Sun Milk

I saw something very disturbing in the Sunday coupon section this week. Actually it may be the cutest disturbing product they have.

It’s called Sun Milk and it’s milk with the fat removed and replaced by sunflower oil.

Contrary to popular belief, or maybe just what I wish was true, skim milk does not come from skinny cows and whole milk does not come from fat cows. Chocolate milk, also does not come from brown cows, or cows who eat chocolate. Milk straight from the cow bears very little resemblance to the 2% stuff that, I think, grows in plastic bottles in dairy cases. Really, there’s a whole process that involves separating the fat and introducing it back into milk in increments. And the dairy people have been doing it for years. Still, like orange juice, what they separate they put back in, and maybe add a few vitamins for good measure. What is not okay is substituting the fats. There’s a reason people prefer cheese to cheese food and butter to margarine: the dairy fat not the vegetable oils. My goodness, you ask, what can this girl who will eat anything fried possibly have against vegetable oil? Nothing I say. But as vodka doesn’t belong poured over cereal, and pasta does not belong in ice cream, vegetable oil does not belong in milk.

Milk is a staple of the American diet. It is part of a balanced breakfast, it does a body good, and it’s “got” by many—regular people and celebs alike. Milk is good, almost natural, and one of the things that is good and right in the world.

How many people do you suspect are overweight or unhealthy (besides the lactose intolerant) purely because of the amount of delicious moo juice they pour down their throats? My guess is zero.

Shall we look at the nutritional info?

1 cup 1% creepy sunflower milk

120 Cal
2g Fat (20 Cal. from fat)

1 cup 1% regular milk

118 Cal
3g Fat (25 Cal from fat)

Or you can get slightly different info on pg 7 of the Sun Milk White paper

Thinking about creepy dairy products, I decided to look into lactaid, since I really had no idea what it is.

And apparently other people have the same questions I do. FAQ

If LACTAID® Milk is real milk, what have you done to it to make it drinkable for me?
LACTAID® Milk is the same as other brands of milk, but we have added lactase enzyme to break down the difficult-to-digest lactose (complex milk sugar) into easily-digested simple sugars. Just pour and enjoy, without the suffering!

And unlike the lack of info from Sun Milk, Lactaid says you can bake with it.

1% Lactaid
110 Cal
2.5g fat

Despite a few creepy add ins, all of the milks are basically the same calories and fat. So, the consumer is left with the choice of drinking normal people milk, or crazy people milk. I think it is particularly obscene to have such cute illustrations for such a revolting vegetable oil product.


Now for a select timeline of milk:

1624 Cows reach Plymouth Colony.
1878 Continuous centrifugal cream separator invented by Dr. Gustav De Laval.
1914 Tank trucks first used for transporting milk.
1932 Ways of increasing Vitamin D in milk made practicable.
First plastic coated paper milk cartons introduced commercially.
1964 Plastic milk container introduced commercially.
1980 American Dairy Association launches the national introduction of the
“REAL” (R) Seal dairy symbol.
1988 Lower fat dairy products gain widespread acceptance. Lowfat and skim milk
sales combined exceed whole milk sales for first time.

You can read the whole thing at http://www.idfa.org/facts/milk/milkfact/milk4.pdf