-half (my summer job is a starmart in the middle of wellington and we get a lot of those crazy tourist types) and we just had no idea what to give them. Then they said "well, if not half-and-half, how about 2%?" At that point we gave up on milk communication. (We did try to do the percentage thing, but milk fat is measured in grams per 200 mls and I was just too lazy.) Dairy boards worldwide should introduce some kind of standardised milk colour coding. And enforce it with whips and chains.

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knastymike wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 11:49 am (UTC)

If, for some strange reason, you visited me, you would not need to visit the grocery store beforehand. If there is not whole milk in my fridge, it only means I am currently on my way to get more whole, delicious milk.

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veejane wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 01:29 pm (UTC)

When I think about it, it is kind of funny; I mean, we basically have 4 versions of drinking milk (whole, 2%, 1%, skim), two creams (light, heavy), and a cream mixture (half-and-half), and that's before you get into any of the "cremes" and "kremes" and fakey-things that are meant to mimic milk products.

Is now the time to mention you can get butter in salted and unsalted format? We'll quietly not talk about the fact that you can also get it whipped.

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karenhealey wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 01:34 pm (UTC)

Oh no, unsalted and salted I am familiar with. Helpful to specify which is good when baking or cooking!

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lirazel wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 02:11 pm (UTC)

Ah, but are you familiar with "European-style" butter (not to mention butter actually from Europe?)

See, the Food and Drug Administration in USA sets a standard for the maximum amount of water or whey that can be in something labelled "butter", and naturally most companies keep their butter right at that maximum--cheaper for them to make, since it takes less processing. And some used to sell "premium" butter, with less milk.

And then, along came Eurobutter imports, rich and dense and not sweating little droplets. And all us foodies said, "Wait, what?"

So now, we have "European-style" butter. AKA, butter without a lot of leftover water in it. Oi.

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travellers_joy wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 08:28 am (UTC)

That's nuthin. So far, in the UK, I have counted pouring cream, single cream, double cream, whipping cream and I think some other kind of cream that is heavier than double cream.

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malakim wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 09:50 am (UTC)

At our local store, we have something that is called 'chocolate drink' (I forget the brand), and it sits right by the milks. It tastes like the most rich, delicious chocolate milk you've ever had.

But it contains no milk! o_o

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laechim wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 02:22 pm (UTC)

See, that's why I said skim looked translucent and weird! Because it is an abomination. Now that things are clarified, I tend to go with 2% generally, just because. I haven't had whole in a very long time, at least not for drinking/cereal.

Also, even inside of the US, there's clear quality differences. Although Todd could talk more about that one. All I know is that apparently Indiana milk is sub-par. ;)

-Mecha

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jenn_possible wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 03:45 pm (UTC)

But skim milk has a vaguely bluish tint! It's almost as though the milk came from a very sick, bluish tinted cow. What could be cooler than that?

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laechim wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 04:08 pm (UTC)

I hear 'blueish cow', think the Earthbound video game Happy Happyist village where everything is painted blue including the cow, and become very sad for my misspent youth.

Also, if milk is going to be blue, the least it could do is be some sort of strange cheese.

(Also, when you put strawberry syrup into it, it becomes less blue and more like a glowing off-pink elixir. How is it off-pink? Crazy skim milk.)

-Mecha

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aquahaute wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 12:10 pm (UTC)

They're planning to release that on Virtual Console, you know.

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laechim wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 01:58 pm (UTC)

Yeah, I'd heard. Although since I still have my original functioning cart it's something I'm less interested in grabbing.

-Mecha

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brown_betty wrote:

May. 7th, 2008 04:36 pm (UTC)

Oh, no, let's mock 'american' cheese. Because really, what country would actively give its name to a product like that?

I mean, americans call some sort of horrible baloney product "Canadian bacon," but I assure you, up here, our bacon is the nice slice o' pig you are used to.

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malakim wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 09:51 am (UTC)

I prefer to make fun of Velveeta, which labels itself as a "cheese food product".

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escritoireazul wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 02:51 am (UTC)

Skim milk is the only way to go. Not that I keep milk much, except for the occasional cooking need. If I'm going to push my poor stomach which can't handle dairy (and I do, often) it's going to be for cheese or ice cream, not milk. I've often contemplated whether water on cereal is a valid life choice, that's how little I like milk. (So far, the answer is no. Some day, odds are it will be yes.)

There's this odd thing I've only seen in Michigan which involves 1/2% milk. I don't understand it at all. 1/2%? Really?

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gypsyliz wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 05:56 am (UTC)

/nods. A grocery store where I live (Northwest Indiana) sells 1/2% milk. I couldn't figure it out either. Doesn't taste all that bad though. Maybe it's a midwest thing?

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aquahaute wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 12:11 pm (UTC)

I've seen the same at the Meijers in the south Indy suburbs.

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escritoireazul wrote:

May. 13th, 2008 01:10 am (UTC)

Maybe it is a midwest thing, though I've never seen it in Missouri, where my parents live. The fact that it is in more places than Michigan is even more disturbing to me, actually. It's spreading!

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gypsyliz wrote:

May. 13th, 2008 03:46 am (UTC)

Freakin' 1/2% milk, trying to take over the world...That brand of milk is organic though. Kinda creepy.

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gypsyliz wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 06:00 am (UTC)

Skim milk or 1% milk is much easier on my stomach, I will say that. I probably should only be drinking soy milk like my hubby does - therefore doing away with all of the problems I have with milk all together, but I *love* milk. I just bought Fair Oaks Farms (local Indiana dairy) 2% milk...then again, anything Fair Oaks Farms sells is the yum, so...

Perhaps we should form a dairy club? Dedicated to the appreciation of all things milk and cheese.

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travellers_joy wrote:

May. 8th, 2008 08:33 am (UTC)

No fear. At the casa de Anderson we generally have whole milk AND semi-skimmed. And cream. And several kinds of cheese.

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costumegoddess_ wrote:

May. 12th, 2008 08:49 pm (UTC)

I'm not a huge milk fan but Christopher loves it. He grew up on non-fat (skim :P) milk so we just get that. I'll grab a quart or something of whole before you guys get here if you tend towards cereal or milky stuff in the mornings.

~K~

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