What You Might Not Know About Milk

Pasteurized, homogenized, whole... what does it all mean? And where do they overlap?

There's a good dose of confusion out there when it comes to milk terminology. We're here to make things a little easier for you!

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Pasteurization is the process of heating up milk for a set amount of time in order to kill pathogens. We use what is called a low-temperature pasteurization, which is perfectly safe to consume but also retains many of the natural nutrients in the milk. 

Note: If milk is pasteurized, this does not mean it is ‘boiled’. Though there are different methods of pasteurizing milk, the one we use is a low-temperature (vat) pasteurization of 63°C for 30 min. That’s colder than the latte you ordered, and quite different from a boiling point of 100.5°C!

Cream top milk, also called unhomogenized milk, will naturally separate as the cream rises to the top. You can shake the cream back in, or scoop it off for another use.

Homogenization is a mechanical process used to reduce the size of the fat globules in milk so they remain suspended. Because the fat globules in homogenized milk are smaller,  they don’t rise to the top anymore and therefore will not have the "cream top" you get in unhomogenized milk.

Whole milk: By definition, products labeled ‘whole milk’ require a minimum of 3.25% fat. This often means some fat is removed in order to standardize the percentage and provide consistency. ‘Whole milk’ can refer to milk that is pasteurized, homogenized, or cream top, so long as it remains at or above 3.25%. In our case, ‘whole milk’ means full-fat milk. Nothing is added or removed, so the fat % fluctuates naturally with seasons, feed, and cattle breeds in the milking herd. We are typically in the 4-5% range.

Skimmed or partly skimmed milk has been standardized to contain a specific amount of fat. This is done by separating out the cream (fat) and adding a calculated amount back in to achieve the desired percentage (1%, 2%, etc).

Raw (unpasteurized) milk is just as it comes out of the cow, unaltered and unprocessed. Probiotics, pathogens, enzymes, the whole program! Many countries regulate the sale of raw milk, such as here in Canada where it is prohibited.

What kind of milk do we sell?

In simplest terms, the only processing done to our milk is pasteurization - so this would make it pasteurized cream top whole milk. Nothing is added or removed, and it is unhomogenized meaning the cream will rise to the top if left to settle.

Hopefully that all made sense on some level! Information on our milk dispenser can be found here.