Dairy part II

When it comes to the decision of buying organic vs. non-organic milk, the benefits of avoiding pesticides are widely known, as well as their environmental repercussions on our soil and its ability to capture carbon. However have you ever considered whether to buy pasteurised or unpasteurised dairy and what effect that may have on you?

I’m not going to lie, currently I’d make a terrible vegan due to my love of cheese. But I am a very fussy cheese consumer, made even more so by a few years living in France, where they take great pride in their unpasteurised cheese made with raw milk. And they have good reason to be. Alongside their magnificent flavours, the unpasteurised cheese is bringing a lot more to the table.

It is retaining all of the good microbes that were employed to ferment the cheese. It is still active, and so is doing great things to your microbiome just like Kefir does, and aiding your digestion, which is particularly helpful if your digestion is challenged.

Because it is still live it also lasts longer because it is still fermenting. Leaving it out of the fridge means it its less likely to get hijacked by other bacteria, it will just ferment further and mature.

Now unpasteurised cheese is dead, none of those fermenting bacterias and yeasts are in existence anymore. This in turn makes it harder to digest, and so as a result it becomes an inflammatory food. (especially coupled with the omega 6 balance of my previous post). If you have digestion issues unpasteurised dairy is likely going to be challenging you to some extent.

So if that is the case what is the best option?

Most people who have reactions with dairy and can’t tolerate cow’s milk are ok with goat’s milk. Not only does goat's milk contain less lactose, but its fat globules are smaller and easier for our Lipase enzyme  to break into smaller pieces as they pass through the gut. Goat milk’s A2 casein proteins are also generally easier to digest than cows’ milk A1 casein proteins.

Now couple the goats milk (or sheep’s milk) with live microbes, as in raw milk or unpasteurised cheese, and you have something that may well aid your health rather than be detrimental to it.