Fresh Milk?

[Allinda]

Wow, who'd have thought rekindling a 10 year old post would garner such enthusiastic responses. Vive la difference!

To AMHuntFerry, no we never shopped in convenience stores - not our thing.  With 3 little kids in tow we also did the standard tourist trips to Disney and Universal plus Walmart once to get a photo. 😅

My post was more about our global differences in taste especially relating to espresso coffee and the use of UHT longlife milk in it.

Yes, you do have UHT milk in the states and even your regular milk is often partly UHT treated.  It seems there are quite a few differences in 'regular' milk around the globe.  For anyone interested here's a summary of facts https://chatgpt.com/share/66e63b22-1a54-800c-a8bf-1208c46360e5

[clo]

2 hours ago, basor said:

We are lucky - place a pick up order at the local grocery store and daughter picks up and puts in fridge day before we get hone....

Where in Oregon are you? We used to live in Grants Pass.

[basor]

Suburb of Portland....

[Thought2go]

On 7/11/2014 at 11:20 AM, DaisyUK said:

Does anyone know whether fresh milk is available onboard? If not, is it permissible to bring it onboard? Pet hate is uht milk in tea/coffee.

I agree on the UHT milk- fine for cooking but that’s about it. I don’t know your itinerary but I can tell you that there are full cream powdered milks (usually of a European Mfg company-not fond of Nestle tho) that knock the socks off any fresh milk in the USA. Just mix and refrigerate. I like my milk ice cold-if I can get it from one of the commercial dispensing machines.

[Harters]

9 hours ago, clo said:

It would be nice, say, when returning from a trip to know that there was milk in the house

Indeed so. UHT milk is readily available in UK supermarkets, We usually take a carton if we're taking a self-catering holiday, just in case we can't readily get fresh milk. Or just to have an "emergency stock", say over the Christmas holidays when we might have unexpected visitors .I can't taste any difference between UHT and fresh - but that may say more about me than it does about the milk. 

[clo]

5 hours ago, Harters said:

I can't taste any difference between UHT and fresh - but that may say more about me than it does about the milk.

Nor can I. I'd never even heard of it. And, yes, about my 'taster' also.

[DaisyUK]

How funny that this thread has been resurrected! I remember asking the question 10 years ago before one of our very first cruises.  Fast forward and I’m happy to say that we can always find fresh milk onboard these days.

[elmsliebev]

6 hours ago, Harters said:

Indeed so. UHT milk is readily available in UK supermarkets, We usually take a carton if we're taking a self-catering holiday, just in case we can't readily get fresh milk. Or just to have an "emergency stock", say over the Christmas holidays when we might have unexpected visitors .I can't taste any difference between UHT and fresh - but that may say more about me than it does about the milk. 

my OH has issue with lactose (mainly cream) and finds lactose free skimmed milk suits him best. That has a long use by date (weeks) so we always leave a carton of that in the fridge when we go away. 

My dad was a milk man in rural Lancashire for a few years when we were kids and he sourced his milk from various places - we had standard pasturised (with the cream rising to the top), sterilised, homogenised, farm bottled, Channel Island, semi-skimmed ...all had a different coloured foil top, apart from sterilised which had a beer bottle-type cap! 

 

[Harters]

17 minutes ago, elmsliebev said:

My dad was a milk man in rural Lancashire

Funny you should  say that. Havent seen a milk float for, literally, years but passed one last week in the middle of the evening, loaded up and presumably just starting to deliver. 

[clo]

On 9/15/2024 at 8:27 AM, DaisyUK said:

we can always find fresh milk onboard these days.

So you've actually asked? As I've said I can't tell the difference. On long parts of a trip with no ports I wonder how they keep it fresh.

[DaisyUK]

Don’t need to ask. To me, the difference between uht and fresh milk is as great as that between Apple and orange juice. I should say though that my experience over the last several years has not been with Oceania as we cruise on different lines now.

[osandomir]

29 minutes ago, DaisyUK said:

Don’t need to ask. To me, the difference between uht and fresh milk is as great as that between Apple and orange juice. I should say though that my experience over the last several years has not been with Oceania as we cruise on different lines now.

I’m curious if you cruise on the different lines but not Oceania why would you ask your question on the Oceania board? It seems that you were able to find fresh milk on the cruise ships you sailed. But to answer your question there’s regular fresh milk on Oceania ships too.

[DaisyUK]

I asked the question 10 years ago when I did cruise with Oceania! I received notification that the post had been resurrected so commented on that fact, and then added that fresh milk was available, and then thought I’d better clarify that I didn’t have current experience with Oceania. 

[ORV]

1 hour ago, clo said:

So you've actually asked? As I've said I can't tell the difference. On long parts of a trip with no ports I wonder how they keep it fresh.

Wow, you can't tell the difference? Aren't you the one always talking about being a big food person? Like the other poster said, daylight and dark in taste. Maybe your tastebuds are blown out. 

[clo]

10 minutes ago, ORV said:

Wow, you can't tell the difference? Aren't you the one always talking about being a big food person? Like the other poster said, daylight and dark in taste. Maybe your tastebuds are blown out. 

Did a quick google and the main word used regarding the difference was "minor."

And perhaps stop being such a snot.

[sunlover12]

I have lived in an undeveloped country in West Africa where the only milk available was UHT milk.  No fresh milk at all.  I would have it with my morning cereal and it had a very unpleasant taste. This was back in the 90's so unless they have improved the taste, it is a very noticeable difference between that and fresh.  

When I have my morning cereal on an Oceania cruise it tastes like fresh milk to me, thank goodness.

[Harters]

37 minutes ago, ORV said:

Maybe your tastebuds are blown out. 

I suppose that may be why I can't taste a difference either. So, maybe I've no future need for the "finest cuisine at sea". 

 

By the by, we visit Spain annually, often more than once a year, and have been doing for around 40 years. It's only in comparatively  recent years that we've been able to find fresh milk in supermarkets. Previously it was only ever UHT. 

Edited Monday at 09:22 PM by Harters

[Kay S]

3 hours ago, clo said:

So you've actually asked? As I've said I can't tell the difference. On long parts of a trip with no ports I wonder how they keep it fresh.

Refrigeration?  Just a thought.

[clo]

2 hours ago, Kay S said:

Refrigeration?  Just a thought.

I just remembered something and checked it. Milk can be frozen. That's got to be it. No way milk is going to last even two weeks.

[Harters]

12 hours ago, clo said:

No way milk is going to last even two weeks.

Filtered fresh milk, such as Cravendale, will easily last three weeks and probably longer. It will usually have a three week "best before" date (and  worth giving it the sniff test after the three). No additives, no UHT, just milk filtered. We "discovered" it during the first Covid lockdown when supplies of normal milk were not guaranteed. Tastes fine. 

 

https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/brands/arla-cravendale/

Edited Tuesday at 12:59 PM by Harters

[IDL]

On 7/11/2014 at 2:12 PM, Hawaiidan said:

 

Do you mean raw or unpasteurized milk? Or will regular pasteurized/homogenized do. In reality they do not have a cow on board so it must be bottled as a dairy. They also have real cream too.

What is UHT.....never heard of it..is that powered milk?

I like the idea of a cow on board and maybe some chickens to lay eggs as well.  Oceana can come the Noah’s Ark of the cruise industry.

[AMHuntFerry]

16 hours ago, Harters said:

Filtered fresh milk, such as Cravendale, will easily last three weeks and probably longer. It will usually have a three week "best before" date (and  worth giving it the sniff test after the three). No additives, no UHT, just milk filtered. We "discovered" it during the first Covid lockdown when supplies of normal milk were not guaranteed. Tastes fine. 

 

https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/brands/arla-cravendale/

Yup...and the higher the fat content, the longer it lasts. I've never had milk go bad before I drank it all.