What is low fat milk?

ShoulderChip

People often say it is just full fat milk watered down.

is this the case?

If so why would anyone buy it, when they could buy full fat and water it down themself?

or does it have to be watered down at a certain point in the milk making process?

hello_there_jim

its fat milk thats low!

BrokenArrows

low fat milk has part of the creamy fat part of the milk removed before it is homogenised.

homogenised is whatever is done to the milk to prevent it separating in the container.

mikemac

Ah, reminds me of my summer job in the local creamery.

OP, low fat milk isn't watered down.
The fat is "skimmed" from the milk before it's leaves the liquid milk department to go to packaging. Hence, skim milk

It'll be homogenized, forcing the milk through pipes at high speed so the remaining fat and milk won't separate. If this wasn't done you'd see the fat floating at the top of the milk, yuck

Then onto the Tetra Pak line!

rccaulfield

Ya skimmed milk=success, lots of carbs and lactose no fat-dont overdo it mind- have a varied amout of it with all my shakes and a glass if calories needed on bulking phase!

rubadub

I expect many young people have not seen glass milk bottles. The cream would all rise into the neck of them and you had to shake the bottle well before opening or you could get a big blob of creamy milk otherwise.

It is the cream which makes whole milk taste less watery. So when you remove it the milk appears relatively more watery, so people figure it is watered down.

Many skimmed milks will have protein added to give it more texture. Also when you remove the fat the other ratios increase accordingly, so skimmed milk ends up with more protein and carbs than whole milk, then if they add protein it boosts it even more. Skim milk has more sugar (lactose) than full sugar lilt.

Article on skim milk here
http://www.answerfitness.com/162/skim-milk-healthy-food-of-the-day/

MagicMarker

Am I the only one who still shakes their milk before opening?

bigstar

my gf gets unhomogenised organic milk, you have to shake it or else you get lumps of cream in it, tis lovely stuff though. mmmm.

rubadub

MagicMarker wrote: »

Am I the only one who still shakes their milk before opening?

I do. With the old bottles the thin neck meant a lot more cream got "stuck" up at the top. It could have been an inch of really creamy stuff at the top. With cartons there is much less of an effect, the same volume of cream is there, but as the top on the cartons is much wider it does not make the same clump, only a few mm at the top which mixes in much easier. I really miss downing a full pint right from a cold bottle.

beggars_bush

i always shake the milk container

and i've been caught out a few times with people not screwing the cap back on properly!!!! the idiots