100% grass-fed.

Organic.

Whole.

That's how I typically buy our milk.

When I was in Arizona a few weeks ago, the folks back home ran out of milk, and one of the Teenagers ran to the local store to pick some up.

I stopped at our regular grocery store on the way from the airport to pick up a few things, milk on the list.

At home, I found the "regular" milk on the shelf in the fridge and put the two half-gallons of our usual milk behind them.

The next day, I noticed one of the new containers was open and sitting in front of the old gallon.

By the end of the day, the new milk was almost gone.

The next day, the other half gallon was open, and a day later, it was empty.

The "regular milk" languished.

"Dammit, kids! You've got to drink the old milk first! It'll go bad!" I said in my most crotchety old-man-get-off-my-lawn voice.

"But it's not as gooooooood!" they cried.

A few days later, this ten-or-so day-old milk was already getting a foul smell, and down the drain it went.

That could be normal, but I don't know since the milk I usually buy doesn't stick around that long.

But it makes me wonder - if it will go bad that quick, what the hell are we pasteurizing it for?

Wait, I forgot, it's because it will make us sick if we don't.

And not just regular pasteurization; now it's all "ultra-pasteurized."

And it's illegal, in all but 13 states, to sell it any other way.

I've been trying to find pure, raw, unadulterated milk. This past weekend, I found my huckleberry.

It tastes delicious, but since I can readily get good-tasting milk, that's a side benefit of raw.

The real benefit of raw is the nutrition. Pasteurization, essentially cooking, denatures the proteins in the milk, kills the beneficial enzymes, and reduces the bioavailability of the nutrients.

Proponents of pasteurization say it's necessary to protect us from harmful bacteria.

But farmers, including the one I'm now getting my raw milk from, have been drinking it that way for eons.

So have dozens of other health nuts I know around the country.

In some states, producers get around the regulations by labeling raw milk as animal food unsuitable for human consumption.

But it ain't Fido drinking it; you can bet on that.

As I drink this wonderful, locally produced, grass-fed raw milk, I have to think.

If pasteurizing our milk is all about protecting our health, why is it for sale in the same stores where most other products are ultra-processed, sugar-and-chemical-laden junk foods?

Meanwhile, I have to break the law to get this 100% natural product.

Hmmm.

I wonder.