You Know You Are Old When

[masseyrider]

As others have mentioned when I couldn't get raw milk I only drank chocolate to hid the taste. I still don't like store milk even though it's what I get now, but I almost never drink it, just for cooking and on fruits or cereals.

Ahhh! Fresh milk still warm from the cow.
I grew up on a fruit farm but Pa was old country and old school.
We always had a milk cow or two, chickens and piggies.
You could taste the differences in the milk as the seasons and feed changed.
The biggest difference was when they first went out on pasture in the spring.
One distinct flavor that came through was what Pa called wild carrot. I don't know what it really was called but we always checked for it before putting them out to pasture in a fresh field.
We had a cow that just loved tomatoes. You couldn't give her more than one or two or the flavor came through.
Cows really liked peaches and apples. It was always amusing to watch them eat peaches.
You'ld see the chewing action and then they'd spit the pit out.
Didn't seem to affect the milks taste.
The whipped cream from the Jerseys couldn't be beet for richness or that slight golden color.
Piggies often got a cooked mix of potatoes, chop and milk. It made for a white tender pork that I've never seen since the old farm days. The noise they raised when they realised that was coming. Oinking, squealing, snorting... pushing each other out of the way to be the first one in the trough. Then the slurping, slopping sounds as they got their snouts into it.
In today's world grocery shoppers have no idea what they are missing.

 

[WinterDeere]

You could taste the differences in the milk as the seasons and feed changed.

As a kid, I could always taste this in the store-bought milk, as well. I remember nearly every spring, telling mom "the milk tastes like grass!" Mom would explain that this happened when the cows switched from winter feed back to grazing, and by the second or third glass your tastes would aclimate to the change, until the first bottles of the following spring.

I'm not sure if my taste buds have dulled, or if farming practices or milk processing has changed so much, but I no longer notice the change-over.

 

[jyoutz]

As a kid, I could always taste this in the store-bought milk, as well. I remember nearly every spring, telling mom "the milk tastes like grass!" Mom would explain that this happened when the cows switched from winter feed back to grazing, and by the second or third glass your tastes would aclimate to the change, until the first bottles of the following spring.

I'm not sure if my taste buds have dulled, or if farming practices or milk processing has changed so much, but I no longer notice the change-over.

In my area, the dairies feed alfalfa year round. The only difference in seasons is dried (hay) or green pasture.

 

[LouNY]

In my area, the dairies feed alfalfa year round. The only difference in seasons is dried (hay) or green pasture.

Any thing with much over a 100 milkers is not going to pasture those cows. With feed and fresh water available constantly they will produce more milk, especially water. With them not going on pasture there will be no taste difference.

 

[WinterDeere]

Any thing with much over a 100 milkers is not going to pasture those cows.

Going back to the history of this area being a lot of smaller farms which sell to dairy producers, at least back in the 1970's and 80's, this might explain why I could still taste the change-over in our store-bought milk.

Obviously, the farming business landscape has changed a bunch, in the 40-50 years since then.

 

[sixdogs]

It's been so ling since I've had milk that wasn't pasteurized and homogenized that I probably wouldn't like it.

I thought that but after a quart or two I was back to normal and couldn't stand the old homogenized milk any more.

 

[jyoutz]

I thought that but after a quart or two I was back to normal and couldn't stand the old homogenized milk any more.

I can see no homogenization, but pasteurization is something that I’m glad is done. Nothing like getting sick from your food.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

In grade school milk was 3c and everyone went nuts when it went to 5c.
"Chocolate?" the lady would ask. "No, vanilla is fine" I'd say. I still have my Robin Hood lunchbox, dents in it from the school bully's head.

 

[WinterDeere]

I still have my Robin Hood lunchbox, dents in it from the school bully's head.

"Yellow eyes! So help me God, he had yellow eyes!" -- Ralphie

 

[masseyrider]

In grade school milk was 3c and everyone went nuts when it went to 5c.
"Chocolate?" the lady would ask. "No, vanilla is fine" I'd say. I still have my Robin Hood lunchbox, dents in it from the school bully's head.

I had the Flintstones and Tarzan lunch boxes.
Good condition. Thermos look good but I managed to break the glass liner at least twice a month. I wouldn't think you can get replacements anymore.
Around grade 5 it became uncool to carry a lunch box and I started to use lunch bags.
Teachers must have thought Ma and Pa had a serious drinking problem.
They were too cheap to buy lunch bags and I used the bags that the purple paper cups came in that peaches were packed in. They closely resembled the bags used in the liquor stores for individual bottles.
Everyday a fresh "liquor store" bag.
One of the other kids parents were even cheaper than mine. He had to carefully fold up the sandwich wrap and bag to be used again the next day. He only got new wrapping and bag when the old one fell apart.