Milk frothing

horse7

Always using full fat 3.5% milk own brand Dunnes Aldi Lidl and have found in the main using a milk frother or hand frother the results are fine, but every now and again the milk will not froth. I wonder what would account for this, can there be inconsistencies with the ingredients of the milk.?

coylemj

There was a discussion on this topic in 2015 and luckily, I remembered that the most useful contribution started: 'dairy farmers daughter here'. Which made it easy to find in a boards search.

The thread title was: Steamed/Frothed milk.. Does it change with the seasons?

This is the contribution (post #9, link below), direct from the milking parlour. It was posted in late November, which is relevant because she talks about 'milk at this time' (of the year)...

Dairy farmers daughter here! Milk at this time generally comes from two sources, 'fresh' cows that have calved maybe since August/Sept/Oct, and 'stale' cows that calved some time last spring. With the disappearance of milk quota, farmers who calve their cows in the spring may be milking them for longer now. (With quotas in place, you couldn't increase your production because you would be fined). These spring calving cows would normally be dried off by this time. Milk from 'stale' cows is generally higher in lactose, so that could have something to do with it.

Also, there are less and less farmers calving cows at this time of year, because it's becoming less and less economic to do so. Farmers that do this are called winter suppliers, and their milk generally supplies only our domestic liquid milk market. (Fun fact:if all winter suppliers vanish-there's only 2000 or so in Ireland-our milk will have to be imported in the winter months) So, with farmers switching to spring calving because it's cheaper, and spring calvers milking longer to fill the gap, there's a definite change the in profile of the milk. And that's before you get into the effects the changed diet at this time of year will have on milk.

Long story short, try a brand that traditionally has a good base of winter suppliers. Winter suppliers are generally close to cities for the increased population. So in Dublin, Premier Dairies milk could be worth a try, and Clona if you're in the Cork area. Not sure about other areas!!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/97834573/#Comment_97834573

horse7

Under what brand is Premier Dairies used?

coylemj

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121314127#Comment_121314127

I believe you can still buy a carton of milk which is branded Premier Dairies, though Premier Tír Laighin was taken over by Avonmore many years ago. The Avonmore brand has survived on retail liquid milk, even though the company subsequently changed their name to Glanbia and they changed it yet again recently to Tirlán.

Regardless of whether the carton says Premier Dairies or Avonmore, it's all produced by Tirlán.