Milking It

Photo: Courtesy of Borden

 Milk production in Hawai‘i has been steadily falling, according to the State Department of Agriculture. Last year, there were 3,200 milk cows; by April 2008, only 1,700, or 47 percent fewer cows. On O‘ahu, we lost our last remaining dairy farm, Pacific Dairy, this spring.

 So our state has just two dairies left, both on the Big Island. The rest of us are left with no choice but to buy shipped-in milk. I could buy a goat, I suppose, keep it on the lanai, and switch to goat’s milk, but if you’ve ever had that in coffee, you know it tastes like a feta-cappuccino. I don’t think my lanai is an ag-zone, either.

I hate not being able to buy local. And it grosses me out that Hawai‘i’s milk is twice-pasteurized. That is, your carton of milk is pasteurized on the Mainland, then goes to sea, then is “ultrapasteurized” to kill off whatever tiny nasties have been growing inside the carton while it has been traveling to you. It may be perfectly safe, but it makes me uneasy—what if this helps breed stronger bacteria?—and I hate the idea of drinking milk that left a cow last month. 

So I was intrigued by a press release from Borden Milk, which is pitching its shelf-stable milk as a solution to our state’s milk shortage. As first, I scoffed, but then again, shelf-stable milk is only pasteurized once. It’s then packed into an aseptic carton, and stays fresh for up to a year. (Once opened, it is like regular milk and has to be refrigerated.) The company claims the milk box’s packaging is eco-conscious and that the milk tastes superior. I tested out the 2-percent variety and it was tasty; I don’t think I’d notice the difference, really, from that of the regular carton variety. The shelf-stable millk also comes in skim, low-fat chocolate and whole-milk options ($2.49 to $2.79 each) and you can find it at KTA Superstores, Foodland, K-Mart, Wal-Mart and Longs Drugs. In the past, I would have reserved boxed milk for hurricane/emergency supplies only, but boxed milk may well be worth reconsidering.

Want to know more about the shelf-stable milk? The pasteurization method is explained at: http://www.diversifiedfoods.com/DFI_ShelfStableMilk_Frame.shtml