milk...... fresh or uht?

[squidge]

ok..... so a few months ago we trialled the lovely idea of collecting our milk straught from the vat at the local farm. Unfortunately, as it was straight out of the cow and therefore un-pasteurised and un-everythinged else, it went off within 48 hours. We can't get through a litre between the two of us in that time (i'm picky about what goes on my cereal - it tastes weird here) so we've ended up getting uht from the supermarket for our cups of tea.

My question is this: is it ok to just use uht for the guests or do they expect fresh milk? uht in a hot choccie sounds disgusting and yucky.

So uht or fresh? The unofficial living france poll commences.... now 

 

 

[cooperlola]

Well, I for one, detest uht milk!  OK in coffee but disgusting in tea, IMHO.  But I must say I buy semi-skimmed here whereas I bought whole milk in the UK, as it seems much richer.  The supermarket stuff is quite long-dated here, even the fresh variety. 

[andyh4]

Fresh milk available in our local Supermarkets (big Dutch community in our area) - so always fresh except for the one UHT kept at the back of the cupboard in case we run out.

 

[Morse98]

Definately Fresh for me cannot abide uht!

[Quillan]

I agree with others on UHT milk. We put tea and coffee in the rooms and we buy the little round things of UHT milk from the supermarket and put four in each room (one does one cup) This is because we can't put fridge in each room.

For the rest of the time we use the semi skimmed fresh milk. It come to our supermarket twice a week so we buy 5 or 6 big ones at a time put two in the fridge and the others go in the freezer and are defrosted as and when.

Freezers take us to another area, they are a must. We have two plus a half and half fridge freezer in the garage. With the fridge freezer we store wine and salad stuff before it goes to the kitchen fridge. The other freezers are stuffed with all the stuff we buy on 'special' like last week all pork was 2.95€ a kilo so we have 100 chops plus other various cuts. We do the same with chicken, lamb and veal.

Loads of shelving is very important for storing consumables (toilet paper, tissues and kitchen roll etc bought in bulk). We also buy a lot of our cleaning stuff from Lidle (?) as its very good stuff but we buy for instance 10 box's of washing powder at a time. Actually we tend to buy all our cleaning products in tens or more. We bought the clip together plastic cupboards from Mr Bricolage to store sheets and towels in. Everything is marked up by rooms so the cleaner knows where to find stuff.

If you don't know what to expect then search on GDF in this section as somebody (I can't remember who) scanned the inspection sheets that the inspectors use and stored them on their website for others to down load.

Good luck

PS Check all your plates and glass's before they come, they checked every one for chips and cracks when they visited us.

[Blanche Neige]

Fresh (semi skimmed) for me as well. I too detest UHT and have been caught out so many times in France that I always drink my coffee black.

[Alan Zoff]

I was surprised, given the amount of dairy produce in France, just how little fresh milk people seem to use, in this area of France at least (Allier).

The village shop sells only sterilised milk. Not for me, thanks. The supermarket in the nearest town does sell some fresh milk (semi or entier) but, whereas it will stock hundreds of cartons of yoghurt, creme fraiche, 15 types of creme brulee, etc, there will be just the odd litre of milk, if you are lucky. It seems to keep well enough in the fridge so I can only think this is due to low demand rather than poor shelf life.

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Full fat fresh milk is good for your health. Drinkapintamilkaday was right before the low fat fools got loose. Eat natural just control quantity and take exercise.

[Chancer]

I have only found fresh milk once at one of the supermarkets in the two years that I have lived here.

I am now quite adapted to UHT long life.

Also when we speak of fresh milk form a supermarket it is not the same as fresh from the milkman (unless that has now also changed) as supermarket milk is homogenised which means that it is impacted at high velocity ont a stainless plate to melange the cream throughout the liquid, this is why it appears to last longer as it doesnt seperate. A friend who was brought up on a dairy farm once commented on supermarket stuff "milk isnt supposed to last for 5 days, I just dont trust it"

The company where I did my apprenticeship made homogenisers amongst other things, I was offered a job in the section but didnt like the idea of being called a "Homo-fitter"[:)]

[Athene]

Interesting this question about milk! It used to be the case that there was hardly any 'fresh' (or is it homo-milk?lol!) in the supermarkets round here but with the influx of English to the area, they have begun to cater with more 'fresh' milk. Similarly lots of other English products are beginning to appear eg cheddar cheese, baked beans, gravy mix, Tiptree jams and Car's Water biscuits. I am wondering whether they will get around to stocking English bangers! I hope so!

Also in the UK I have noticed within the last year the 'fresh' milk seems to last longer. Wonder if this is down to quicker farm to store deliveries or something awful being mixed in surruptiously!

[mossie]

Like all the other people here I also really miss proper, fresh milk.  My husband who has a lot of experience of France says it is because the country is so huge that it is not possible to produce and distribute milk the way we do in the UK, so they simply don't have a tradition of using it, or they do but it all goes into cheese which is a way of preserving milk.  He says this is why they have such a huge variety of cheeses.  Hence the penchant for UHT which I also think is disgusting and actually ruins a good, natural product.  I buy milk from the supermarket labelled as 'highly pasteurised' which I find pretty dodgy.  It has about a two week sell-by-date which makes me shudder.  I use it because I can't do without milk.  Word of advice - don't ever smell it!!!  This offends me even more because I grew up in a dairy farming area and so was used to really good milk.  And don't get me started on cream!!!!

[Jazzer]

Some supermarkets here in Dept 17 stock (in plasic sachets) unpasteurised milk-Lait Cru, this it says should be used on day of purchase.certainly makes the tea taste better.

[Moorejw]

We can buy fresh (lait frais) semi and full fat in some of the supermarkets. We provide one bottle of sterilised and one of fresh in the welcome pack for each gite, so that the visitors can learn to tell them apart!

[Loiseau]

As a regular B&B user, I would definitely vote for fresh milk over UHT.

I wouldn't recommend giving guests the "lait cru" mentioned above, though.  If it's unpasteurised, might it not be a health risk for people not used to it?

Angela

 

[Cassis]

Hi Squidge

I think it depends what exactly what you using your milk for.  If it is for drinking, then UHT is crap.  But in tea or coffee, where all you are doing is using it as a whitener, then fully skimmed UHT is fine and keeps almost until you die.  Are you doing cereals?  In that case, awkward Brits may not like semi-skimmed UHT because it is not what they are used to.  No other nationality seems to give a toss.  If UHT is convenient and local, and pasteurised is not, then go for the UHT.  You're in France, for God's sake, and you use what you have locally.

Even you can get used to it in time. [:D]

Agree with Loiseau over fresh, untreated milk - do not use it.  Too dangerous.  First time I had it over here I had the trots for 4 days - please don't ruin your guests' holidays that way!

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

10000 things you can get the trots from here in France. Milk is the least of your problems. Start with the wine, cheese ....... Give 'em fresh and have done witrh it.

[Cassis]

I think andouille has to be near the top.  Never serve andouille and milk in the same bowl - they do not react well together.

[Alan Zoff]

Makes you wonder how the human race got this far, not being able to consume anything unless it has been washed, cooked or heat-treated.  Perhaps the dictinction between early man and modern man should now be pre-Tesco and post-Tesco.

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

In those days they died from the bad food. Now we just die from too much of the stuff.

And not andouillette. Food of the gods, lovely, animals guts, best part where all the flavour is concentrated. I wonder how it would cook in milk though, like tripe. Could be verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry good indeed. Thanks Cassisi, we'll try that.

[Ian]

I'm a lone voice (or nearly) so it would appear for UHT.  Warmed with a splash of armagnac and a teaspoon of honey - FANTASTIC.

[Mark]

[quote user="Ian"]I'm a lone voice (or nearly) so it would appear for UHT.  Warmed with a splash of armagnac and a teaspoon of honey - FANTASTIC.
[/quote]

Right, that's decided, we'll serve 'em that for breakfast then. [:)]

[Jonzjob]

[quote user="J.R."]

I have only found fresh milk once at one of the supermarkets in the two years that I have lived here.

I am now quite adapted to UHT long life.

Also when we speak of fresh milk form a supermarket it is not the same as fresh from the milkman (unless that has now also changed) as supermarket milk is homogenised which means that it is impacted at high velocity ont a stainless plate to melange the cream throughout the liquid, this is why it appears to last longer as it doesnt seperate. A friend who was brought up on a dairy farm once commented on supermarket stuff "milk isnt supposed to last for 5 days, I just dont trust it"

The company where I did my apprenticeship made homogenisers amongst other things, I was offered a job in the section but didnt like the idea of being called a "Homo-fitter"[:)]

[/quote]

It also makes the fat globuals so small that they can penitrate the gut wall and cause all sorts of strange problems for those who have this problem...

We have semi skimmed bio fresh milk that has been pasturised in a bian marie (?). The amount of cream on the top when you get it makes me wonder if it is 'semi' and not full? That is nice to drink straight. OK so it is a bit more than supermarket 'burp', but we believe that you are what you eat!!!!!

[Cassis]

[quote user="Mark"]

[quote user="Ian"]I'm a lone voice (or nearly) so

it would appear for UHT.  Warmed with a splash of armagnac and a

teaspoon of honey - FANTASTIC.

[/quote]

Right, that's decided, we'll serve 'em that for breakfast then. [:)]

[/quote]Even better without the milk!  [:)]