What is Homogenized Milk and Why Do I Care?
Self-Reflection: When you shop at the grocery store, do you stop to think about what that item has been through to get into your cart?
Maybe you do, or maybe you don’t! Either way, I’d like to answer one of the questions you may ask yourself when purchasing milk:
What the heck does homogenized mean?!
In simple terms, homogenized means that the cream and the milk do not separate.
When a cow is milked her milk naturally settles and separates. The cream rises to the top and the milk settles at the bottom.
I REPEAT, IS IT COMPLETELY NATURALLY FOR MILK TO SEPARATE!
Therefore, raw milk is unhomogenized. 😊
Fascinating right?
Now, so how do they get the cream and the milk to NOT separate?
Through the process of homogenization.
The fat molecules must be emulsified into the milk. The typical way of doing this is through mechanicalized pressure. The pressure will decrease the fat droplets, so they distribute throughout the milk evenly.
When researching this, I found that the benefits normally repeated around homogenized milk are:
it makes it look more appealing,
it keeps longer,
and they can mix more cow’s milk together.
Those of you that have had raw milk will probably take issues with some of these claims but that’s okay! We are all learning here.
Homogenization wasn’t the norm until the end of the 20th century. Up until the 1920s it wasn’t popular among people.
That’s when producers started trying to convince people it was easier for the digestive system – contrary to several scientific studies.
Some cons to homogenized milk were referenced several times in my research. One of which hasn’t been completely proven but here it is:
The theory derived from “Dairy Technology: Principles of Milk Properties and Processes” is that because the fat molecules are so small, they are quickly absorbed in the human body and can end up in the blood stream. These molecules may have substances like the hormones given to cows. This may lead to cancers and heart disease.
Another thing to consider is that there seems to be no additives or chemicals in this process.
Because humans have been drinking unhomogenized milk for millennia we know how the human body responds.
No matter which way you look at it, though, the process of homogenization is an added step in the process of store-bought milk.
And if you’re striving for pure and real food this may be a wakeup call!
It’s definitely something to consider OR just something interesting to put in your back pocket 😊
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Thanks for reading!
With Love,
Halie