Real lactose-free milk in the Bay Area?

November 15, 2009 4:43 PM

LactoseFilter: Where can I get real lactose free milk (i.e. the filtered kind, not the sickly-sweet enzymated stuff) in the Bay Area?

Lactaid and all the other options I could find at the store are all made by adding lactase, which makes it sickly-sweet.

Valio seems to have this, but they only sell it on the east cost. Surely someone must have figured there would be a market for importing this stuff? I mean, where I come from the filtered stuff is something like four times the price of regular milk and still sells like hotcakes.

My Google-fu is weak. Are there specialty shops for this sort of thing? Can I have it shipped from the east cost myself?!

posted by you to food & drink (6 answers total)

Are there other brands you know of? It seems like filtered milk, rather than milk with lactase added, is mostly a Canadian/UK thing.

But it also seems like Valio just launched, so they might be looking to distribute in the Bay Area. Do you shop at Rainbow Grocery? They might be able to order it for you, or at least try.
posted by liketitanic at 9:12 PM on November 15, 2009

Have you looked into Raw milk? Since I assume you're looking for milk that's compatible to lactose-intolerance and I also assume that you want to stick to cow-based (rather than, say, rice or almond milk), you might want to check into it. My wife is uncomfortably lactose-intolerant and lactose and I don't get along great either. But since she started buying Raw Milk from Mother's Market (I'm in So. Cal.--I'm sure they have it or equivalent in the Bay Area), neither of us have had problems. From what I understand, the rawness means that the naturally-occurring lactase has not been removed by cooking, etc. and it allows you to digest the lactose no problem. Also, since it's not synthetic lactase, it doesn't taste weird or non-milky.

Again, I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, so sorry if you tried this already and you hate this idea SO MUCH.

Besides that, maybe go to your local Whole Foods-style store or co-op and ask for the Dairy dept. manager?
posted by sleeping bear at 10:24 PM on November 15, 2009

Thanks for the tip — while I don't see how not pasteurizing/homogenizing the milk would somehow make the lactose more digestible, I'll give it a shot if I see it.

Again, I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, so sorry if you tried this already and you hate this idea SO MUCH.

I couldn't for the life of me see why I should somehow hate this idea, but googling brought me to this horrible excuse for a "facts" site, which I must admit did make me a little angry. Such horrible, horrible dishonesty. God forbid some trace amounts of hormones should show up in some processed food, but when it's in raw milk? "Powerful medicine!" Food safety laws? Put in place by a pharma-backed conspiracy to "keep people from healing themselves"!</rant>
posted by you at 12:50 AM on November 16, 2009

From what I understand, the rawness means that the naturally-occurring lactase has not been removed by cooking, etc.

Lactase does not occur naturally in milk, pasteurized or otherwise.

The original poster referred to enzymated milk which has had lactase added. This tastes different because the lactase in the milk breaks down much of the lactose into glucose before we ever get to drink it. If Lactase occurred naturally in milk, all milk would taste that way.

Furthermore, if raw milk did contain Lactase (which it doesn't), it wouldn't be affected by pasteurization. The lactase is often added to enzymated milk BEFORE pasteurization - it survives just fine.
posted by standbythree at 5:51 AM on November 16, 2009

Organic Valley makes lactose free milk of the lactase-added variety. Inexplicably, people think that it tastes less sweet than Lactaid, and more like regular milk. Maybe worth a try? (If you haven't already).
posted by sentient at 11:02 PM on November 17, 2009

Thanks, all. I tried some "green"-branded milks, and mostly they just went sour faster (which did technically help with the sweetness...)

According to Valio, "the plan is to roll out nationwide through 2010, but no firm date has been established yet." Guess I'll stick to pretending my cereal is sweetened for now.
posted by you at 7:29 PM on January 17, 2010