Got Milk? Then you have a cocktail of chemicals, hormones, medications — all sorts of lovely things — BHT among others.

New Zealand, Australia and Japan have banned the use of BHT—Bovine Growth Hormone. Canada will not approve it and the EU has a moratorium against its use and continues to maintain this. The EU also prohibits the sale of any products from rBGH cows. The farmers in these places get along very well without it, however the big business of factory farms in the U.S. keeps on using this hormone.

Back in the 20s, Americans could buy fresh raw whole milk, real clabber and buttermilk, luscious naturally yellow butter, fresh farm cheeses and cream in various colors and thicknesses. Today's milk is linked to causing everything from allergies to heart disease to cancer, but when Americans could buy Real Milk, these diseases were rare. In fact, a supply of high-quality dairy products was considered vital to American security and the economic well being of the nation.

What's needed today is a return to humane, non-toxic, pasture-based dairying and small-scale traditional processing, in short... a campaign for REAL MILK!

And what cows need today is REAL FEED—green grass in Spring, Summer and Fall; stored dry hay, silage, hay and root vegetables in Winter. It is not soy meal, cottonseed meal or other commercial feeds, nor is it bakery waste, chicken manure or citrus peel cake, laced with pesticides. Vital nutrients like vitamins A and D, and Dr. Westin Price's "Activator X" (a fat-soluble catalyst that promotes optimum mineral assimilation, now believed to be vitamin K2) are greatest in milk from cows eating green grass, especially rapidly growing green grass in the spring and fall.

Vitamins A and D are greatly diminished, and Activator X disappears, when milk cows are fed commercial feed. Soy meal has the wrong protein profile for the dairy cow, resulting in a short burst of high milk production followed by premature death. Most milk (even most milk labeled "organic") comes from dairy cows that are kept in confinement their entire lives and never see green grass!

So where can we get non-chemical, non-BHT REAL MILK ? Check out www.RealMilk.com. This is a website devoted to campaigning for real milk and keeps a list of local REAL MILK dairies.

In our area, Huckleberry Dairy sells whole, non-BHT milk from pasture-fed cows. As I’ve priced this kind of milk, it runs about $6.50 a gallon. The only way I can afford this is to skip the junk- and processed food aisles. It’s worth it to me, however. AND, if we factor in the cream that comes with the milk—we now have 3 products in one gallon: I can make my own chemical-free butter and I can now serve chemical-free whipped cream on my desserts! So all in all, it may not be that expensive, especially when we ask ourselves, “What’s our health worth?”

NOW, in case you are lucky enough to have access to this REAL MILK with REAL CREAM right now, here’s how to make your own butter that will have a light, fresh taste. You’ll need a good process or heavy duty mixer.

Homemade Butter
(yield: about half as much butter as amount of cream started with)

1-2 cups heavy whipping cream, or double cream (1/3 liter)
(preferably without carrageenan or other stabilizers)

Fit food processor with plastic blade, whisk, or normal chopping blade. Fill food processor about 1/4 - 1/2 full. Blend. The cream will go through the following stages: Sloshy, frothy, soft whipped cream, firm whipped cream, coarse whipped cream. Then, suddenly, the cream will seize, its smooth shape will collapse, and the whirring will change to sloshing. The butter is now fine grained bits of butter in buttermilk, and a few seconds later, a glob of yellowish butter will separate from milky buttermilk. Drain the buttermilk.

You can eat the butter now -- it has a light taste -- though it will store better if you wash and work it. Add 1/2 cup (100 mL) of ice-cold water, and blend further.

Discard wash water and repeat until the wash water is clear. Now, work butter to remove suspended water. Either place damp butter into a cool bowl and knead with a potato masher or two forks; or put in large covered jar, and shake or tumble. Continue working, pouring out the water occasionally, until most of the water is removed. The butter is now ready. Put butter in a butter crock, ramekins, or roll in waxy freezer paper. Salt to taste before working—just a few pinches, is a nice variation.