Zaycon Foods: Providing Families with Farm Fresh Milk

I had worked with Zaycon Foods before and they gave me a chance to work with them again, but instead of trying out their chicken, I got to try their farm fresh milk. Normally my husband and I drink the store bought 2% milk since that’s what we’ve been used to over the years. So as you can imagine, tasting farm fresh milk was going to be a new experience for us.

We noticed upon removal of the seal that there was a thick layer on top, but that was easily removed by putting the cap back on and giving it a good shake. When we tasted it, it kind of reminded me of the powdered milk taste or what I remember of it as a kid. It’s thick, and almost has sort of a sweet taste. I am not sure I am particularly fond of the taste, but I did mix it with breakfast smoothies to help alter that. My 3 and 5-year-old nieces enjoyed it without complaints and even asked for this over juice or kool-aid, which was surprising to us.

If you are born and raised on farm fresh milk, then you probably won’t have any problems drinking this milk that comes from a small family farm in Spokane, Washington, but if you’re used to store-bought milk for most if not all your life, then it might be a weird transition, but a healthy one that I’m willing to make.

Important Information about Spokane’s Family Farm and their Farm Fresh Milk:

 

The Roylance family operate their farm on a very personal level and love to be involved in the process every step of the way. Between calving, growing non-GMO feed, feeding the herd, milking, testing, and bottling, this family loves what they do.

The milk is as natural as it can be, nothing added. There are no hormones, no GMO’s, no added vitamin fortification. Cows are grass fed and supplemented with grains during milking. While the primary diet of the cows is grass/hay, the farm does supplement with a few specific grains to provide additional needed nutrients for the cow. It is not a matter of cost cutting to supplement with these grains. The daily routine of these cows requires the grain nutrients and energy to be content and healthy.

Even though many of the practices at Spokane’s Family Farm are higher than typical organic standards, there are downsides to having the certified “organic” label. First and foremost is cost. Being a certified organic farm is very expensive and would ultimately result in higher cost for the consumer. Most organic milk is priced at $7+ a gallon, whereas you’ll pay $5.99 a gallon through Zaycon Foods.

Holstein cows are the breed of choice for providing milk for the purpose of drinking and cooking. The Holstein cow provides the best balance of cream content. While the Jersey cow is more readily recognized in the premium milk category, Spokane’s Family Farm recognizes that whole milk from a Jersey cow would require additional processing to reduce the cream content down from 5-6% so it is enjoyable by the average family.

Spokane Family Farm uses an old-fashioned pasteurizing process ensures no harmful pathogens exist, while still keeping the living cultures that make milk such a valuable foodstuff. The folks at SFF are so meticulous that the vats are hand scrubbed after each batch. This is a critical step in providing the fantastic shelf life.

The reason their milk is not raw:

 

• Many states do not allow the sale of raw milk while others regulate it heavily. This makes it impossible for Zaycon Foods to serve the delivery areas throughout America if they offered raw milk.
• Secondly, here in their home state of Washington, there have been cases, thankfully few, of people becoming very ill because of E-coli and similar pathogen contamination’s in purchased raw milk. We understand raw milk has been consumed for thousands of years but we must recognize why Louis Pasteur developed his process; to protect people from illness, which was commonly caused by milk consumption in his day. The method of pasteurization used by the farm is the closest there is to maintain the benefits of raw milk while protecting you and your family from possible effects of contamination. 

Homogenized milk is NOT milk in its natural form, and it’s not milk you’ll ever get from Spokane’s Family Farm or Zaycon Foods!

Zaycon Foods Delivery:

 

Their trucks are like giant refrigerators so you should have no worries or problems with freshness. When Arah gave me a date and time for the farm fresh milk pickup, I informed her that none of these would work for me and my schedule, so she contacted her husband who is the truck driver of Zaycon Foods and we were able to make plans to meet up in the evening after a delivery here in my hometown. They go above and beyond to get your deliveries to you even if their specific times cannot be accommodated by families. And that I am grateful for. They’re so nice and a pleasure to do business with. I will always recommend them to friends and family.

Disclosure: All opinions are my own and no monetary compensation was received besides 10 gallons of Natural Non-homogenized Milk that I was able to share with family.