Got Milk?

Some aspects of life in Hong Kong that seemed utterly bizarre at first have become normal – or at least no longer trigger me to automatically think something along the lines of “what in the world is that?”, “who could possibly think that is a good idea?”, or “I will NEVER do/buy/want XYZ”, etc.

Before I become completely desensitized to the oddities of our lives here, I think it’s important - for my memory, if nothing else - to make note of these facets of our overseas escapade. So I’m planning to start posting about some pretty random things. The inspiration for this post came from a pretty un-inspirational source – a carton of milk…

When we first moved here, I was given two warnings about dairy products: 1) they don’t taste the same as what you’re used to; and 2) you’ll pay an arm and a leg for them. Both have proved to be true. Early on, a new friend confessed to me in hushed tones that her family had started using boxed milk since they were spending over $50 USD for fresh milk each week.

Horrors! Boxed milk? Are you kidding me? The stuff in boxes on shelves across from the cereal? Unrefrigerated?? Never! Even as a person who consumes way too many artificially sweetened, carbonated drinks from cans, that just seemed unnatural to me – there HAD to be a ton of preservatives in it to give milk a SHELF LIFE.

As we tasted our way through a bunch of different kinds of milk – all imported varieties since the milk from China is especially suspect after the melamine scandal. None of it tasted right. All of it was expensive at $3.70/liter ($14.50 a gallon). And, I had to go to the store about every other day since it goes bad quickly, having spent a lot of its refrigerated life being transported across the sea. We tried rice milk as an alternative, but that didn't work out at all.

So, I research the UHT - ultra high temperature processing - milk in boxes. Turns out there are no preservatives. It is partially sterilized by being heated at more than 275 degrees Fahrenheit for just 1-2 seconds. It’s enough to kill the spores in milk, giving it a shelf life of 6-9 months until opened. And, because it doesn’t have to be refrigerated, the cost of transporting it from Australia is far less than “normal” milk. (There is some debate as to the environmental benefit – if the energy used in heat treatment process is less than the cost of refrigeration…more than I want to get into here!)

Next time I was at the store, I picked up a few varieties. We eventually found one that has the taste and texture that most resembles fresh US milk. It took a little getting used to going to the cupboard for a new carton of milk, but I’ve come to love this convenience!