When I was growing up my parents raised chickens. We had fresh organic eggs even during the most lean times. We ate a lot of eggs and sold the rest to neighbors for a dollar a dozen, as I recall. The yolks of the eggs were thick and orange colored, and they tasted, well, like eggs. Sadly eggs from the market don't. Try any brand you like, but unfortunately they just aren't the same. And this in San Francisco, a stone's throw from the city of Petaluma at one time known as the egg basket of the world.
I never really experienced farm-fresh milk. Except once or twice at a visit to a farm. But I think I know what farm-fresh milk tastes like. A year or two ago my sister-in-law was raving about organic milk. I decided to give it a go. The taste is amazingly different from the traditional commercial product we have all become accustomed to. In the Bay Area we can choose from Straus Family Creamery or Horizon Organic milk. I prefer Straus, but by all means try both or see what might be available in your area. After drinking Straus milk, I can actually discern a chemical aftertaste in the non-organic stuff. Even if you haven't drank milk in a long time, give organic a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised I'm sure.
Taste is almost always number one with me, but there are added benefits beyond taste in purchasing organic milk. It's better for the environment, safer for your health and buying it helps to build the demand for organic which perhaps one day, will bring the prices down. When buying from Straus you are also supporting family farming, which as we all know, needs all the support it can get.
Straus also makes award-winning butter and cheese. In addition, Cowgirl Creamery uses Straus milk to make their fabulous cheeses many of which are available by mail order or at the Cowgirl Creamery stores in San Francisco:
Artisan Cheese
2413 California Street at Fillmore
415-929-8610
Cowgirl Creamery Artisan Cheese
Ferry Building at 1 Ferry Plaza, along the Embarcadero
415-362-9354
