Hey “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Blog” readers! I’m still having a good time being on vacation with Christine’s family in the state of Indiana this week, but I’ve got a special guest blog post I wanted to share with you from a reader who hails from the country of France and is absolutely perplexed by all the legal hangups over the sale of raw milk in America. As someone who grew up in the United States and now living with her husband in a different culture altogether that embraces raw milk as a regular part of their daily livelihood, she wanted to tell us about the incredible ways it is being used by the French in their diet. Her name is Sarah from one of the blogs I highlighted before I left on my trip called Low Stress Weight Loss. Special thanks to Sarah for offering up this outstanding column that will certainly educate you about what is happening elsewhere in the world with raw milk even if we are still somewhat backwards here in America. If you like what you read at Sarah’s blog, then let her hear from you by leaving a comment below and on one of the posts at her site.
Here is her guest blog post:
My name is Sarah and I’m an American ex-patriot living in France. I have to say I listen to stories of the regulated raw milk market back in the States with great puzzlement. I’m an American living in France and here raw milk is everywhere. It’s not as prevalent as pasteurized milk, of course, (even the French have moved to industrialized production of most foods), but the French are very protective of their gastronomic history. That history is heavily rooted in cream…and butter…and cheese. Despite the fact that Louis Pasteur (the inventor of “pasteurization”) was French, the highest-quality, most-sought-after dairy products are all made from raw, not pasteurized, dairy.
Here are 4 reasons why France is raw milk heaven:
1) Cheese
The most famous (and delicious) French cheeses are made with raw milk. Camembert, Brie, Roquefort, and all of the best of these cheeses are made with raw milk. Other than cheddar cheese (which I buy for Mexican food that I make myself) and store-bought ricotta and mascarpone, most of the cheese I buy is made from raw milk. Sheep’s milk, goat’s milk, cow’s milk, water buffalo milk–all of it is raw. Raw milk cheeses are sold in grocery stores and little corner markets too all across France. You can find industrial cheeses too such as cream cheese, crazily shelf-stable grated cheeses, plastic-packaged (and tasting) kid-pack cheese products, and very weak imitations of the famous French cheeses. But most people, even of modest means, prefer the raw stuff, and most grocers oblige them, despite the shorter shelf life. Cheese in all it’s forms is a living organism, although I don’t know how many people go in for the living critter crusts of some of the really rural farm cheeses (spider cheese is worth checking out if you have a strong stomach and large curiosity).
2) Butter
There is a big debate in Paris, and it involves fat and salt found in butter. Salted (in particular for those from the Brittany region–like my husband) or “Sweet” (unsalted) is the point of contention. But no one denies that the best boutique brands of butter that are served in the top Michelin-starred restaurants are made from raw milk. People traverse Paris to go to the cheese shops that stock those brands and I’m very lucky that my local cheese market carries one of those brands. In our house, we use Salted butter and the flavor is unbelievable. I’m not the only one who thinks this brand is amazing, by the way–food blogger extraordinaire David Lebovitz has also blogged about this same amazing brand of butter. Twice.
3) Cream
Cream is a whole series of products in France, actually. There is crème fraîche, which is a cultured cream which is made somewhat like yogurt–a fermenting bacteria is added to cream, and it renders a tangy and unbelievably rich product. Like other dairy products in general supermarkets, you find this cooking staple pasteurized, but once again the best ones are made from raw milk and have a much richer, deeper flavor and an unbelievably rich texture. Also, you can find liquid cream which is also available in unpasteurized raw form, although it’s pretty hard to find (my local organic supermarket carries it, but I have to stock up quickly, because the whole neighborhood seems to want this and it’s more often just the sign on the shelf instead of a stock with bottles). It sometimes seems to spoil rather quickly, which just encourages me to use it quickly. Besides, the trips to the store to see if it’s in stock adds extra steps into my week–two out of three times I strike out.
4) Raw milk
I can buy raw milk at the local organic supermarket or at the cheese market near our house. People who live in the countryside might just get it from their neighbor. On vacation this summer we came across this at the entry of a big chain supermarket in the Center region of France:
That’s right: it’s a self-service raw milk dispenser like the self-service filtered water dispensers I remember in American supermarkets as a kid. On the left side, you buy your bottle. On the right, you insert your money and get your raw milk. As one of the couples walking in beside us remarked “what, do they have a cow behind that wall?” Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore!
Sarah blogs about losing weight without losing her mind at Low Stress Weight Loss. An American in Paris, she’s married to a French man, and after several failed diet attempts in France realized a lower-carb diet might be a better match for rich sauces and wonderful French butter and cheese than the low-fat fare of her previous dieting attempts.
