Months-old fresh milk

I like the idea of buying food that's grown locally. There's a theory that it's healthiest to eat food that is local and in season, even if it means not being able to put blueberries in your cereal in February. That's one of the reasons I love avocados. When I eat an avocado, the odds are high that it was picked less than 2 hours away, probably somewhere in San Diego County*.

With that in mind, I generally have lots of tomatoes in my diet in the summer and foods like squashes and root vegetables in the winter. (I stuck to this practice the best when I lived in Baltimore and tended a little plot in a community garden. In the summer, I would come home with bags stuffed with soybeans and string beans, tomatoes, giant zucchini, eggplants, and herbs that knocked you out they smelled so good.)

My one exception to this great way of eating is when it comes to milk. I use milk only occasionally: a splash in my tea, or the odd bowl of cereal. But I hate being without it, like I would hate not having olive oil or salt in my cupboard. So I buy milk that is ultra-pasteurized and stays "fresh" in the fridge for months -- and it turns out this kind of milk was probably farmed far away.

A friend whom I recently converted to organic milk asked me whether ultra-pasteurization had any damaging effects on milk. I had no idea, so I did a bit of Internet research and found this: Ultra-pasteurization is a process that sterilizes milk to a temperature way higher than regular pasteurization, then cools it again very rapidly. As a result, you get milk that lasts for 2-3 months in the fridge, instead of the normal 2-3 weeks. Authorities are split on whether this process strips any flavor or nutrients from the milk in a significant way. Personally, I can't tell if there is a difference in taste.

What surprised me was the distance issue, which I had not thought about. I read that ultra-pasteurization has enabled farmers in remote places to reach bigger markets, so some small organic dairy farmer in Wisconsin can now sell milk to me in Santa Monica.

Most of the milk I buy is probably not local, and I guess I'll have to live with the fact that I'm trading off natural eating in favor of convenience. When I do occasionally get regular pasteurized milk, it probably is from some dairy farm here in California. But knowing that it has such a short shelf life kind of stresses me out. My current carton of milk, I bought more than a week ago and only opened today to eat half a bowl of cereal. It expires December 15, which to me seems like a very short time away.

*Fun fact: California produces 90% of the nation's avocado crop, and SD County produces 60% of the state's avocados. I live in avocado land, and I like it.