milk.jpg I’ll bet that if you said powdered milk in a group of people you would get the most passionate of responses, either for or against drinking it. I personally, grew up with it and except for a few years off, I continue to drink it. I like the light flavor and thin texture (other milk seems very thick to me)-and yes, it’s almost like drinking water.

Powdered milk comes in two forms: Instant non-fat dry milk (which I use) and non-instant non-fat dry milk (which is harder to find). The former dissolves faster than the latter. Powdered milk has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and does not need to be refrigerated due to its low moisture content.

Though once mixed it does need to be chilled for a few hours for it to taste decent, and no you can’t trick someone into drinking it immediately, it takes time and maybe never. (I’ve tried)

Processing
Powdered milk is typically made by spray-drying nonfat skim milk. Pasteurized milk is sprayed into a low pressure chamber where the water instantly evaporates, leaving behind fine particles of powdered milk solids.

Alternatively, the milk can be dried by drum drying. Milk is applied as a thin film to the surface of a heated drum, and the dried milk solids are then scraped off with a knife. Powdered milk made by drum drying tends to have a cooked flavor, due to caramelization caused by greater exposure to heat.
That’s how it’s made into powder, but once I get the box home I remix it with water.For a 2 quart pitcher, I use 2 cups of powdered. Then I fill the rest with water and stir vigorously until dissolved- this takes practice and a novice can really make a batch taste yucky. Then I leave it in the frig. for a good 3 hours before drinking. Due to the need for chilling it, you really have to think ahead of when you will be needing milk for lunch or dinner.

But one of the best things about powdered milk is that a 20 quart box runs me almost 9.00 and I can get the equivalent of 5 gallons out of it; which would run about 15.00 for someone else buying fresh milk. It’s not a lot of money saved, but if you factor in that I don’t have to run to the store because I ran out of milk for dinner, then I’m happy. And with food prices going up over time, I’m glad I like the taste.

I have yet to talk Surfgirl into to drinking it, but I have gotten her down from whole milk to 1%, so it won’t be long. Hehe!