Straus Family Creamery is based in Marin County, CA. If you are lucky enough to get Straus products in your local grocery stores, don’t pass it up! Here are some great things about the Creamery and its cows.
– The cows are fed as much fresh grass as the Marin county farm can grow. It winds up being about 50% of their diet depending on the weather. Another top item in their diet is silage; a mixture of plants which are grown on the farm and then slightly fermented. Think of silage as coleslaw for cows. They apparently love the stuff. The rest of their diet is corn, flax meal, wheat, soy meal, and rice bran.
– Instead of adding to the world’s greenhouse gasses, Straus is creating more energy. Straus uses the cow’s waste to generate electricity which is fed back into the grid.
– Straus milk is non-homogenized. Most dairies perform a homogenization method on their milk which breaks down the fat solids so that the cream and milk are blended. This can destroy some of the delicate flavors of the milk. Straus believes their milk tastes better without homogeniaztion. That’s why there is a thin layer of cream on the top of their milk products. It’s like getting a free tablespoon of creme fresh with every bottle.
– Straus uses only glass and easily recyclable plastic for the milk containers. You simply bring back your glass container to any store that carries Straus products and the bottles will be returned to the creamery for re-use.
– All of Straus’ products are organic and environmentally friendly, from everything that goes into the cow’s mouths and environments, to the cleaning products, to packaging. They even use peroxide instead of bleach to clean their machinery.
– All the ingredients in Straus products are simple, fresh, and organic. No colors, additives, or artificial flavorings in any of it!
– Straus makes milk, cream, butter, yogurt, and ice cream. and it all tastes like heaven.
The website has great information about the farm, including a set of videos about the cows, the milking process, energy conservation and philosophy.