A local milk taste test

I'm back at it with another family taste test. A month ago, we were sampling salmon. Today, we sipped local milk. To make things even more fun, we invited a couple of friends from the bus stop to join us.

On tap were samples of milk from Organic Valley, Smith Brothers Farms, Grace Harbor Farms, and Pure Eire Dairy — all purchased from PCC.

I thought I was pretty prepared going into this experiment, but one thing I neglected to think of was a spittoon. The Pure Eire offering was non-homogenized, and even though I shook it up as much as possible ahead of time, there were still the occasional bits of floating cream. The four young taste testers were not impressed by “chunky milk." Then, once they realized they could spit milk into a mixing bowl, things got a bit wild.

To add some basic math to the activity, I gave each child three votes and then we charted their preferences. Organic Valley was a popular favorite because it was “normal milk” (i.e. the brand the kids most recognized from home). Grace Harbor was the second place winner, probably because it was whole milk and because little girls are swayed by pictures of cute brown cows.

My own personal favorite was Pure Eire. I'm not bothered by chunks of floating cream! But I also think that Smith Brothers Dairy has a lot to offer moms, since they will deliver milk to your front door.

Now I have a big hankering for chocolate chip cookies…