Glass-bottled milk?

[humandebris]

Is there a local source for glass-bottled milk? It's one of very few things (second being my grandma) that i miss about the Midwest.

[Bill Hunt]

Glad that you got some recs., as I have not seen any here.

Back in Denver, we had it delivered (except when it was too cold). In New Orleans, we lived on land that was once a dairy, and though now smaller, that dairy still did milk, delivered to our home, in glass bottles. When I was much younger, we had Bordens deliver most of our milk, and other dairy products, on Saturday morning. I'd awaken early, and bring that in. I would carefully remove the cardboard cap, and scrape all of the cream from the top, plus from the top of the milk. My mother kept wondering if they had gone to the early version of "fat-free." No, I had sneaked it all for my cereal, while I watched "Captain Midnight."

We still do strawberries and clotted cream (very similar to what was atop the Bordens' milk, about the time of Wimbledon. I always schedule my physical a few months after Wimbledon.

Hunt

[exit2lef]

Straus Family Creamery -- available at AJ's, Whole Foods, & Sprouts

[Bax]

Not sure if you mean local milk in glass bottles, or just milk in glass bottles available locally? Straus is from CA, I believe, but it's good. I don't know if anyone local bottles in glass....

[hohokam]

In my experience, Whole Foods is the only reliable source for many Straus products.

The only Straus products I've found at the Sprouts on Indian School @ 28th St have been some of their yogurts--I checked again earlier today. The only thing from Straus I've found at AJ's on Camelback @ Central has been either the half and half or the heavy cream--can't remember which. Perhaps the different branches carry different selections?

[exit2lef]

Not sure. My list of stores was pulled from Straus' Web site without regard to the different products in their lineup. Whole Foods is probably the best bet.

I think I've also seen glass-bottled milk from time to time at Trader Joe's (store brand), but would have to verify that.

-----
Trader Joe's
4821 N 20th St, Phoenix, AZ 85016

[exit2lef]

Just checked at TJ's -- no glass-bottled milk there. They have cream-on-top milk, which is similar to the Straus product, but it's not packaged in glass.

[IntoTheSea]

TJ's has cream-on-top milk? At which location? I've been looking for cream-on-top milk, but the TJ's in Tempe doesn't seem to carry it. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

[exit2lef]

I've seen it at the Town & Country store in the lower right portion of the dairy case.

[grrlscout]

The urban grocery at the Phoenix Public Market also carries the bottled Straus products.

[hohokam]

Nice! For a while, it seemed like Shamrock Organic (which tastes odd to me) was the only organic milk they were carrying. I'm definitely glad to find out I have a Straus source so close to my house.

[AguasFrescas]

Kinda off topic, but I just had a bad experience with Shamrock. A gallon of their whole milk went sour before the expiration and I had just opened it. I bought another size at a different store and it started to sour before the expiration as well. The expiration date was the same. A friend had the same experience. We both contacted Shamrock and they sent us coupons. Milk is expensive for people with low incomes and I thought they should have recalled the affected batches so I notified a local news station. That got me a call from Shamrock and the explanation that a machine they use to make the milk keep longer had malfunctioned. The shock to me is that they stated it was an "extra step" to make the milk have a 19 day shelf life rather than 10-12 that other dairies do.

One could argue that this is a good safety measure. I grew up in the Reno and Tahoe and never saw food go bad as quickly as it does here. One of the first things I noticed was how fast milk started to turn. One could also argue this is a bad thing, how does this step affect nutritional value? As for taste, I'm always throwing out milk because I don't like the taste of it but I've never stopped to pay attention to what brands taste better or worse.

All things being equal I'd love to buy from a local dairy and not get milk from one of the two national mega wholesalers who are both suspected of anti-competetive business practices. Shamrock though, has been in trouble before for recycling expired milk into their flavored milks.

[ArizonaJim]

As a dairy farmer that supplies milk to Shamrock (and others), I'm sorry for your experience with Shamrock milk recently - it does seem odd that if it was a batch-wide problem that the entire lot would have not been recalled. It is nice that they called you directly and seem to have fixed the problem.

Much of the problem with milk expiring prior to the expiration date here in Arizona is not the fault of the dairy or bottler, but of the various folks that handle the milk from the time it leaves the bottling plant until it arrives at the grocer store. The expiration date assumes that the milk will not spend any time at temperatures above 40 degrees F. Every time a crate of milk gets left on a loading dock or outside of the refridgerated section, it will degrade, leading to spoilage prior to the stamped date. In Arizona in the summer, this can be a problem, as the temps at loading docks in particular can be ridiculously warm and can spoil milk quite quickly. I'd definitely take my complaints to the grocery store first, but also check the temp of your own fridge and make sure that it's below 40 degrees to insure proper shelf-life.

As for your last statement, as a dairy producer I'd like to assure you that all of the bottlers in Arizona are quite fair to the dairymen here and there isn't any reason, from a dairy perspective at least, to favor one brand of milk over another. Except for some specialty milk products, all of the fluid milk sold in grocery stores in Arizona comes from local Arizona producers and we're paid the same regardless of which company is bottling it. Thanks for drinking milk!