Are you lactose intolerant? If you said yes, are you sure? In other words, have you actually been tested for lactose intolerance or are you just assuming you are because you get gassy and have other digestive difficulties when you consume milk? Try this test – drink some goat milk! No symptoms? Then you probably aren’t lactose intolerant!
Goat milk does contain lactose, although not as much as most cow milk. What it doesn’t contain is a protein known as A1 which most of the milk in the US does contain. This protein effects many people the same way lactose does: gastrointestinal inflammation. But goat milk only contains the A2 protein and so doesn’t cause these symptoms in people who can’t digest A1.
In the US, most of our commercially produced milk comes from Holstein cows, and that milk is high in the A1 protein. Other breeds (Jersey, Guernsey, Normande and Brown Swiss) have a much higher amount of A2 protein in the milk, making it easier to digest for people with this sensitivity.
So how can you get your hands on A2 milk? The best way is to find a local farm that raises these breeds and join a milk CSA. Many of these small producers will even give you A2-only milk if you specifically request it. Or, you can just get goat milk and then you’re all set! Or you can even buy A2 milk at the grocery store now. But there’s a catch for home cheesemakers with this one. Store-bought A2 milk is ultra-pasteurized, and as such, you can’t make cheese from it!
submitted by Kate Johnson
