We usually buy Homestead Creamery milk, which is local to Virginia and comes from family farms and pasture-fed cows. Trickling Springs milk is from Pennsylvania and is certified organic. Both use glass bottles and are side-by-side at Whole Foods. Even though Trickling is organic, I buy Homestead to be more local.
I use my Nespresso frother with Homestead and the foam is divine. But last week I picked up some Trickling Springs by accident. Much to my surprise, the Trickling Springs did not froth at all! My first thought was that the milk was older, but the sell by dates were the same and neither was even with a week of coming up. I’m assuming this froth difference is one of protein and fat content ratios, even though they were both 2% milk, so I’m curious to know what this reflects about each milk.
I did a little research on foam (check out this article which will take you back to 7th grade science with mentions of hydrophobic and hydrophilic!). This article talks about how age and light are deterrents to foam. And this article goes into even more depth about foam stabilization (and he has a PhD in Dairy Science so I imagine he knows what he’s talking about!)
I guess the next step for me would be to try another half gallon of Trickling Springs and see if it was that particular milk or all of their 2% in general. I’m curious if you foodies, baristas or scientists have any comments!
Lisa C says
I have noticed this but could never figure out why! Maybe pasteurization process?
becky says
You know I just bought a Nespresso + Aeroccino 🙂 and I’ve used both generic skim cheap milk and organic 1% Kirkland brand from Costco and they’ve both foamed excellently!
I also used to be a barista at Starbucks back in college and remember that the skim and whole and organic AND soy all foamed fine-but that was with a steam foamer obviously. The whole milk foam has a creamier texture though.
Did you notice this on the Nespresso FAQs?
– Milk froth is of low quality
Check type of milk: 1,5 % fat content, stored cool, package should be open max. 2 days
Please note: 50 % milk froth, 50 % warm milk is normal
I know we don’t go through our milk in 2 days, but we haven’t run into a problem. I’m not quite sure what “1, 5% fat content” means either. I’d bet there’s a phone number on the milk glass-give the company a call and ask them if they have any idea. I’m curious!
Alllegra says
I’m fairly certain the ‘1,5’ is just a European way of stating the decimal – so 1.5% milk fat content.
Hannah at Home says
This is so interesting to me… I can’t figure out why this might be the case. Maybe you should buy some other kinds of 2% to do further comparisons?
I do non-dairy milk, which never froths well 🙁
Tracy says
I have found almond milk froths well but cashew and coconut milks do not!
Erin @ Her Heartland Soul says
That foam looks yummy!
Liz says
I don’t really know why it happens but I find that most of the organic milks in Australia don’t froth either!
Kori says
It’s so funny that you mention this because just last night I wondered the same thing! Recently, I bought a half gallon of Fairlife milk rather than our local Cruze Farm milk because one) I wasn’t at a store that stocked Cruze and two) recently I had to waste some due to not finishing it in time. Somehow, Fairlife only has 6 g carbs per 8 fl. oz., so I wondered if it would froth the same. It did pretty well but kind of deflated quicker perhaps than Cruze. Both are 2% fat content as well. Interesting discussion!
ali says
This isn’t a very scientific response, but I’m good friends with a barista, and she’s told me about this. The cow’s diet can affect the way the milk froths. In PA, she often complains that the “summer milk” is hard to make latte art with… again, has something to do with what the cows are eating in the summer vs other seasons.
KathEats says
This is all so interesting!
Annette | Food Science Nerd says
Great post! Right up my nerdy alley :). I’ve always had better luck with skim or 1% milk (lower fat:protein ratio), but in this case it may also have something to do with processing (?). As with all good science, I vote you try with that second half gallon!
Lauren says
Hey, by any chance is the one that didn’t foam non-homogenized? I also froth my milk, but non-homogenized milk is basically impossible to froth 🙁
Laura says
Usually, the older milk is, the more glycerol it has lost (glycerol usually is combined with fatty acids to form triglycerides). The less glycerol, the less foam. This can be affected by how old the milk is, how long it has been open, whether or not it was pasturized and by what method. Similarly, the fat content and protein content (more an issue with raw or smaller batch) can affect it.
Kate says
I love all the milk frothing comments! I was just wondering yesterday when you posted the beautifully frothy coffee what your secret was. I now feel I need a nespresso. I use the little hand frother wand and it does ok but not nearly as nice as your photo. And I use 2% too.
Melanie says
I’ve been getting almond milk lattes at Pete’s Coffee and they froth up nicely 🙂
Alissa says
I use mostly whole milk, and have run into the no froth issue with some of the whole milk from pastured cows (in particular the organic valley “grass milk”) as well as non-homogenized milks, regardless of age/freshness. And contrary to some of the other commenters, I find whole milk froths better than reduced fat; in fact I don’t use the cappuccino/spring attachment because it’s too much froth!
Nicole says
I have no idea if this is related but I started buying organic milk because I noticed it would last longer and we don’t go through milk very quickly. Could it be that, even though they have the same sell by dates, the organic one is actually older?
KathEats says
It definitely could be!
melissa says
That organic milk that lasts longer is ultra pasteurized and is more pRoCessed and bad for you than standard milk. It doesn’t even need to be refrigerated…they just put it in the cooler in the store bc years ago they tried to sell it on the shelf like they do in Europe and American shoppers wouldnt buy it bc it weirded them out. Try to buy vat pasteurized milk organic grass fed non homogenized. This isnt always possible, in which case id say buy dairy pure or similar be any that used milk from cows not treated with growth hormones. That organic ultra pasteurized is bad stuff
Maria says
Kath-how do you feel about health experts who say dairy in general is not good for humans as we are the only species who continue to drink milk past the growing stage? I love organic whole milk but always wonder if i would be better off drinking soy or almond milk.
KathEats says
When back when humans migrated out of Africa, they got most of their vitamin D from sun exposure. Europeans – especially those up north – had to wear fur to keep warm. Their skin did not absorb vitamin D. Many of them developed rickets (vit. D deficiency) and died.
They also domesticated cows and learned that cow’s milk was an excellent source of protein, calcium, and vitamin D. Cows didn’t have to wear furs! They had fur. They were not from Africa. So they were able to get the Vitamin D and pass it on to the humans.
So the humans who had lactose in their guts survived. The ones who could not digest the cow’s milk died. Natural selection occurred.
Most white people in the United States are decedents of these Europeans and most of us have lactase. We can digest milk, and it remains a great source of nutrients.
So I say, so long as the cow lived a happy [organic] live, let us drink milk, feel full and get the maximum nutrients.
Cat says
Vitamin D does not naturally occur in cow’s milk. In the US, most milks are fortified which means it is added at levels that do not occur naturally. It was added for a couplereasons – one being to help with calcium absorption so folks actually got the benefit of the calcium found in cow’s milk.
I’m trying my darnedest to come up with a nice way of saying your explanation above is wrong, but it seems like you literally just made it up. If you can site a scientific source, I will retract my comment.
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/
http://www.milk.co.uk/page.aspx?intPageID=71
KathEats says
I’m trying my darnedest to be nice to you…
According to WH Foods, there is 16% of your DV of vitamin D in grass-fed milk and that’s just for 4 ounces. A cup would be 1/3. That’s hardly ‘trace.’
Google Lactase persistence. While it’s a hypothesis and there are several of them, vitamin D is definitely one theory. Calcium absorption, famine, etc. “Most closely”:
“In Northern European populations, the spread of the lactase-persistence allele is most closely correlated with positive selection due to added vitamin D into the diet. Whereas in African populations, where vitamin D deficiency is not as much of an issue, the spread of the allele is most closely correlated with the added calories and nutrition from pastoralism.[2]”
Sarah says
My comment said that vitamin D only occurs naturally in trace amounts, though you moderated my comment out so I think you’re mixing it up with Cat’s comment. If you read further into the WH Foods page, it states: “The conversation about which foods contain vitamin D can be a bit challenging because the WHFoods list for vitamin D is quite short. Furthermore, one of the best dietary sources of vitamin D (milk) is only vitamin D-rich because of fortification that occurs at the time of processing. (While whole milk from grass-fed cows with plenty of time spent outdoors does contain vitamin D, we have not seen studies documenting predictable levels of vitamin D in non-fortified, grass-fed whole milks.) For all of these reasons, it requires very special effort for people who are reliant on foods alone (versus sun exposure) to reach their daily vitamin D needs.” So the 16% daily value that they quote is due to fortification, not any naturally occurring vitamin D.
KathEats says
OK thank you – I did not see this part about the fortification in milk. I’m not sure where the descrepancy lies because any info I find on lactase persistence almost always includes vitamin D and calcium at the important nutrients
Maggie T. says
Wait, but I thought all the vitamin D in milk (nowadays, at least) was fortified, not naturally occurring? Is there some that’s not being added?
Fascinating topic!
KathEats says
It is fortified in mass-produced milk
Christine says
Respectfully, Kath — I think you might have missed Cat’s point.
Your stats about Vit D in milk are correct… for fortified milk. She was pointing out that natural cow’s milk (i.e., not processed with a vitamin additive; or, “real food,” if you will) actually has very little Vit D. From one of her citations:
“There is very little vitamin D in milk and in fact only trace amounts…”
Maybe I’m missing something, but your story about humans moving out of Africa and getting their Vit D from cow’s milk in pre-industrial food times doesn’t make sense to me. Could you explain?
KathEats says
Can you show me where WH Foods indicates this is for fortified milk?
Christine says
Sure… but I think Sarah (at 4:39) beat me to it. 🙂
Cat says
From WH Foods:
“While cow’s milk has been widely promoted as a source of calcium and good bone health, we have not seen large-scale studies showing significantly improved bone health in adults who regularly consume cow’s milk. We have seen several studies involving decreased risk of bone fracture in children and teens who regularly consume milk, and we’ve also seen animal studies showing reduced risk of osteoporosis following regular milk consumption. Some of the research on bone health and the natural nutrient composition of cow’s milk is complicated by widespread fortification of cow’s milk with vitamin D. (Vitamin D plays an important role in bone health, and the addition of vitamin D to cow’s milk during processing might account for improved bone health.)”
Cat says
“They also domesticated cows and learned that cow’s milk was an excellent source of protein, calcium, and vitamin D. Cows didn’t have to wear furs! They had fur. They were not from Africa. So they were able to get the Vitamin D and pass it on to the humans.”
This is the part that is not true. Cow’s milk is only a very good source of Vitamin D because we ADD it to the milk during processing – not because the cow was in the sun. Cows do not pass Vitamin D onto humans. The item you quoted above from wikipedia is a misquote of the study that is cited. I read the actual scientific article and it never mentions Vitamin D once.
I don’t have any qualms with the theory that lactase persistance was an advantage, though a new study argues that this theory is incorrect because 1/3 of Spaniards are are not lactase persistent. But it has nothing to do with cows providing Vit D in milk.
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/38952/title/More-than-Calcium/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1182075/
KathEats says
I still would like for someone to provide some information on how much vitamin D is naturally occurring in cow’s milk. That seems to be the question at hand.
Sarah says
I searched Google for scholarly articles about naturally occurring vitamin D in milk, and this 2013 paper entitled “Natural Vitamin D Content in Animal Products” (http://advances.nutrition.org/content/4/4/453.full) was one of the first to pop up. The paper states that unfortified whole milk contains 0.3–1.0 ?g/kg of vitamin D, which is a very small amount (fortified whole milk in the United States has 7.05 ?g/kg of vitamin D, according to the article). Hope that helps!
KathEats says
I just found the same one! I am wondering now if the vitamin D + calcium combo of lactase persistence was vitamin D from another source – say the fatty fish like sardines that the northern Europeans had access to more than a hunter/gatherer would have. The vitamin D from those enabled efficient calcium absorption from cow’s milk, although the fish would have also provided calcium.
Sarah says
Oops, the ?s in my above comment are supposed to be the symbol for micrograms!
tracy says
Didn’t you just visit a dairy farm? Perhaps one of the farmers has this information and can educate us all. A quick scan of google, which led to a Live Strong page shows:
The FDA reports that raw cow’s milk typically contains 5 to 40 IU of vitamin D per quart.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/457695-how-does-milk-get-vitamin-d/
Megan says
“All milk produced by cows and other animals contains a low concentration of vitamin D, which is affected by the animals’ feed and sun exposure. The FDA reports that raw cow’s milk typically contains 5 to 40 IU of vitamin D per quart.”
ALice says
Many African tribes rely on cattle for their livelihoods, though – are they imported? I mean, doesn’t Africa have native cattle?
Sarah says
Thanks for this explanation – very rational and reasoned. I find the “we’re the only species that does X!” arguments to be a little overblown sometimes… we’re the only species that does lots of things, but that doesn’t mean they’re all a bad idea.
One kind of interesting thing about the ability to digest dairy… some people seem to become lactose intolerant as they get older. This has happened to my mom and her sister and some others in our family, so I’m anticipating that it might happen to me someday. They’re not severely lactose intolerant but no longer choose to drink milk because the results are too unpleasant. Yogurt and cheese are still fine for them.
KathEats says
I wonder if that is because people didn’t live very long then so they wouldn’t have selected for lactase in old age?
Sarah says
That’s an interesting thought. It could be… actually, thinking about it that way, it would be very difficult for evolution to directly select either for or against traits that only show up after people have passed reproductive age (for women, anyway). There’s probably some benefit to having healthy grandparents (more people around looking after the youngest generation) but that seems like a lesser effect.
Emily says
I have this issue and my doctor explained to me that you basically you are born with a set amount of enzymes in your gut that can digest lactose and that you can essentially use it all up and start to have difficulties digesting lactose.
Alice says
That sounds like an expensive experiment! We used to buy organic dairy products, but it was one of the first things to go when we had to cut back our budget.
KathEats says
Well we’re using all of the milk – nothing is going to waste!
Alice says
That’s good!
Mary-Clay Kline says
Homogenization may have something to do with it – is either one of the milks nonhomogenized? Otherwise, there are six different pasteurization processes, I believe. Some of them are no longer in use, but UHT (ultra-high temp) pasteurization is commonly used. UHT pasteurization kills the ability to make cheese with the milk due to damaging protein structure – it doesn’t damage anything else about the proteins, though. Could be what it is!
KathEats says
I don’t think either of these are cream top milks, and one of the bottles says it’s low-temp pasteurized.
Lauren says
I started to notice this with non-dairy milks. My milks (which I buy) that don’t have cargeenan in them don’t really froth, but non-diary milks with carageenan froth almost too well. It’s a thickening agent and one I try and avoid, but it makes sense. I imagine this is for only non-dairy milks though.
Bridget Myers says
I have an espresso machine with a steam foamer, and if I want to make good cappuccinos I never use organic milk. I use a local whole milk and the difference is crazy! I don’t know why but I had thought I read once that most organic milk is ultra pasteurized (hence the longer shelf life) so I wonder if that has something to do with it.
Kimberly says
I can’t seem to find what method of pasteurization Homestead uses, but according to their website, Trickling Springs uses HTST, which is how most commonly available conventional milks are pasteurized. If Homestead is different, that may explain the difference in frothing? I find that the low-temp vat pasteurized milk froths best, and UHT pasteurized milk (most national brands of organic do this to be shelf stable for a long time) tastes burnt and doesn’t froth as well. HTST is in the middle.
KathEats says
Thanks!
Lee Harrison says
I just use one of those hand-held frother gizmos and have found skim milk froths much better than any other kind. But I’m sure fat content adds to the flavor.
Susan says
A while back you had a little hand frother, maybe from Ikea? Do you still use it? Could you remind me what it was and where one can purchase? Thx!
KathEats says
I don’t use it anymore – but it was cheap and worked ok! It was from IKEA
Carrie says
I have totally noticed this! Some organic milks froth just fine and others (particilarly non homogenized milk) don’t.
Sophie says
Your coffee looks delish! Have you ever tried raw milk? I hear it has amazing health benefits, but, LOL, I’m scared of it! Do they sell it at your farmers market?
KathEats says
I haven’t tried it or had access to it but I would like to try it
Sophie says
Gosh! I bet you could have gotten some at the dairies you were at, LOL! It sounds so cool but I’d be sooo worried about some of the infections that could be in it. I saw this filmstrip about Louis Pasteur when I was in 3rd grade that really stuck with me!
Heather says
I use TS springs milk too, but I get it at a local market in MD that carriers their own line of low pasteurization that TS does just for them. Mine foams great, but I am also using whole milk since that is what we have in the house for my toddler. I am also noticed that the amount of milk in the frothier effects the outcome.
tess says
can i just say this post was awesome and sounded like your posts of years ago when you used to nerd out all the time?? i really liked it.. i’m sure sponsored posts and weekend recaps are good for the bank account and easier, but i really liked this post and would check in on your blog a lot more if you went back to this sort of blogging! cool post!
Ann says
Check out coffeegeek.com for a good explanation of how temperature and fat% impact ability to foam.
Susan says
Lots of controversy and I would love to know the outcome. I love making lattes at home, but they are truly better when going to a nice coffee shop. Keep in mind I do not have a nice coffee machine, just a drip. I do have a Nepresso frother and love it, but certain types of milk do not froth. I have found 2% milk froths of the best with a small amount of half and half. That’s what I do and I have not noticed if if I use organic or non organic if there is any difference with the milk I mentioned above. Almond, coconut, whole milk just to name a few do not froth for me. I LOVE the froth in lattes so I found your posting interesting, but some of the negativity from readers is not nice. Thank you!