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Thursday, March 18, 2010
JD Country Milk Part II
Here’s a quick update on how we began our trek to the milk farm in Part I: after an inspiring thought from Emily traveling back from the Farmer’s Market, we decided to call JD Country Milk farm just over the KY border and ask about a foodie tour. They said, “come on up, the boy’s ‘ll be back to show you around.” After delighting in the warm reception, we headed up to the border for a Saturday afternoon.
Armed with the dual swords of forgetfulness and improvisation (we forgot the camera – and barely knew where we were going), we aimed our afternoon road-trip for the town of Russellville, where the JD Country Milk farm calls home. We wound our way through the Tennessee backroads, noticing a few adorable towns we’d like to explore more, and found ourselves in deep farmland relatively quickly. After one wrong turn we scouted the sign for JD Country Milk. The area is pristine – barely touched by more than a small town with a gas station a few miles back, with farms and farmland on the left and right of the road. We drove down the small lane, and saw signs for a couple of area farms, and noticed the splashed black-and-white appearance of the Holstein cows hanging out alongside a rolling hill and pond. This sort of vista went on for about a third of a mile when the barn and small store appeared on the right.
We arrived and hoped we were not an imposition. We were greeted graciously by Willis, the father-owner and operator of the family-run farm, and we spent the next couple of hours learning about the premium milk product they make. Before I go into that, it was obvious that these are the type of people you’d like to know – and although we’ve agreed not to reveal a confidence – they are good people who believe in the value of a handshake and doing things the right way.
It takes a lot to get a milk business running, and they’ve run the gambit of Murphy’s law to get to the point where they are. They’ve learned along the way about strange things that make an impact – like the time that Willis reduced the amount of corn in his feed during one season, and the Starbucks people called to say his milk failed to foam. ”My milk doesn’t foam?” Willis said. ”Your milk doesn’t foam, Willis.” After several calls to experts across three states, including Wisconsin and the eventual winner at Cornell, it turns out corn is an important property in making your milk foam for those lattes.
Not to say that Starbucks is his typical customer. JD Country Milk provides the milk for all of the University of Kentucky, which includes a few Starbucks in their system. Due to the constraints of the delivery process – (you remember those milk machines at your college cafeteria, don’t you?)…those are bags inside the dispensing machines – and although you can shake a jar you can’t shake the bag for each glass – so they have to homogenize it lest someone gets a ton of cream from the bottom. But we don’t have to worry about that where we are in Nashville, because we each are buying the premium product in individual, shakeable glass containers.
So what makes this milk the best? JD’s Milk eliminates all of the typical problems with mass production. No anti-biotics, hormones, pesticides, or anything you wouldn’t want to voluntarily ingest. They don’t homogenize unless they have to, which makes the milk much more healthy. He’s said that teachers are reporting that their kids are dropping weight with their milk, because it fills them up without the high fructose corn syrup in all the sodas. He hears stories like that all the time. Our favorite story reminded us of our elementary experience – his younger son will stuff some pint-sized chocolate milk in his lunch for school – and sell them to classmates for a quarter. I’d be his friend.
I told a buddy of mine recently about the milk, and he shook his head, wondering about the non-homogenized safety. Turns out he confused homogenization with pasteurization. Pasteurization is critical, and is the process of heating the milk up to eliminate any impurities. The double-edged sword of pasteurization is that heating the milk up too high damages the flavor. So JD uses a low-heat pasteurization that gets everything but doesn’t destroy the flavor. And he pushes the temperature up above the required temperature just to be safe.
Walking around the farm revealed a quality facility. He was proud to show us all the places where they do their work, and almost all of it is hand-done. Their butter is churned by a machine, but Edna mixes the sea-salt in herself. They have a conveyor belt that helps with filling and bottling, but apart from the pasteurization stop, and separating for percentages, it pretty much comes straight from the cow.
Willis wasn’t parting with his recipe for chocolate milk, which we have come to crave, even after we begged a bit. (I briefly considered a thumb-wresting challenge, but thought better of it given my opponent milks cows on a regular basis.) Em and I got a chocolate half gallon on Saturday – and we ran out on Wednesday. We both looked at each other and wondered how we would make it through the rest of the week. Willis spent several months developing it to perfection, and we think it is pretty darn close to addictive. We also get a half gallon of whole milk for the week. We’ve been blown away by the sour cream, as well, which we blended with minced, dried Mexican chilies and kosher salt to make a fabulous supplement to Latin-inspired steak tacos. Ahh, foodie goodness.
Prior to our departure, we asked Willis what they’re looking for in their ideal Nashville customer. They are looking for customers who appreciate their premium product and realize its not the usual fare. Willis is happy to point out that his family has never missed a delivery to anyone, and they’ll deliver to restaurants who want better cooking ingredients, local colleges, area grocers, as well as the typical consumer at the Farmer’s Market. You can find their truck on Saturday mornings behind the main Farmer’s row, or if you miss them, try the Produce Place which regularly stocks their milk.
All told, we really enjoyed ourselves and it was a privilege to be shown this special world. If you’re a foodie and prefer a healthy, wonderful alternative to your store-bought milk, take a close look at what the good people at JD Country Milk are up to. And if you’re a chef, college foodie who wants better options at your school, or restaurant owner who wants to make a great addition to your cooking stocks, consider giving JD Country Milk a call.
JD Country Milk
Willis & Edna Schrock
270-726-2200
willschro@aol.com
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