Purer milk? (Cravendale Milk)

Member Name: aleena123

Product:	Cravendale Milk
Date:	25/05/09 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fresher for longer, more filtered

Disadvantages: More expensive,

For some time we have been mostly buying Cravendale full fat milk. I have never really thought about why we have switched from our normal Tesco range and one point Milkman 'Milk' to this brand of Cravendale. I guess now is the time to think and evaluate why my fridge constantly contains this brand of milk.

I guess it all began with the television advertisements as it makes the milk seem like the purest form of cow milk. They also provide a link to a website called 'milkmatters.co.uk'. It is a funny advertisement and attracted my daughter to it too, she loves her milk even at the age of four she has at least three to four glasses a day. For our household my daughter has a huge impact on the brands we buy and this advertisement initially won her over. Nevertheless she also claimed after drinking this milk for the first time that 'it was the yummiest milk she's ever drank'.

As a parent I do of course want the products that are the best for my children and this product claims they don't just pasteurize but also finely filter and remove more bacteria then others to give a longer lasting fresher taste. Personally I do not think there will be a huge difference between this milk and normal pasteurized Tesco brand milk in terms of quality of milk as luckily for the consumers there are so many health and safety regulations protecting what we drink and eat. It might be a bonus they remove extra bacteria or it might be over the top as a little bacteria is good for us I keep hearing.

It is packaged in a white container and for me it does stand out, not sure why as not very bright. Just perhaps the brand 'Cravendale' has stuck in my mind due to effective marketing or perhaps the style of the label. Also the statement of 'Pure and Fresh for 7 Days Guaranteed' is quite appealing, being 'guaranteed' anything is always a nice and secure feeling. The reason it is in a white special container is to protect the milk from the sun's UV light to keep it fresher which is a benefit with no doubt for any milk drinker. Another advantage is like other milk containers it can be effectively recycled.

Most importantly how does it taste? I have already mentioned my daughter stating it to be the yummiest milk but I would not consider her statement to be completely reliable as she is too young and imaginative. I can assume at times by her seeing a funny advertisement she likes or unusual looking milk to normal can make her imagine a difference of taste. I wonder if filtering milk more then the norm can really cause a huge difference in taste? I like the taste but then again I like the taste of most milk, I personally could not tell a vast difference but I think the Cravendale tasted slightly creamier then normal milk but saying that perhaps it also contains more calories too. Unfortunately I do not have a normal for example Tesco Full Fat Pasteurised milk to compare it with as recently all we buy is this brand as my daughter is under the illusion that Cravendale tastes magical.

Cravendale Pasteurized standardized homogenized whole filtered milk can be brought from everywhere in my experience. I can purchase it from the local shop across my road or any store that sells milk. I think small shops might prefer this brand as it stays 'fresh' and not sour for longer as I remember numerous times buying standard milk and having to return it to especially small stores as it had gone off. In this sense this is a substantial advantage as everyone wants milk fresher for longer.

The downside is that it is more expensive then the standard pasteurized milk. However there are always coupons around like 50p off if you are into that kind of thing but for normal lazy people like me I have noticed that they are on store offers numerous times especially in Tescos. At present (unless they removed this offer) you can buy two containers of two litres Cravendale for £3. The price of Cravendale varies from shop to shop like most products, it will most likely be more pricey in small corner shops then supermarkets like Asda.

A good insight into the manufacturing and other benefits to this product is in their website 'milkmatters.co.uk'. They have a lovely cartoon illustration of the various different stages they undertake in the process of pasteurizing, homogenizing and filtering the milk.

Lastly the nutritional information incase anyone needs to know this:
Per 100ml
Energy 268kj/64kcal
Protein 3.2g
Carbohydrate 4.7g
Sugars 4.7g
Fat 3.6g
Saturates 2.3g
Fibre nil
Sodium 0.06g
Calcium 119mg


Overall Cravendale is still just cows milk just perhaps slightly more filtered then the standard milk we buy, and more likely to last fresher for longer. It depends on the individual if that person is into the finer details of milk or a fussy milk drinker as for people that only use milk in tea/coffee I don't think they will even notice the difference.

Summary: I am sure we will continue to buy it.