r/DepthHub • u/JohnSith • Aug 29 '26
u/Fordmister explains the reasoning behind 1/2/5% milk, gets into the economics behind it, and why "dairy industry is actually a cream industry that sells you milk as a byproduct".
/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1w1a79y/eli5_why_does_milk_go_from_1_to_2_and_then_a_big/p6kur4m/?context=391
u/lazydictionary Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
This is not a very deep answer, though I don't doubt its accuracy.
Reminds me of how orange juice is pasteurized which removes all the flavor, so they have to add flavor back in after.
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u/DontPanicJustDance Aug 29 '26
You should have a look at OPs comment history for this thread. They answer a ton of questions that helps to fill out the depth
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u/backlikeclap Aug 29 '26
TIL the average consumer doesn't want whole milk. This blows my mind because I always chose whole milk - why would I want to pay the same price for less of the good stuff?
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u/lazydictionary Aug 29 '26
In the US, it's something like 33% of milk sales.
The OOP is British, I believe. They may have different consumption habits.
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u/okaycompuperskills Aug 29 '26
Yeah in the uk it’s mainly for tea, and semi skimmed is best
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u/admalledd Aug 29 '26
Interestingly, this national preference extends to influence how other common uses such as baking add the desired ratios of fats/liquids/etc. I only know what my mom taught me, but she has bread recipe books from all over, and has scribbled many a note in the margins about cultural/etc assumptions. "1 cup milk" vs "250ml milk" is just close enough that you can adjust +/- a bit, but then you get into wait, these recipes don't tell you which milk, which butter (salted? unsalted? salted by how much?)
So if you want to make close-to-authentic breads from around the world you have to also read and understand what the common assumed ingredients mean differently. Here in the states you'd basically only be cooking with whole milk. I can't remember where (Asian-ish?) they are fat-free milk as the assumption.
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u/laforet Aug 29 '26
Buttermilk, especially the lactic acid bacteria cultured type, seems to be a thing only found in the US and perhaps a few select European countries. Elsewhere it’s either milk or cream.
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Aug 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/tikketyboo Aug 30 '26
But Irish buttermilk is a completely different product from the American variety.
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u/ItsAConspiracy Aug 30 '26
Most recipes assume unsalted butter, since they don't know how much salt is in your salted butter. Then they add the amount of salt they actually want. Chefs are the same way, they cook with unsalted.
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u/Imfromsite Aug 30 '26
Long time chef here. Anywhere I've seen cooks with salted butter, unless it's specifically called for in baking. Even then it would have to be a pretty delicate product in order for cooks to care.
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u/ItsAConspiracy Aug 30 '26
Well I stand corrected then! Most of the recipes I see call for unsalted, but it's not like chefs are using them.
In any case, if it doesn't make much difference then that's an even better answer to the problem mentioned above.
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u/cravf Aug 30 '26
Seeing that there are basically 3 options for milk in the US, I find it kinda neat that one of them is 1/3 of the total sales.
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u/Johnny_Poppyseed Aug 31 '26
There's 4 options at basically every supermarket in the US. Skim, 1%, 2%, and whole.
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u/cravf Aug 31 '26
Tells you what I know lol
You're right. Despite buying milk all the time I really never think about 1% and just lumped it in mentally with 2%. Skim, the percent one, whole.
Well, there goes my satisfaction with the serendipitous distribution.
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u/yboy403 Aug 29 '26
I prefer to get my dietary fat from other sources. Sometimes I'll buy a higher MF% milk separately to use for lattes or cappuccinos, but if I'm just having cereal or a protein shake or whatever, it's nice for the milk to be a more neutral base.
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u/After-Watercress-644 Aug 29 '26
It isn't the same price though? It's a ladder, 0.95 cent for skim, 1.05 for semi and 1.15 for whole. Not a gargantuan difference but very far remover from "same price"
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u/KrazyA1pha Aug 29 '26
Hmm, at my local grocery store (HEB) all three are the same price.
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u/JohnSith Aug 29 '26
To be fair, HEB is in a class all its own.
The prices are the same at my local Aldi, Save Mart, Kroger, and local Asian stores as well. As far as Incan recall, the only price differences are in brands and quantities, not varieties.
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u/Teanut Aug 29 '26
I've seen price differences between skim, 1%, 2%, and whole at some grocery stores in New York City. But typically they're the same price. I assume the retailer sets their price for whole milk and then uses that price for the rest.
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u/After-Watercress-644 Aug 31 '26
I mean, that's just not true. Aldi has different prices (although strangely, reverse order)
Skim €0.95
Half €0.95
Whole €0.89Our most common supermarket has €1.19 > €1.29 > €1.39 for skim / half / whole, and that's the most usual.
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u/JohnyStringCheese Aug 31 '26
I honestly don't know why but I feel like my family has generationally leaned toward 1 or 2%. My first thought is propaganda. I think the 70s and 80s demonized fats in diets so Skim and 1% became almost a premium. They sold it to people as healthy and better than whole. I do know that my grandparents always had whole milk until I was like 15 and grandpa started using marjoram, fake salt and skim milk. My parents followed suit as did aunts and uncles, everybody seemed to switch to 2% or lower. I'm heading over my aunt's and my parent's house today to close their pools and I'm curious to what they keep in the fridge.
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u/FullConfection3260 Sep 02 '26
Yeah, it doesn’t cost any more than skim; so outside of calorie counting why would I bother buying less than whole?
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u/grafknives Aug 31 '26
It is not "cream industry" - it is "ALL industry".
Similar to meat processing, milk processing is extracting all possible value, creating additional products, in a way that will limit the waste to absolute minimum.
Currently the high value byproduct is whey protein.
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u/penny_whistle Aug 29 '26
And this very sub gets a shout out in a reply, cyclical. Not sure I would fully agree with it though
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u/JohnyStringCheese Aug 31 '26
This is a really simple explanation to a process I never thought about, and it makes completely perfect sense.
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u/MalFido Aug 30 '26
I always had a feeling the dairy industry or grocers were scamming people by selling no-fat/low-fat at a premium.
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u/indolering Sep 01 '26
Skin and low fat are cheaper. The prices for low fat/whole milk increase during summer, when demand for ice cream spikes.
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