Over the years, larger multi-state dairies have changed the very definition of what skim milk is. It’s not uncommon to purchase a regional or national chain skim milk from a grocery store and it appears watered down, even slightly blue. At Wasatch Milk, we do not consider that good skim milk.
But why is their skim milk “blue-ish and watery” and why is it not at Wasatch Milk…?
Firstly, watered down appearing skim milk does not mean water was added to the skim milk. Legally, water cannot be added to milk and be sold as milk. Also, that blue color is not from dye, it’s science!
There are a multitude of reasons why our skim milk (and all of our milk) is different from national branded milks (such as cow treatment, diet, processing procedures, freshness, etc..) however, the most important reason is we separate our milk cold instead of hot.
- Cold separation is when the skim milk is separated from the cream at below 42 degrees.
- Hot separation is when the separation occurs during pasteurization to kill potential pathogens and give it a longer shelf life and the milk is over 145 degrees.
When you separate milk cold more of the milk solids nonfat (MSNF) stay in the milk. This is everything contained in milk that is neither water (naturally in milk) and cream. Leaving more MSNF in the milk results in a more creamy mouth feel. Looking at cold and hot separated milks side by side it is immediately apparent that a cold separated milk appears more opaque white and is not translucent.
That blue color? It’s the Tyndall effect (thoughtco.com) – meaning there is less fat which would create opacity from wavelengths of light reflecting off the milk. Hot separated milk has less MSNFs therefore causing the special blend of light particles that make white less existent and prone to turning blue. Science!
Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-tyndall-effect-605756
We are the only bottler in Utah (that we know of) that separates our milk while it is cold.
NOTE: This does not add a significant amount of calories to the milk.
If cold separated milk tastes better, why wouldn’t all dairies separate their milk cold? The answer is simple: economics. When you separate cold, you can only process a fraction of the amount of milk using the same equipment because the milk is thicker at a colder temperature; plus, the propensity of cream to clog up the equipment increases.
Another economic reason to separate hot – the majority of the MSNF will stay in the cream which will yield a higher volume of cream (although the same weight of fat) in the end. Larger amounts of cream can be sold at a higher price or used for other dairy bi-products (Ice Cream, Cream, Half and Half etc..).
This is why we love it when our customers compare our skim milk side by side witha 2% or even a whole milk from the grocery store and we love hearing back the results.
Take the challenge with us!
