Friday, August 3, 2007

Over-Pasteurized Un-refrigerated Milk

The most common form of dairy milk (moo cow) sits in the un-refrigerated section of the supermarket. Half an aisle is dedicated to milk that has been so pasteurized that nothing, including the milk itself, can survive. It is so sterilized it does not need to be refrigerated. The unfortunate thing is that somewhere in the processing, the milk develops a sickeningly sweet, artificial taste that renders this product complete unlike any milk I have tried before. The first time I drank it, I had to do a double take and make sure I had indeed purchased milk. Bleah. I miss organic.

Well, on Wednesday, doing my thrilling weekly grocery shopping, I stopped in front of the milk selection, trying to decide which variety to taste this week. Should I try Sula, Dos Pinos, Président? My eyes scanned the shelves. I felt like I was playing Russian Roulette; which of these paper milk containers offers the most milk-like flavor? Which would render a product that didn't taste like an over-sweetened reconstituted dairy product? Which would be least like artificial creamer?

My eyes passed carefully over the varieties as though x-raying the contents. Then, lo and behold, my eyes landed on something I had never noticed before. It was the most exciting product I have yet seen in the store. Hidden in the lower left corner, where communicators everywhere try to hide the least relevant information, sat the distinctive red and blue impermeable boxes of Silk. Silk soy milk! SILK! SOY MILK! My mouth began to salivate. I began imagining drinking that distinctive soy taste straight, not heated up or infiltrated with NesCafe or NesQuick to disguise its delicious flavor. It would be worth the Q 21 just to taste something so homelike so wholesome so… utterly, indescribably good. Organic, delicious, soy milk, you’ve saved me. Oh, it’s the little things in life that make it so satisfying.

3 comments:

gr8ern8er said...

yeah, so i know what you mean about the milk! i really hate it. we have that in good ol' germany as well. you can go for the fresh milk, which comes in 1.5%, 3.5% and then something higher... or you can go for the same in the H-Milk (a.k.a. last-for-ever milk). it must have something to do with countries who have been through war... they seem to be way into things that you can store for years.

Anonymous said...

I like the Portuguese phrase "hiperpasteurizado" - hyper pasteurizing, when ultra pasteurizing just isn't good enough!

I never liked sugary cereals much until I got hold of the box milk. Then I became a sudden devotee of sugar frosted flakes!

Vendors in the area probably sell "leche del dia" if you can find where they sell their stuff.

Nancy said...

Seriously, it's gross. I'm so stoked on Silk Soy Milk. It made me sad today tho, there was none in the store! Oh boy.