Following the interesting discussion about French beef has made me think about my enduring quest for fresh milk.
I have lived in southern France (firstly Herault and now the Tarn) for nearly 7 years and have always had difficulty obtaining good quality fresh milk. The best I have found is Grandlait which is stocked by some supermarkets with Geant Casino own brand a close second. We live next door to a farm that sells milk direct from their own cows to the public and my husband loves it but it's far too creamy for me. Village shops never stock fresh milk but I expect that's because supplies are difficult to come by.
The French seem very happy to drink UHT long life milk which I find revolting and would rather go without milk at all. I'm assuming the reason for this is that in the past (before refrigeration was widely available) it was the only way to preserve milk in a warm country. Also, is fresh milk more widely drunk in the North where it is a bit cooler or do the northern French generally drink the UHT version?
Finally, why is double cream not available here and why is it almost impossible to find any kind of fresh cream? Everything in the chilled cabinet has a sell buy date months ahead.
Inter tried to apply a clause like that to a local farmer round here too, that they would be contracted to sell his produce (honey), but that he must stop doing direct sales, as it is competition. He declined, but they still offered him a second contract omitting the competition clause.
Since this post began our local Intermarché has started to have lait cru. Ironically it is from the dairy farm just near us, the people have our hay every other year in fact. Now that they are bottling and selling it in local shops we can now no longer go there to buy fresh milk for some reason. Well, not officially that is...
Before the introduction of tankers, in the days of milk kits, we used to have milk straight from the cow, but just cooled. My aunt made all her own cream and her trifle made with homemade blackberry wine was something else!
Ah the famous listeria hysteria. Over zealous and ill informed Public Health Officers found a variety of listeria in a scottish cheese called Lanark Blue. They seized vast quantities of Lanark blue and effectively stopped the cheese maker trading. The panic spread to all cheeses made with non pasteurised milk. Months later it was established that while the cheese in question did contain a variety of listeria it was not one to be a threat not even to the groups most at threat from listeria ie. the immunologically challenged and pregnant mothers. The cheese maker was more or less bankrupted by the intervention of the pasteurisation police.
My wife grew up on a dairy farm and never drank anything but lait cru. She is still alive and immunologically robust so far as we can tell.One of the great joys of my life in the early sixties was going on school camp to the Lake District and after a long walk in the hills to return to our farm campsite for a refeshing pint of unpasteurised milk.
I recall many many moons ago in the midst of one of the regular tabloid scares about salmonella or whatever in the UK my wife commenting on the horrified looks of other shoppers as she bought up all the camembert, brie and other lait cru cheeses at knock-down prices in our local supermarket in Carlisle. She said she made a right pantomime out of choosing them and giggled all the way to the check-out.
I agree with Shirley, Super U's demi écrémé in the bottle with the blue top in the chill cabinet is the best. You will also find nearby, their own brand créme fraiche fluide in small white bottles. It's not double cream but it will whip stiff, delicious in meringues and no UHT taste. I'll have a look in Lidl next time too, thanks Shirley.
Thanks everyone for commenting on this post. Some really interesting facts, great opinions, some off-topic responses and a bit of comedy. I love this site.
These machines are cleaned and refilled every morning. One euro for a litre of fresh, chilled, raw milk..... The best part is, if you only want a glass of milk, you can put in 20 cents.