Something About This Rawsome Thing Stinks And I'll Tell You Why...

I have been captivated by the story of the Rawsome raid in Venice, CA for the last week. The Nourished Kitchen first published a great article detailing not only the details of the case but how one could get involved. Rallies have been staged, protests have been waged.

But something seemed off to me when reading the article.

Since reading Jenny’s account of the raid, I have read several different versions, from the article at Natural News which it seems has been publishing more than a few articles on the topic. Forbes magazine published an article. So did a site called yovenice.com. To recap for those who haven’t heard, on August 3rd Rawsome Foods a raw milk buying club in Venice, CA was raided by armed agents who seized raw milk, raw cheese, raw kefir, computers and $4,536 in cash. They also arrested three people, the owner of Rawsome Foods owner James Stewart, Weston A Price liason Victoria Bloch and Healthy Family Farms owner Sharon Palmer. The raw milk community has cried foul on the raid as the government’s intimidation of raw dairy consumers in the marketplace. The allegation has flown that the FDA wants to limit our food freedoms and the state government of California is trying to force a private buying club into paying state sales tax to which it should not be subject. Every account that I have read has accurately centered around the fact that the 13 count arrest warrant alleges that Rawsome Foods was operating an illegal grocery store because they did not have the proper permits to sell raw milk in the state of California, among other conspiracy charges.

Here is a copy of the search warrant provided by Natural News

It is worth it to note that the sale of raw milk is LEGAL in the state of California. One must obtain the proper permits in order to sell unpasteurized dairy. However the news coverage of this case alleges that Rawsome was NOT a grocery store at all, but a private buying club. The Natural News went even further as to say “they are not a public store. Rawesome Foods is a private member club where members actually own a percentage of the cows, goats and farms that produce the raw dairy.” Rawsome, they say is just the pick-up location. Anyone would agree that if you and your family across town all owned the rights to a little plot of land, any vegetables grown on the land that you formally agreed to split would not be a sale technically. You would simply be co-operative owners. You would all be subject to splitting the maintanence costs, property taxes on the land, investment in the farming operation and any yield that the land might bring. That makes sense right?

Is this a case of the government squeezing your rights as a consumer to freely choose the most healthful food you wish? Is the FDA stepping over your civil rights by intimidating sellers of raw milk? Some things for me…well they just didn’t add up. First and foremost, if Rawsome foods was just a pick up and drop off location, why did they have so much cash? The more I kept thinking about it, I belong to a CSA. I pay a lump sum in spring and enjoy fresh vegetables delivered to me all summer and fall. My CSA has organized a drop off location. It is a couple of folding tables at a restaurant in the park. No one has ever asked me for cash. I send that via mail directly to the farmer. And in my CSA which is private, while I pay for a share, I do not co-operatively own parts of the farm. What kind of business model is Rawsome? The reports aren’t clear. If people joined with a membership fee and then purchased however much or as little as they wanted from week to week, that sounds like a co-operative grocery store, not a co-operative ownership. Still semi private, but a business nonetheless, as far as I understand subject to the tax and licensing laws of the land. I visited the website of this Healthy Family Farms owned by Sharon Palmer. They are truly set up as a private buying club, with a membership fee of between $25-$35 in order to purchase products. Then you simply order what you want from their website. There is not an ‘about’ page where interested people can gain more information. There is no info, location or otherwise, about the farm, and several products listed for sale are noted as coming from out of state. A membership is easily attainable through a fee, making this in my opinion a completely public group. It is simply a more expensive handling fee, just like I pay when I shop at Target.com. My CSA runs a waiting list, and each year you wait 4-6 weeks to find out IF you have been accepted. I don’t just go to an open website and load the CSA fee in my cart.

Of course the most heated debate was about the permits themselves. It is clear that Rawsome did not obtain permits to sell unpasteurized dairy in California. The three were arraigned in court August 9th after being held on bail since August 3rd. So it is clear that the judge feels that a law has been broken sufficient to bring the case to court and not just throw it out. But that debate will continue as details of the case come out. Likely though the case will progress as it is not the first infraction against Rawsome. They were raided in 2010 for similar violations.

My problem with all of this is that it detracts from the larger issue at hand, your right to buy the foods you want to. This meddling over permits and taxes doesn’t do anything to change the fact that RAW MILK IS LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA. All you have to do is follow the rules. There are dozens of states, including Wisconsin, the largest milk producing state in the country, that do not even allow people to purchase raw milk from the farmer at his own farm. The case against Rawsome has a lot to do with how laws are IMPLEMENTED, but I prefer to fight against BAD LAWS. I think there are few mainstreamers who would want to deregulate the food industry. There are enough egg recalls and ground turkey fiascos to go around right now. Additional deregulation isn’t the answer in my opinion. Fair laws in every state that are in place for the consumer rather than agri-business are the answer. I mean, do we really think that there are zero unscrupulous people in the raw milk business? Are all small farmers so honest and true that NOT A SINGLE ONE would ever sell meat from a sick animal? And what happens when demand outpaces supply of raw milk? Will the community grow ever larger with still no scandal or charlatans looking to make a buck off of you?

In fact, The LA Times reported on August 9th that Healthy Family Farms Owner Sharon Palmer “may be considered a flight risk given that in 2000 she and her partner Edward Rostami were arrested near the U.S.-Mexico border as they fled to avoid prosecution for a real estate swindle.” The linked article details how Palmer (allegedly then Palmer-Ross) was sentenced to three years probation for a reverse mortgage scheme targeted at an eldery woman in Malibu. The article states that Palmer-Ross had previously served a prison sentence for the same crime against a Santa Clara homeowner. Palmer-Ross has also according to the LA Times been “arrested while trying to reenter the country with three Mexican nationals in the trunk of her car.”

It is true. There is nothing definite except death and taxes. I don’t try and fight taxes. I am not going to sit here and fight the tax laws that are on the books. If my state says I need to pay sales tax on my ground turkey, so be it. But please don’t let a small group of people who simply are denying the government’s right to govern them make all of the raw food advocates look like a bunch of people on the political fringe. Business of scale indeed do need to be regulated and thanks to all our writing, cooking, word of mouth and passion, the local and raw food movements are a business of scale. Maybe not the same scale as agri-business, but we are getting there. We can't expect to continually escape regulations.

I will fight for raw milk. But I can’t fight for these people if they simply didn’t follow the letter of the law. I will continue to watch as the story unfolds. But it smells a little spoiled to me.

Also see: You Tube Footage of Stewart at Healthy Family Farms.

This post is shared with Simple Lives Thursdays and Fight Back Fridays and Traditional Tuesdays

Kefir! Kefir! Kefir!

The lady at the farmer’s market who sells me my milk every week (I now know her name-that is a big step!) has tried in the past to sell me on the Milk Thistle yogurt.

“I have another customer who says it beats the pants off the yogurt at {insert another local farm}, you should maybe try it. It is drinkable, a little looser than {insert another local farm}’s yogurt.”

I regretfully inform my almost-new friend (whaddya want, I am actually pretty shy deep down), that I am not interested in her yogurt because it is drinkable. I explain Thing 1 likes Greek style yogurt, I buy the other yogurt because Thing 2 occasionally eats it and doesn’t like the Greek stuff. Oh, and I cook with {insert another local farm}’s yogurt.

Finally she wears me down, okay I will try it. And it was delicious. But I didn’t buy it again. I just wasn’t ready for change. But maybe, just maybe, my almost-new friend planted a seed…

Late last month, inspired by a recipe I had seen for vanilla water kefir soda during a blog carnival, I decided to hop on over to The Kefir Lady’s website. MB, my kombucha mentor suggested I try kefir, but at the time I wasn’t interested. He told me about the website though and I filed it away. Thinking about probiotic cream soda though was enough to make me commit to shelling out cash for kefir grains. And while I was at it, I might as well try using the milk grains. I ordered one order of milk grains and one order of water grains.

Marilyn contacted me about a week later to say that they would be arriving the following week, which they did. I didn’t mind paying for my grains. Especially because I do not know anyone personally except MB who makes their own kefir. When the grains showed up I was very excited! I bought coconut water right away for the water grains and poured the milk over the milk grains that night.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. The process for the water grains seemed more like the kombucha with which I was comfortable…sugar water solution, let ferment for 3-5 days, strain and allow for a second fermentation in a bottle. But the milk kefir procedure was altogether different. Every day?! They would eat more and more and more milk if I let them? The grains sounded like selfish greedy little beasties to me.

But I gave it a whirl. The first day they produced a thin mild kefir, about 2 cups worth. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so I put it in the fridge. The next day it was the same, but I could already see that the grains were growing bigger. My milk source is excellent and quite high in fat, and Marilyn said the grains LOVE fat. I was making too much kefir. I had a quart after 2 days and I hadn’t even started drinking any! Not to mention the everyday ritual. I was starting to feel like the chubby guy in those Dunkin Donuts commercials from the 80’s. Only I was getting up every morning bleary eyed saying “it’s time to make the kefir, it’s time to make the kefir.”

Finally I did begin to drink the stuff. At first I took a serving, 8 or so ounces, to work. I had my kefir with my granola. I would have brought milk to have with my granola anyway, so this was an easy substitute for calories already in my diet. I tried it, and you know, I really liked it. The taste was pleasing and mild. The texture was not unlike buttermilk. In fact, the kefir itself looked a lot like the buttermilk I had used to make quark all those months ago… And within a week the texture got a little thicker. Especially when I started adjusting the ratio of milk to grains. My water kefir on the other hand was strange, it tasted like sweet fizzy coconut water, but it smelled like cheese.

I have been drinking kefir for breakfast every day for the last couple weeks. It is way more filling than regular milk, so I have been able to lessen my serving of granola or on some days and entirely omit it on others. And to my kefir I add a teaspoon or two of honey (please don’t tell me that that defeats the purpose!) and I have been drinking it through a straw. Although I had stayed away from kefir for the reason that it was too loose, now its liquidity was exactly the characteristic that I was finding the most pleasing. Drinking kefir was downright…comforting. Wholly unexpected.

Smart Balance...Milk?

I am no fan of Smart Balance Products. But that doesn't come as a shock to you. I can't think of another product that says 'overly processed' more than margarine. But a dear friend called me last night to say that she had seen a commercial for Smart Balance MILK. Milk?

Yes, Smart Balance, part of GFA Brands, is making a line of milks. The milks are all low fat, but mostly are fat free. And many have other things added back in to mimic the taste of 2% milk. Basically the products are fat free milk (which I am opposed to anyhow) with all kinds of vitamins added back in. Some have calcium added in, some have Omega-3s, some have vitamins C and E (vitamin C in milk seems just weird to me). But the one that takes the cake is the Smart Balance Fat Free Milk that has Omega-3s, Vitamin E and Plant Sterols. Wait, huh? Isn't milk an animal product? Why should it have plant sterols? And if the milk is fat free, how come they are adding in vitamins like Vitamin E and Omega-3's that are clearly fat related vitamins?? This makes absolutely no sense to me. Neither does the nutrition label.

How on earth can a product with one gram of fat per serving be labeled as fat free? And how come it lists total fat as 1 gram per serving, but none of that one gram is categorized as saturated, poly or monounsaturated or trans fat. What other kind of fat could that be? Each individual fat might be less than .5 grams and so could be rounded down to zero according to labeling laws, but clearly that doesn't make the product fat free. Doesn't this qualify as against USDA or FDA rules? Clearly all the animal fats have been removed from the milk and Sunflower Oil and Fish oil have been added back in to achieve the Vitamin E and Omega-3 claims. But those are fats, so the milk should not be labeled as fat-free.

Also, more protein than whole milk? That is only because they have added milk solids. This milk is totally pumped up with oils, synthetic vitamins and plant sterols. Whatever they are! That should be another post altogether!

Skip this milk. Drinking it is exactly the same as drinking fat free milk and chasing it with whey protein and a fish oil supplement. According to nutritiondata.com, whole milk (my much referred milk) has only 146 calories per cup versus the 110 of this milk. So for all that processing that strips the milk of its goodness, the stripping of the healthy milk fat, the ultra pasteurizing, the adding weird plant oils and synthetic vitamins, you save 36 calories. You know what I am gonna say!!!

Organic Valley Coop

A couple weeks ago I posted a long and involved post about milk. The very day it ran, Elizabeth Horton, Director of Public Relations for Organic Valley Coop contacted me to clarify one point in my post. Although Organic Valley's corporate headquarters is located in Wisconsin, their farmers are all across the country. Their milk is bottled regionally in the same regions where it is sold. And the company is cooperatively owned by a network of over 1650 family owned farms.

I didn't mention in my post that my family eats a lot of OV products. I might buy the local milk at my farmer's market, but at my local farmer's market I have not found butter, cottage cheese or sour cream. OV Butter we eat daily. And after starting my dive into Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, I am as encouraged as ever by my family's buttery embrace. But that post was about milk, not butter.

I was pleased that Elizabeth contacted me. I like to know that people are reading. Also, it was more proof that the industry folks do find and read these food blogs. But I already knew that. But what about everything she said, family owned, local milk? I asked her (I really did) "if your milk is regional, then why don't you post that on your cartons?" She pointed me to their website, where they have just launched a 'Who's Your Farmer' Application. I typed in my address and found three farms within 100 miles of my home in New York City where my milk comes from. Nice.

Now my little disclaimer, I don't have ads on my site on purpose. I don't currently need the quarter a day it would generate so much that I would take up all my side bar space pimping myself out. That's not to say I will never have ads on my site, but I am a little guy, ads are pointless right now. And when I am ready, I'll figure out how to advertise in my own way. So I have not been paid or coerced into any of the following.

The biggest problem with clean food in the US is the lack of accessibility. I eat Organic Valley products because of my desire to eat organic with fewer chemical residues, support of family farmers particularly young family farmers, ethical treatment of animals, etc. There are millions of people that buy food at the grocery store, not the farmer's market. Those people need to have access to clean dairy products too. Certain people do not have access local organic pastured dairies, my parents for one. I am not going to judge you if you don't feel like overhauling your life to start shopping at a farmer's market 20 miles from your house. I would hope that food would become a central theme in your life, but that's really up to you. The message on my blog will always remain inclusive rather than exclusive. But, given that there are so many different kinds of consumers, shouldn't there be a equal opportunity dairy where people can feel like they are doing the right thing for their health and the earth even if they have to buy food from the industrial supply? There should. And actually there is.

Organic Valley began in 1988 when now CEO (or as he likes to be called, C-I-E-I-O, get it?) George Siemon organized a group of organic farmer in Southwestern Wisconsin. They all shared a passion for organic farming and family owned and operated farms, and they believed that by working together they could build demand for organic produce and other foods. The group started with produce and soon added dairy products (it was Wisconsin after all). Today, OV is the number one source of organic milk in the US.

I dug a little deeper into their company's philosophy. I don't believe that it is enough to just be 'organic'. The USDA regulations have, until recently, been centered around animals being free from unnecessary antibiotics and eating feed that is free of pesticides. I have always gone one step further and looked for meat and dairy that are pastured. That means they eat grass, but you already knew that. For me that's out of respect for the animal. Cows are ruminants and have evolved to eat (and more importantly digest) grass. When we give cows corn feed they have trouble digesting it (particularly to young cows whose digestive systems have not fully matured). Their bowels become upset and they are more prone to infection. Corn also has the effect of making the cows gain weight faster than if they were pastured. That way a farmer can get a calf up to slaughtering size in about 12-18 months instead of two-three years for a grass fed animal. Lastly, and this is the hardest one to change, Americans have grown to love the taste of corn-fed beef. Corn-fed meat is sweeter, more tender and more fatty. Grass-fed beef is delicious and VERY flavorful, but it could be considered gamier. For ethical reasons I try to stick to grass-fed. And my family is used to it now, so we are happy. But the biggest reason why we prefer grass fed meats is because they are more healthful. Meat and milk that comes from grass fed animals are higher in Omega 3's (as well as having the correct Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio), has a higher concentration of trace minerals and is leaner. Overall, it should be instinctual, grass fed animals are healthier so their meat and milk are healthier.

But back to milk. I checked out the Organic Valley Website in regards to pasturing. Because that was one of my big questions. OV believes in pasturing the animals during the grass growing months. In a bold move of transparency they provided a link to new USDA regulations requiring pasturing for at least 120 days every year for a product to be called organic. It is a site I know well because I have hit it several times in my own research. These new USDA regulations were posted February 2010, so they are relatively new. And that means I should also correct what I said about Horizon in my milk post. They are also now required to pasture their animals to be classified as organic.

But, I said to myself, 120 days? That's only 4 months out of the year. What do the cows eat for the other 8 months? I asked Elizabeth. And she put me in contact with one of their Farm Coordinators. Unfortunately I have been unable to connect with him, unless he wants a phone call at 8pm eastern time! I have asked for the gentleman's email address so that I can contact him on my personal time. I'll let you know what response I get.

Lastly, some words about pasteurization. Without getting into an ugly debate, I have been doing some reading about pasteurization and am more ready to 'issue a personal statement' as to where I stand in the raw milk debate. I maintain my stance from my earlier post that I have no doubt that raw milk holds some special benefits, but that you do open yourself up to bacterial risk when you drink it. I firmly believe that raw milk should be available for sale for the people that want to drink it, but I am more likely to support farm sales or cooperative buying clubs as I don't believe that the vast majority of people would do the research that the issue requires. I did ask Elizabeth about UHT or Ultra High Temperature Pasteurization. She pointed me to the web page on the OV site that deals with Pasteurization. It is not hidden, it is listed under the main products tab, drill into 'milk' on the left hand side bar and you will see a tab for pasteurization information. It is the fourth tab from the left. Regular pasteurization heats the milk to 165 degrees for 15 seconds. This gives milk a printed shelf life of 16-21 days. UHT raises the temperature of the milk to 280 degrees for only two seconds. This kills EVERYTHING, bacteria, all enzymes and reduces some vitamin and mineral content. The shelf life of UHT milk is 70 days from the date of packaging. Americans hate that food goes bad, so UHT milk is gaining in popularity. The main issue in the raw milk debate is that many people believe that the enzymes in the milk are what allow us to digest the milk at all. The evidence is clear, pasteurization does not significantly alter vitamin content, but if your body can't absorb the vitamins then what's the point. Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions goes as far as to say don't drink ANY pasteurized milk products. But no one that I can find has done a deep dive on how the body digests pasteurized milk. I, for one, can't label pasteurized milk as an unhealthy food. I prefer low temperature pasteurization for sure. My salesperson at Milk Thistle recently told me that their milk still had some enzymes intact because of the low temperature pasteurization. That is where I am most comfortable. OV sells both traditional pasteurization milk and UHT milk. Their cartons are clearly stated, and they have educated their consumers about how to tell their cartons apart. But sadly I checked two different grocery stores in New York that offer a large organic selection, and everything from milk to cream to individual chocolate milks were UHT. I did find, on a very bright note, RAW milk cheddar cheese from OV at Fairway. I have over a pound of raw milk cheese in my fridge right now from Hawthorne Valley. But when we are done I will have to try some from OV. This is a much safer and legal way to get some of the health benefits of raw milk, because the aging of the cheese kills most of the bad buggies. And, you can probably find it near you without too much google searching.

I have to thank Elizabeth for reaching out to me. I have gotten emails from other corporations telling me about donations they are making to this children's food fund or that school lunch program. This was the first time a company contacted me to say 'Hey, look at the way we do business. I invite you to investigate all aspects of our products and practices.' I find that very refreshing. I haven't been paid to say any of this stuff. But also friends, don't expect my blog to be anti capitalist anytime soon either. I believe in the power that business can have when it is managed ethically. I believe every person in this country has a right to have access to clean food. If there is someone out there doing this on a large scale, why the heck wouldn't I work to spread the word?

How to Make Yogurt at Home

So I bought all this extra milk from the farmer's market last weekend because I bought that cheese making kit a couple of weeks ago. I had meant to make the cheese over the holiday weekend. But we ended up going away, and wasted a lot of the time we were at home by loafing around. And it's too busy during the week to make cheese in the evening. I also really wanted Thing 1 to be able to help, and of course during the week I am at work except during the high tension times of getting ready for work and the evening screamfests we call dinner.
I really wanted to blog about making the cheese this week too! I even told the nice lady at the milk stand that the cheese post would be up mid week. I guess that was a good way of derailing my plans!

But another project came along. Our babysitter, knowing of our blog project, said she could teach me how to make yogurt.

Wait.

What?

Don't you need special equipment to make yogurt, like a little heater and a bunch of little cups and a timer or a thermometer? Surely I needed something with an electrical plug. I was so curious. So, she told me how to do it.

How to make yogurt at home (and I swear it works)

What you'll need:
* A very clean pot with a lid, like a dutch oven A couple of clean cotton dish towels

* A half gallon of milk, I used 2% organic low temperature pastuerization milk. I don't know if you need the low temp pasteurization for yogurt, but I know you need it for cheese, so it can't hurt. I know you can also use whole and it makes a richer yogurt.
* 5 tablespoons of already made yogurt. Look for L. Bulgaricus on the container if you can.
* Cheesecloth or really thin towel (we had an old burp cloth that was really thin) (did I mention that everything was really clean?)

So yeah, it's kind of a gyp that you need to buy yogurt to make yogurt, but hey, once you do you'll never have to buy yogurt again! And by the way, all you busy working parents: start this around 6pm and by the time you wake up the next morning, you'll have yogurt.
So pour the milk into the very clean dutch oven and bring the milk up to a low boil. I used milk from my dear dairy in Ghent, NY that I buy from, Milk Thistle. They are a certified organic farm making milk and the most ridiculous cream from grass fed cows. They sell at the farmer's markets here in New York City and I have also seen their milk at the Whole Foods in Union Square. Check out their website here. Turn the milk off and let it cool to the point that it is warm, but not hot. So let it cool for 20 minutes or so. You don't want the milk so hot that it kills the yogurt bacteria.

Next take a little warm milk and add it to your 5 tablespoons of yogurt and get that nice and thin. Add the thinned down yogurt one tablespoon at a time into the milk, stirring it in thoroughly in between each tablespoon. When all the yogurt is incorporated into the warm milk, place a clean cloth over the pot and place the lid on top of it. And though I am not sure why I was instructed to do so, place another cloth around the dutch oven, like you would do to a child who's just gotten out of the bath.
Then, let it sit on the counter for 10-12 hours.
That's right. I said let a container of milk sit on the counter for 10-12 hours.

Well, I did all of the above and low and behold, when I woke up the next morning I had a big pot of yogurt. I half expected to open the dutch oven and have the milk smell sour and foul. But much to my amazement, it smelled sweet and yogurty! Our babysitter helped us do one more step, she took the yogurt and wrapped it in an old thin burp cloth that is just a little thicker than cheesecloth. She let the yogurt strain in the cloth pouch for a few hours and it became as thick as greek yogurt. You could use a heavier cloth to strain it and really get all the water out and you would have a delicious spread that resembles cream cheese.

A half gallon of yogurt made what looks like more than a quart of fresh yogurt once we got it down to the thick greek stage. It was pretty sour, so if you like it less tart, only let it sit on the counter for 6-8 hours and maybe let it remain thin rather than strain it, since taking the more of the water out will only serve to concentrate the flavors. We like it sour, so we are happy. It would even be a good replacement for sour cream, which we hardly ever buy anymore because I have just been using yogurt.

I am so psyched to demystify something as complex as yogurt. In our culture today, we have been taught to be afraid of germs, and that the only safe way to prepare delicate food items is in a sterilized industrial kitchen setting. But my yogurt is far more delicious than any I have bought. I know where the cows that made that milk live (the address is on the jug), I know what they ate. To be honest, I pay a hefty fee for my milk, $7 a half gallon. Which makes my organic yogurt more expensive than the one I usually buy. But it is slightly less than a container of greek style yogurt, which is not organic. But I pay the extra because I love this milk. I love the people who make it and sell it to me. And it is the most delicious milk in the world. It's quality is unparalleled. It has a value to me far and above the $7 that I paid for it. Now I know that not everyone can afford $14 a gallon milk, and to be sure I cut back in other ways to afford it because it's important to me. But there are some great local options and some great affordable organic options out there and I bet if you dig around on the internet you can find some in your area too.

Post script:
We ate the yogurt. It was good and no one got sick. Try it, you just might like it.