Making the perfect chocolate milk

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posted on

February 2, 2018

Instead of all-natural ingredients, the chocolate milk that kids (...and adults) know today is full of refined and artificial ingredients and additives. The chocolate milk that you find in grocery stores typically consists of partly skimmed milk, sugar (or glucose or fructose), cocoa, artificial color, salt, carrageenan, artificial flavor, Vitamin A, and Vitamin D3. Let’s take a look at why manufacturers choose these ingredients and why, when you are using high quality ingredients and purchasing directly from a farm, they aren’t needed.

Chocolate milk contains about 25 grams of sugar per cup. About 12 grams comes from the naturally occurring lactose sugar in milk. The other 13 grams, or just more than 3 teaspoons, is added. In commercial chocolate milks, the sugar is refined (think corn syrup, glucose, or fructose), void of any nutritional value. For an all-natural chocolate milk, maple syrup or honey can be used. They contain beneficial nutrients, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. I mean, it’s still sugar, which you probably get plenty of in your diet, but it’s a healthy alternative to refined sugars.

Carrageenan is used as a thickening agent, giving it a smoothie-like consistency, and is found in basically all commercial chocolate milk. This addition to chocolate milk is made to bulk up the watery consistency of skimmed milk (milk with fat removed). In my opinion, this ingredient is useless. We should be celebrating and showcasing the quality of ingredients, not hiding substandard ones with artificial masks.

Vitamin A is added back to 1%, 2% or skim milk, because those naturally-occurring vitamins are lost when the fat is removed. Vitamin A helps maintain the immune system, vision, and reproduction. If you are using a full-fat, nutrient-dense milk like ours, you do not have to worry about this. Our full fat milk has plenty of naturally-occurring Vitamin A. Vitamin D3 is added to milk to avoid deficiency. A nutrient-dense milk like ours contains some Vitamin D, but you may also choose to spend time in the sun or take a high-quality Vitamin D supplement to combat this deficiency.

Artificial color and flavor are added to standardize a product, giving it the exact taste and appearance every time. When you buy direct from a small farm producing all-natural products, this is simply not the case. The flavor, color, and consistency of milk naturally varies throughout the year based on the animals’ diet and lifestyle. And, these changes are to be celebrated, not hidden. For example, in the spring and summer, the milk has a yellowish color, meaning that it’s eating fresh grass.

Chocolate milk can be made with fresh milk but is also a great use for slightly soured milk, that may be too tart to drink straight (especially for kids). The farmer makes his chocolate milk by making chocolate syrup from scratch and mixing it with milk. He puts 2 cups water, 1 heaping cup of cocoa powder, and 1⁄2 tsp Celtic sea salt in a pot and heats and stirs until smooth. Then, he mixes in 4.5 cups of maple syrup. Voila! Chocolate syrup! To make chocolate milk, the ratio is 1 cup of syrup to 1 gallon of milk.

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Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

Not a fan of the confusing, greenwashed labels in store? Yea, me too! And it's especially real for me, because I'm responsible for getting our labels approved with the "powers that be". Here's a little story with a big inside scoop... I made new labels for our bone broth a little while ago. It didn't go as smoothly as planned. Why? I put the little icons about our farming practices on them. They look like this: Yup, despite being 100% accurate and true, they were denied!! We're not allowed to put those statements on our food labels. So, I asked the USDA guy, "What would it take to get those claims on the labels, anyway?" The answer was kinda shocking. First off, there's some guidance on wording. Silly technicalities in my opinion. For example, you can't use the term "No Spray" but you can say "Produced without the use of synthetic pesticides." Or another example is that you can't say "No Routine Antibiotics or Vaccines" but you can say "Raised without routine use of antibiotics or vaccines." Second, the processor needs to update their documents to provide traceability. In other words, they need to document how they make sure the bones for our bone broth don't get mixed up with bones from other farms. I mean, this is pretty simple, especially with small batch foods like ours. But the documentation needs to be meticulous. Drafting it in government-approved language can be time consuming and/or costly. And lastly, once you get the wording and process right, you need proof. This was the real shocker for me: Want to know what proof would suffice for all the claims above? A 2-3 sentence affidavit (AKA a super short letter) signed by all farmers that supply us. That's it!? This lead me to a bunch of questions: What if a company submits a letter from one farmer but actually has other farmers that supply them, too? What if a company changes farmers? Will they submit new letters?What if a company's farmers change their practices in the future? Will they immediately update their labels?Are the "powers that be" checking on this? Is anyone checking on this?Is this why most farms and food facilities don't allow outside people coming in? It seems to me that, if a business isn't doing what the label says, the only way to find out is via a whistleblower. And the only way to make them stop is to take them to court. You know, like what's happening with Vital Farms and their pasture raised egg claim right now. It seems to me that, all that good natural stuff on labels - grass fed, pasture raised, antibiotic free, etc - doesn't mean it's true. Certifications are a little better, but the same kinda thing can be said about those, too. This is why, at Miller's, we choose to NOT sell in stores. No wholesale for us. In fact, we don't even have an on farm store. We only sell directly to our customers via our website. And, we choose to only get certified for what's required. This way, we can make our own natural standards. And, we can provide you will all the info and proof you need. Descriptions, photos, blog posts, test results, and more. So, what do you think? Should we do the affidavit thing to get claims on our bone broth labels? What proof do you need to feel confident in your food choices? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required - just start typing) or contact us 😊

Making the perfect chocolate milk

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Miller's Bio Farm, 523 Valley Road, Quarryville, PA 17566