Cottage cheese, yogurt, plain old cheese, butter

[Guest guest]

This may be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway.

Is the cottage cheese, butter,yogurt and regular block/shredded cheese in the

store full of hor mones? I just keep thinking we are drinking good milk but

what about the rest of the dairy?

Can anyone help me?

Lyn

p.s. I CANNOT make my own, I've tried, believe me, I've tried. :-(

[Guest guest]

Hi Lyn,

All grocery store dairy is the same. There is no test for added hormones in the

dairy, you have to rely on the honesty of the farmer raising the animals to not

have that in his herd.

If you have to do main stream dairy, organic is probably a bit better but still

not a fail safe.

Don't buy shredded cheese. Shred your own. It is fresher that way and costs

less.

Milk is divided into different categories, some milk is not good enough or clean

enough for drinking milk. That goes to other dairy products! Nice huh?

You CAN make this stuff at home. It is very simple. I teach classes and have

good starter cultures that do their job. Depending on where you get your milk

or starter cultures, the recipe involved, it can be simple or a dreaded task.

Store bought milk (organic or otherwise) just doesn't seem to work the best.

Try to find some real milk and cream to start with and good cultures. You can

make store bought milk and even dry milk work but it is more difficult from what

I have found.

The easiest cheese making kits out there are from New England Cheese, I think

the addy is cheesemaking.com They have managed to simplify and food proof some

very basic cheeses as well as some more difficult ones. A 6th grader can do

these! Really! I have 3 of the kits from them and found them to be much easier

than the recipes I was using. You can get starter cultures from them that are

either reculturable or direct set.

But, you will have to find a milk that will work for you.

The first time I made butter it took nearly 2 hours. Now it takes less than 20

minutes.

Problems with cheese are usually not having good rennet if the recipe calls for

it, Junket is not great for cheese making! Or not having the right pans, or

adding cultures at a hot temp.

Yogurt is also easy unless it is a tad too hot, then it kills the culture and

you have milk that didn't do anything.

The first time I made cottage cheese it turned into a mush fed to the goats and

chickens. I could not get it to set right. So I make the large curd style with

rennet and it is much easier for me to do it. From that I have made hoop cheese

(fresh) and when we move I am going to make an aged hoop cheese. It is

basically cottage cheese without the cream added, then pressed.

>

> This may be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway.

>

> Is the cottage cheese, butter,yogurt and regular block/shredded cheese in the

store full of hor mones? I just keep thinking we are drinking good milk but

what about the rest of the dairy?

>

> Can anyone help me?

>

> Lyn

>

> p.s. I CANNOT make my own, I've tried, believe me, I've tried. :-(

>

[Guest guest]

All milk organic, grass fed or not, contains some growth hormones. it doesn't

matter what form its in. That's what makes calves into big cows. There's some

hormone-type chemicals (estrogen and endocrine mimics) that are present in milk

that has any pesticide or herbicide residue on it (overspray or intentional

spray) and then there's just the hormones from the cow that either were injected

or are naturally there. If the cows eat soy, some of the soy phytoestrogens are

in the milk. So, if you mean added hormones, the government (whether you trust

them or not) has said that milk made from cows given hormones is not different

than milk made from cows NOT given rBGH. that's what the label says anyway.

bottom line, all milk has some, non-organic probably has more, and grass fed may

have the least. i don't know who tests the milk for hormones, if anyone.

>

> This may be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway.

>

> Is the cottage cheese, butter,yogurt and regular block/shredded cheese in the

store full of hor mones? I just keep thinking we are drinking good milk but

what about the rest of the dairy?

>

> Can anyone help me?

>

> Lyn

>

> p.s. I CANNOT make my own, I've tried, believe me, I've tried. :-(

>

[Guest guest]

No one tests for hormones, supposedly there is no test for rBGH. The farmer is

supposed to " sign a statement " that his cows were not given rGBH.

Trust that?

> >

> > This may be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway.

> >

> > Is the cottage cheese, butter,yogurt and regular block/shredded cheese in

the store full of hor mones? I just keep thinking we are drinking good milk but

what about the rest of the dairy?

> >

> > Can anyone help me?

> >

> > Lyn

> >

> > p.s. I CANNOT make my own, I've tried, believe me, I've tried. :-(

> >

>

[Guest guest]

No one tests for hormones, supposedly there is no test for rBGH. The farmer is

supposed to " sign a statement " that his cows were not given rGBH.

Trust that?

> >

> > This may be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway.

> >

> > Is the cottage cheese, butter,yogurt and regular block/shredded cheese in

the store full of hor mones? I just keep thinking we are drinking good milk but

what about the rest of the dairy?

> >

> > Can anyone help me?

> >

> > Lyn

> >

> > p.s. I CANNOT make my own, I've tried, believe me, I've tried. :-(

> >

>