Page 30 - Food Service Magazine March 2019

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TPRAODFEILTEALK
“In one day, a single cow can eat up to 100kgs of wet grass and drink 100 litres of water in order to produce just 20 litres of milk. Cow’s milk is made up of protein, sugar and fat, as well as a number of vitamins and minerals, so naturally, the cow needs to get all those from its diet for them to be in its milk.”
From top:
Will Studd. Pierre Issa.
With more tolerance for
our own intolerances these days, and a greater collective awareness of what we're putting in our bodies, the demand
for organic produce has never been higher. In fact, Australia's organic industry has grown 88 per cent since 2012.
“There is definitely consumer demand for organics, especially within dairy,” says Issa, who launched Pepe Saya's organic range in 2017.
Pepe Saya's original butter is cultured and therefore slightly tangy. The organic butter is simply certified-organic fresh cream that's churned, salted using Olsson's Salt (or left unsalted), and hand-packed. “It is a ‘sweet’ variety butter with no culture added to the cream. The flavour is for people who like their butter ‘buttery’, with a really creamy flavour,” he says.
Organic milk generally has the potential for a more diverse
flavour profile, because a wider variety of plant species will grow on the grazing pastures.
“Cheese handmade from the milk of a single farm, particularly one with a small grass-fed herd and rare breeds, undoubtedly produces the most interesting cheese,” says Studd.
And like in any meat, the animal’s mental well-being affects its milk, as “a stressed cow means stressed milk,” says Studd.
DAIRY ALTERNATIVES
Almonds, cashews, macadamias, oats and rice don’t feel stress, (thank God) but
just like animal’s milk, a nut or grain’s environment will affect the taste of the “milk” you can shmush out of it. While it’s
not technically milk – more nut juice – the demand for
the plant-based varieties is soaring, and it's no longer a cow's market. A few years ago, no one knew you could get this cloudy, frothable liquid from nuts. Now, almost every cafe in Australia offers almond-milk lattes, and any foodservice business not willing to jump on the bandwagon is going to get left behind.
Cameron Earl, founder of Melbourne-based company Almond Milk Co. and owner of Guild Cafe inside Victoria's State Library, says that before a nut is even squeezed, its freshness, whether it's been refrigerated after harvest, and even its varietal can determine the milk's flavour.
“There is certainly a noticeable difference when new season almonds arrive and we taste our first batch of almond milk made with it [and] there are certainly differences in the type grown,” says Earl.