A2/A2 Milk
When people have trouble digesting milk or other dairy products, the default is to assume that they are lactose intolerant. But what if theyāre also sensitive to lactose free milk? š¤
As far as I can tell, some people are instead sensitive to milk because of the A1 beta casein proteins that are generally found in US dairy. If thatās you, I have great news: there are herds of dairy cows which have been selected for the fact that they exclusively produce A2 beta casein proteins instead.
Update: Safewayās āO Organicsā brand now has an A2 ultra-filtered (Iām assuming because they call it āproteinā and if so, it should also be lactose free) whole milk!
But if youāre looking for true hippie milk, youāll want to search for milk or yogurt from California-based Alexandre Family Farms. I get it from Whole Foods, but they also carry it at the local co-op, and they also distribute through a sort of national co-op: Azure Standard.
You can search their map here for places to get it near you:
They have a lot of options:
I mostly get the āpurple milkā because it is both A2 (like all their products) but also lactose free via being āultra filtered.ā
I also use the 6% āred milkā for making cream-on-the-top yogurt when the stores are out of stock, and for making things that call for heavy cream or half and half (because those are harder to find and more expensive, and because 6% is pretty decent fat content ā whole milk is typically only 3.25% and half & half is around 12%).
A friend of mine describes their turmeric ginger whole milk option as āhipster eggnogā and heās not wrongāitās maybe an acquired taste, but after they accidentally delivered a case of 6, I discovered that itās pretty good as small creme brĆ»leĆ©s with the addition of egg yolks and a hard sugar top.
Their chocolate milk is also very highly rated by a guy who just goes around trying chocolate milk, as well as by the resident chocolate milk connoisseur in my household.
Weāve tried other A2 yogurts, and these are definitely the best.
Lactose-free Milk:
Maybe lactose-free milk works for you, but you donāt like the sweetness that comes from the added lactase (which breaks the lactose into sugars?) (in our household we refer to it as ādessert milkā because it tastes like the milk left in the bowl after kid-cereal). If thatās your issue, I have great news for you too!
Another way of removing lactose is to filter it out. This is how Greek yogurt is made from regular yogurt (as a tiny optimization, try just switching from regular yogurt to greek yogurt!) and it results in both lower lactose/lower sugar and also higher protein. So this milk is sometimes advertised as āhigh proteinā milk. But youāre more likely to find it by searching for āultra-filteredā milk.
The largest commercial brand of ultra-filtered milk is called āFairlifeā written as āfa!rlifeā (owned but not run by coca-cola). In addition to milk, they also make pints of ice cream and are available at most grocery stores (including Target).
They're not the only optionāLucerne also has an ultra-filtered milk; but again, if youāre looking for a hippie option, Iād send you back to Alexandre Family Farms. They use A2 milk for all their dairy products, but as of this writing, only their 2% in the plastic bottle is also ultra-filtered, so this āpurple milkā is the one we have at home to cover all our bases.
The extra protein (or something else about the filtering process) makes the milk taste richer, so you might be satisfied with the 2% even if youāre used to whole. But you could also consider compromising and adding some of the A2 whole milk thats not ultra-filtered (and therefore has some lactose) because Alexandre whole milk is 6% fat instead of the usual 3.25% š (they do have a lower fat whole milk option thatās grass fed (4% maybe?), but they donāt stock it at my usual grocery store).
āļø Bonus tip: ultra-filtered milk froths a zillion times better than regular milk. Spoonable soft peaks in 20 seconds with a battery powered whisk.
š„£ Bonus challenge: If you donāt have access to A2 yogurt but own either an instant pot or a sous vide immersion water heater, I recommend making it at home with the 6% ā itās surprisingly easy and pretty foolproof.
Also: this is my favorite lactose-free ice cream ā I do make my own ice cream, but itās hard for me to source Alexandre A2 heavy cream, so Iāve only used it for creme brĆ»lĆ©e so far, which is almost the same procedure as making yogurt with the sous vide.
