Real Ice Cream

Yesterday morning, on the 4^th of July, I came home, hot, sweaty and worn out after two hours of playing flag football in the sultry summer air with 11 other guys. I opened the refrigerator looking for something cool and refreshing. At the back, on the top shelf was an unopened glass jar full of raw milk I had bought at the farm nine days ago. The grass is lush and rich this time of year. It's so rich, in fact, that cream filled the top inch-and-a-half of my half-gallon jar. As I opened the jar I realized the milk had frozen and the top layer of luscious cream had become ice cream of a very palatable texture.

I took a spoonful and ate it. I think my new favorite flavor of ice cream is au naturel—no sugar, no flavor—just rich, raw cream (accidentally) frozen to perfection. I wish everyone could try it—but alas raw milk is illegal in 25 American states!

I’ve been drinking raw milk since March of 2008. It’s one of those simple but luxurious blessings of life…probably nature’s single most perfect food. About once every 10 days I go to my friend’s farm and purchase five half-gallons of filtered and chilled, fresh raw milk. It lasts me 10 or 12 days. (As long as it’s kept sufficiently chilled it stays sweet for at least 8 days and usually up to two weeks. Raw milk retains its food value as it sours (you can make sour cream out of it); it doesn’t suddenly putrify as pasteurized milk does.)

My friends walk their 30 cows to pasture each morning and back to the barn each evening. They know each cow by name and by temperment. As famous author and organic farmer, Joe Salatin, says, this natural way of farming is “beautiful and romantic”.

Because the cows breathe the same air we do they develop immunities to local allergans and pass those immunities on in the form of healthy bacteria and enzymes contained in the raw milk. Whereas pasteurized milk is the most highly allergenic food in America, raw milk helps heal our bodies of allergies. For most of the first 55 years of my life I suffered terrible hayfever all summer from March till the first freeze. Since I began drinking raw milk I rarely suffer from allergies. Last year I never once had to take medication for allergies. This year I took an allergy pill one spring day when the pollen was thick. Since I started drinking raw milk daily (or near-daily) I feel stronger and more energetic. I rarely get sick. I've had no illness whatsoever for nearly three years.

Another advantage of raw milk is that its calcium content is very bioavailable, unlike pasteruized milk. A person who drinks one glass of raw milk each day would likely never develop osteoporosis.

If you want to take advantage of the near-miraculous health benefits of drinking raw milk you need to find raw milk that’s produced by cows that are fed and cared for properly (for example, the cows must eat what cows are meant to eat: lush green grass.) Also, you need to know the laws regarding raw milk production and sales in your state. In Nebraska, for example, the law stipulates that raw milk must be bought at the farm where it’s produced, the purchaser must bring his own container, the container must be glass, and raw milk producers may not advertise. Raw milk is legal in the three most populous states: California, New York, and Texas. For most Americans, raw milk is accessible. It's estimated that more than 9 million Americans regularly drink raw milk. That number is growing dramatically.

A wealth of information on raw milk is found at realmilk.com and raw-milk-facts.com. A good website for learning about the benefits of raw foods in general is rawfamily.com.

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Bellevue, Nebraska 5 July 2012 ©2012 Daniel Kemper Lubben