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Goat's Milk has a slightly sweet and salty taste to it. It can even taste particularly funny if the female goats have been eating onions, or they have been near a male goat or can smell one nearby.

Goat's Milk doesn't need to be homogenized, as does cow's milk, because the fat in it won't cluster together and rise to the top as cream, as would happen with cow's milk. Though it's about 10% higher in fat than cow's milk, it doesn't contain "agglutinin", as cow's milk does. Without the agglutinin, the fat does not cluster together as easily into globules. As far as making cheese goes, this means it forms a softer, less dense curd.

You can buy Goat's Milk fresh, instant powdered, evaporated or as sterilized UHT milk in cardboard cartons. Goat's Milk sometimes takes on a carmelized taste when heat treated, as happens with evaporated or UHT treated versions, so those forms are best saved for more robust cooking or baking.

In North America and Britain, Goat's Milk is only really available in health food stores. Unlike cows, goats don't produce milk year round, only at the start of summer.

Cooking Tips
When using Goat's Milk in recipes, owing to its higher fat content, you may be able to cut back slightly on other fats in the recipe such as butter or shortening.


Nutrition
Goat's Milk is marginally lower in lactose levels than cow's milk (4.7 percent in cow's milk versus 4.1 percent in Goat's Milk), and its fat doesn't cluster together as easily. It's on this basis that some people say Goat's Milk, and cheese, yoghurt, and butter made from Goat's Milk, are easier to digest by some people who are intolerant to cow's milk.

Studies are showing, however, that people who are allergic to cow's milk will probably be just as allergic to Goat's Milk. 93 to 98% of children who are allergic to cow's milk were found to be also allergic to milk from goats and sheep (Matthias Bessler et al, Internet Symposium on Food Allergens 4(2): 119-24 (2002) ). Proponents of Goat's Milk disagree with the scientific studies.

Some people advocate feeding Goat's Milk to infants instead of cow's milk. However, because it's lower in folic acid than cow's milk (only has about 1/10 of the folic acid that cow's milk does), folic acid supplements may be needed for someone feeding it to an infant in place of cow's milk. In fact, as of 2004, the American Academy of Pediatrics is still advising against making it a steady diet for infants. Some commercial Goat's Milk will say that folic acid has been added to bring it up to the levels of cow's milk.


Storage
Goat's Milk sours more quickly than cow's milk, so it needs to be refrigerated constantly. It is far less forgiving of times outside a chiller either at your home, at the store, or during transit. Aficionados advise not to even keep it in the fridge door -- keep it right inside the fridge on a shelf.

Freezes well.

Also called:

Other entries for:

Milk
Buttermilk, Clabbered Milk, Cream, Crème de Brebis, Evaporated Milk, Goat's Milk, Gold Top Milk, Kefir, Koumiss, Powdered Milk, Raw Milk, Whey, Yoghurt

Other entries for:

Dairy
Butterfat, Butter, Cheese, Nondairy Topping