Where can I buy irradiated milk in "these United States"?

April 5, 2008 1:24 PM

Where can I buy irradiated milk in the U.S.? Where online?

My grandmother retired and moved to Mexico LONG before I was ever born. I loved going to visit her there, and one of the things I remember very vividly was how DELICIOUS the milk in Mexico was!

She stored it in her pantry, without refrigeration, until it was needed. I've heard it called, "irradiated milk", "long-life milk", and "shelf stable milk", but I've never seen it for sale in American markets and I can't find a place that sells it online.

This is not evaporated or condensed milk. It is a completely different product, usually sold in one of those soft-sided cardboard containers, like the ones in which rice-dream, soy-licous, or almond milk are sold (click here to see an example).

If anyone knows of a place to pick this up, I'd like to hear about it.

posted by lukeklein to food & drink (11 comments total)

You could try buying it here. They even have chocolate milk.
posted by rancidchickn at 1:29 PM on April 5

You could try buying it here.

The Parmalat from that link is available in most grocery stores here in Boston. It is often in the beverage aisle, not the dairy section.
posted by ericb at 1:35 PM on April 5

We used to get Parmalat on occasion at the grocery store. You might also look for UHT (Ultra high temperature) pasturized milk, which is the generic name.
posted by JMOZ at 1:35 PM on April 5

In the supermarket?

I haven't looked for a long time, but Parmalat used to be very popular. I would actually be kind of surprised not to find it in a supermarket.
posted by Flunkie at 1:40 PM on April 5

What you're looking for is UHT milk (that might help describing it at stores). Trivia: It's used in McDonalds McFlurries.
posted by blue_beetle at 2:09 PM on April 5

Parmalat is here in Houston. It's _not_ with the milk, however. I recall it being near the condensed milk cans.
posted by tcv at 3:15 PM on April 5

I was raised on Alpura 2000, now called Alpura Clasica (It was from the future!) as soon as it became available. It has a very distinct flavor, better than Parmalat.

Your location is not listed in your profile, hard to help you find it locally. Here in SF I have seen it in mexican corner stores.
posted by Dr. Curare at 3:33 PM on April 5

OMG! Alpura is EXACTLY what I used to drink!!! Thank you so much, Dr. Curare!

One quick thing, though. Where can I order it? The link you gave me doesn't offer any option to order it.

I live in the Inland Empire, in Southern California, and I go to Orange County often.

And thanks to everyone else that told me about Parmalat.
posted by lukeklein at 4:18 PM on April 5

Well lukeklein, hard to tell where you can get it. Do a search for "alpura" and "FDA", it will give you an idea.

Mexican Costcos carry the stuff, but I could not find any online shop that carries the stuff.

Alpura started paying their produces fair prices in Mexico, forcing Nestle to do the same. No matter what the FDA chooses to beleive, Alpura is not completely evil :).
posted by Dr. Curare at 6:17 PM on April 5

Wild Oats (now part of Whole Foods) sells UHT milk in little square packages. The brand name is "Horizon". They're usually in the refrigerated section even though they don't need to be. We bring it along on road trips and campouts.

I haven't noticed it having a particularly different taste from regular milk, though.
posted by mmoncur at 2:00 AM on April 6

UHT does have a distinct taste. My kids grimace and say "not camping milk!" if they ever have it. We used to keep a pint in the cupboard in case we ran out of the normal stuff.
posted by bystander at 10:16 PM on April 6