Right then, where to start.

The vast majority of cows milk that we buy and consume in the developed world has gone through two pretty major scientific processes.

Pasteurization is done for obvious reasons. Unpasteurized milk does taste a lot better (and has an odd yellowy colour), but unless you live right next to a farm, know a bit about the cows that are producing it, and aren’t going to keep it for long, then it’s probably not the best idea to buy and use it.

Homogenization on the other hand has no health or storage benefits to the milk. It’s only purposes are aesthetic and the fact that you don’t need to shake the bottle to mix the cream. It’s a complex process but the simplest explanation is that the fat particles in the milk are broken down into a smaller size so that the milk looks smooth and has no lumps of cream in it.

So, what do I get by buying unhomogenized milk, I get the kind of milk that I remember as a kid. Unhomogenized milk has that cream line at the top, so that everyone (who likes milk) wants to the one who gets to open the next bottle or carton and get the lovely fatty creamy bit.

It’s only fairly recently that homogenized milk has become the norm in the UK. When the majority of our milk came from the milkman then it was all unhomogenized, when we gave up that great institution and started buying it in the supermarket, then we didn’t use change the delivery method but also made a switch to homogenization.

Apart from the creaminess and the nostalgia of it, there are a number of other reasons why I prefer unhomogenized milk.

A lot of people and a few studies believe that there are health benefits associated with unhomogenized milk. Homogenized milk is supposedly easier to digest and there is some evidence that it is more likely to trigger allergies, and that homogenization can contribute to atherosclerosis. None of this evidence is overly strong, but why pass any foodstuff through a process that adds no positive health benefits, and may or may not add negative ones.

In the kitchen, because it has bigger fat molecules, unhomogenized cream takes about half of the time to whip that homogenized cream does, which is handy.

Apart from anything else though, and most important of all, is the fact that unhomogenized milk and cream simply tastes better!