Zaycon Milk Review & Upcoming Milk Sales

We’ve been purchasing organic, grass fed milk for many years. The thing about organic milk is it is extremely expensive. It is over $7 a gallon in most stores in our area, so if you have small children you can imagine how fast your food budget will get eaten just by the purchase of milk. However, despite the cost I strongly feel grass fed, all natural milk is important to my family so I am willing to add it to my budget. I do not want to feed my kids milk that is loaded with hormones or milk that’s been cooked until all the good bacteria is dead. But read on because I found a company that sells fresh, vat pasteurized milk for as low as $5 a gallon!

Zaycon asked me to try their milk since they are now in the Vancouver, WA and Portland Oregon area and want to get more milk customers. I had never tried milk straight from a farm and to be honest I was VERY nervous about it. I envisioned glass bottles of yellow milk that had heavy cream on the top. I don’t even know why I thought it was going to be yellow but I was very worried it was going to be gross. At the same time, I was overly excited to get to try it because I hear fresh milk is best to make cheese from.

When I picked up my milk order I was seriously surprised to see it in 4 regular 1 gallon milk cartons JUST like you would buy at the store.

No glass bottles and if you can tell, the milk is not yellow it is pure white like normal milk.

Delivery was so quick. I drove up and I happened to be the first one there so he loaded my gallons of milk into my car and I was on my way as quickly as I arrived. It was definitely a different experience then when I picked up my chicken because there was no waiting but I think it was because I got there before anyone else. You can read about my chicken experience here.

Once I got home I was pretty excited to try the milk. I immediately opened one up and had a sip. It is thicker then I am used to and the taste is definitely different but not bad. I liked it a lot and throughout the week I kept drinking cups of it. I NEVER dink milk EVER. I have it in cereal or oatmeal and I use it in baking or to make cheese but I rarely drink it. So for me to actually be drinking cups of it daily was indeed strange to my family. My kids tried it and they wouldn’t drink it. They said it tastes funny. Later I found my daughter watering it down with water. I have faith that after a few months of them having this milk in the house they will get used to it. They did start using it in cereal already, since the old milk brand is long gone 😉

Direct from Zaycon

The milk is as natural as it can be, nothing added. There are no hormones, no GMO’s, no added vitamin fortification. Cows are grass fed and supplemented with grains during milking. While the primary diet of the cows is grass/hay, the farm does supplement with a few specific grains to provide additional needed nutrients for the cow. It is not a matter of cost cutting to supplement with these grains. The daily routine of these cows requires the grain nutrients and energy to be content and healthy.

Even though many of the practices at Spokane’s Family Farm are higher than typical organic standards, there are downsides to having the certified “organic” label. First and foremost is cost. Being a certified organic farm is very expensive and would ultimately result in higher cost for the consumer.

Holstein cows are the breed of choice for providing milk for the purpose of drinking and cooking. The Holstein cow provides the best balance of cream content. While the Jersey cow is more readily recognized in the premium milk category, Spokane’s Family Farm recognizes that whole milk from a Jersey cow would require additional processing to reduce the cream content down from 5-6% so it is enjoyable by the average family.

Spokane Family Farm uses an old fashioned pasteurizing process ensures no harmful pathogens exist, while still keeping the living cultures that make milk such a valuable foodstuff. The folks at SFF are so meticulous that the vats are hand scrubbed after each batch. This is a critical step in providing the fantastic shelf life.

The reason our milk is not raw: Many states do not allow the sale of raw milk while others regulate it heavily. This makes it impossible for Zaycon Foods to serve our delivery areas throughout America if we offered raw milk. 

Secondly, here in our home state of Washington, there have been cases, thankfully few, of people becoming very ill because of e coli and similar pathogen contamination in purchased raw milk. We understand raw milk has been consumed for thousands of years but we must recognize why Louis Pasteur developed his process; to protect people from illness, which was commonly caused by milk consumption in his day. The method of pasteurization used by the farm is the closest there is to maintaining the benefits of raw milk while protecting you and your family from possible effects of contamination

Homogenized milk is NOT milk in its natural form. And it’s not milk you’ll ever get from Spokane’s Family Farm or Zaycon Foods!
 Since neither we here at Zaycon or the good folks at the farm are not going to make claims that this milk is going to be your healing answer to all that ails you, we encourage you to do your own research and learn what is being discovered about how our bodies try to process homogenized milk fat.

Most likely you will taste a difference. In the best of ways! If you have never had raw milk, you will certainly notice the difference. Zaycon’s milk is similar to good old fashioned raw milk. As many of us at Zaycon drink the milk, we find that it is not only more accepted by the family, but even becomes a craving, especially for our children! They ask for milk rather than juice and soda! We have found that our perception of milk has changed from it being a beverage to more of a whole food.

The milk is not warehoused for a long time! Here’s the breakdown:
• Cows are milked to a no-light holding tank
• Milk is tested
• Milk is low heat pasteurized in a no-light vat
• Milk is rapid chilled again in total darkness
• Milk is bottled
• Milk is loaded on our truck and taken to your pick up area
And interestingly enough, our trucks are giant refrigerators, just like the one in your kitchen; the lights go out when we close the doors.

You can purchase milk directly from Zaycon Foods. The process works like this. You purchase and then pay for your order online. You then pick up the products at a later date from a local place in your area. My pick up location is 5 minutes from my house, so it is very convenient for me.

The next pickup for Vancouver is January 14th. You can find more information and pick up areas by visiting the Zaycon Foods site, create an account and then all product email will be sent to you as they become available.