Susan Junk didn’t know much about homogenization before she visited Kalispell Kreamery recently. Junk, a kindergarten teacher, took her class on a field trip to the farm outside Kalispell, Mont. The family-run farm milks about 150 cows at Hedstrom dairy, bottles the milk in a creamery 10 feet from the barn, and distributes it to grocery stores in Kalispell. Kalispell Kreamery offers non-homogenized varieties of skim, reduced fat, and whole milk.
“I was very impressed with everything they showed us,” she said. Junk was sold on the creamery’s cleanliness and the Hedstrom family’s devotion to their cows, and brought home a gallon of non-homogenized milk to her family. “At first I was even concerned that my family might not care for it. … They had one glass of it and they all loved it. It tastes very good and very wholesome.”
Junk is just one Montana consumer participating in a quiet trend toward non-homogenized milk. While raw milk rebels get all the press, a legal but quiet dairy transformation is taking place. In the last four years, two small Montana dairy farms began bottling their own non-homogenized, or cream-top, milk—and it’s appearing on local grocery shelves. Larger organic brands like Straus Dairy and Organic Valley also bottle cream-top milk, and national chains including Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods offer it.
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