Farm owner tells of the benefits of drinking raw milk

Raw milk from Old Hall Farm. Picture: Rebecca Mayhew. (Image: Archant)

Raw milk is milk that comes straight from the cow – it has not been heat treated or pasteurised in any way and has many health benefits over and above that of your average shop bought milk, which include:

• It is more nutritionally dense than heat treated milk

• It retains the beneficial enzymes that pasteurised milk does not (many of these are heat sensitive and are denatured in the pasteurisation process)

• It has not been homogenised, therefore the fat particles can be processed by our bodies in the way nature intended – otherwise they are too readily absorbed and can lead to heart problems

Rebecca Mayhew of Old Hall Farm. Picture: Courtesy of Rebecca Mayhew. (Image: Archant)

• Raw milk contains probiotics and rich beneficial bacteria

• It is easier to digest than pasteurised milk as it contains Lactase which helps our bodies digest lactose milk sugar – if you’re lactose intolerant chances are that raw milk will work for you

• Raw milk is higher in vitamins B and C – both these vitamins are very delicate, and a large percentage of these vitamins will have been lost by the time shop bought milk gets to you

• Pasteurisation can make calcium insoluble which means that there’s less calcium uptake from pasteurised milk

• In order to make use of calcium, your body needs vitamin D, but this is only soluble and digestible with the fat from raw milk, not pasteurised milk!

• If you’re buying from the farm gate, the “food miles” are measured in meters, and the milk will be fresh that day – did you know, that the milk you buy from the Supermarket is nearly two weeks old by the time it reaches its shelf life? No wonder all the vitamins and minerals are all dead and gone!

Raw milk really is a superfood, and it is earning a reputation as a powerful healing food. It also tastes delicious, and we often hear that it tastes “like milk use to taste – like proper milk”.

If you’re worried about hygiene, try not to – we test our milk monthly, on top of quarterly checks by the FSA and undertake annual (rather than four yearly) TB tests, plus, we’ll happily show you our most recent milk test results.

If you’d like a free taster, we are at Beccles Farmer’s Market tomorrow, April 21. In the meantime, for more information email moo@oldhallfarm.co.uk