The Cows CAn't Have It! (Cravendale Milk)

Member Name: wendybull

Product:	Cravendale Milk
Date:	29/04/08 (284 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Last longer

Disadvantages: None

We go through tonnes of milk in my house. It is used so much from breakfast cereals, to cups of tea and glasses of milkshake as well as hot chocolate and foods like scrambled eggs which are eaten a lot in the mornings before school. Therefore I need to always have a good supply of milk in my garage fridge so we never run out.

Cravendale caught my eye when it was advertised on TV and it said that it would last longer in the fridge when unopened. Obviously this would be perfect for my family situation and so I put my first four pinter into the trolley on a Sainsbury's shopping run. It set me back £1.47 but they quite often do a deal on them of 2 x four pinters for £2.00. This is great value and I always get a few to keep me going.

Actually the bottles I buy are 2 litre bottles not four-pinters but I am stuck in a bit of a time warp. They also sell one pint and 2 pint bottles but not in Sainsbury's. I have seen them in BP garages though if you only need a smaller amount.

The taste of Cravendale milk is better than other milks I have tried if you are drinking it as a drink in its own right. It tastes a little more creamy and pure than other milk and it is easy to drink a healthy amount of this as it tastes so nice. In terms of hot chocolate, tea or any other time it is used in conjunction with another flavour it tastes no different to any other kind of pasteurised milk I have tried so it should be easy to switch to. Even though it lasts a lot longer than other pasteurised milk it does not have that really creamy taste of long life milk which I find a little too much. It still tastes like fresh milk - which it is!

Something I found really interesting was the fact that Cravendale chose to house their milk in a white plastic bottle instead of see through as most other milk manufacturers use. This is so that less UV rays can penetrate the bottle and therefore keeps the milk fresher for longer. The bottle is still recyclable and I am surprised other companies have not jumped on that band wagon unless Cravendale patented it.

So, how do they keep it fresher for longer? Well, most manufacturers just pasteurise their milk, making it safe for us to drink by removing bacteria that turns the milk sour. Cravendale do this process but they also finely filter the milk which removes even more of this bacteria meaning it lasts longer and takes more time before it will go sour. I brought a bottle of Cravendale from Iceland yesterday (28/4) and the best before date on it is the 19 May which means I will get nearly three weeks out of it if I leave it unopened in the fridge. This is great and it doesn't lose its great taste if you leave it for a while either. It still tastes fresh and delicious. I must mention that once you have opened the bottle however you should treat it as any other fresh milk, although it does guarantee it will be fresh for seven days, and it never lasts that long opened in my house.

I have recently been approached by a local Dairy, asking me to switch to milk deliveries which I have said I will try but I will always have a bottle of this in my fridge so I never run out.

Summary: RECOMMENDED xx