When Grandma Was A Little Girl - #42

42- Raw cows milk – ewww!

Have you ever tasted fresh milk from a cow?

We had a friend who had a farm and she had extra milk so she sold that as well as eggs and butter and cream. It helped to bring in some extra money. Running a farm is hard work!

My mother would get eggs, cream and milk from them. We would get the milk in one-gallon glass jars. She usually would by two gallons at a time. I’m trying to remember how much she paid per gallon. I think she paid 50 cents per gallon. She would let the cream rise to the top. There would be about 1 inch of cream on top of the milk. My mom would scoop about half of the cream off and keep it separate. She would use the cream to make whipping cream for desserts. I remember when she took the lid off the cold milk it had a funny smell. I used to hate to drink milk. Fresh cow’s milk tastes and smells funny. It has a distinct odor all of its own. If the cows got into the weeds and ate weeds, it affected the taste of the milk. It tasted strong and slightly like weeds! I was so glad when she stopped buying fresh milk. I liked getting milk from the store and it tasted good and did not have a funny smell. It had been homogenized and pasturized and that funny smell and taste was gone. Whew!

I remember one day I asked one of my own children when they were young where they thought chocolate milk came from. They answered, “From chocolate cows!” I had to explain that all cow’s milk is white and the flavor is added later. I had to laugh to myself though, as I thought that was funny.

The fresh butter we got also tasted good, especially on my mother’s homemade bread! My mom made such good bread! It smelled so good while it was baking. She was a good cook. My favorite was her homemade gingerbread. She made a great lemon sauce you could put over the top. We liked to eat the gingerbread warm. It smelled so good and filled the house with a wonderful gingerbread smell! We could also have it with whipped cream. When my mom made the whippingcream it tasted so good. I could eat it with a spoon!