Top Twenty Tuesday #5: Cow's Milk

Considering that beef doesn't even make the top twenty, I was surprised to see how much cow's milk is produced in the world.  But I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising given how much even a single cow can produce.  I wrote a whole series on milk in May 2009 and I'll refer to some of those posts here.

History: A whole post on the history of milk.

Worldwide Production: 566.9 million tons: enough milk for 22.6 gallons for every man, woman, and child in the world per year - or about 1/2 pint per day.

Eating and Processing: A whole post here.

Health Information: Look here for information on casein, fat, raw milk, and more.

Sustainability: The high impact of milk, here.

Where to Find: The real question is where can you find sustainable milk from humanely treated cows.  We favor organic milks but these are by no means created equally (perhaps the recent tightening of the rules by the USDA will change that).  For example, Organic Cow (Dean Foods) and Aurora Organic Dairy are considered ethically deficient by The Cornucopia Institute (check out their ratings here).  We buy Organic Valley (New England Producers Group) when we can find it, usually at Whole Foods.

Relevant Blog: Stonyfield Farmer Blog: This blog follows organic dairy farmer Jonathan Gates.

Bottom Line: There's a lot of white stuff out there and not just because it's winter.  Love it or leave it, cow milk is a human staple.

References:
1. Wikipedia
2. Numerous (see blog links)
3. Got milk? from Flickr