Rhyme & Reason

We needed milk a few nights ago so T stopped to get some milk at Safeway. The store brand at Safeway is Lucerne. We drink skim milk so T grabbed skim. But we came to find out it's skim supreme (the labels were just redesigned). Great, what a deal - skim milk AND it is supreme!

I found this...

What Is Skim Deluxe or Skim Supreme Milk?
This fat-free milk looks like and has the mouth-feel of 2% reduced-fat milk as a result of the addition of a small amount of dietary fiber to the milk. This milk is an option for those who want the look and mouth-feel of 2% lowfat or whole milk without the extra calories and fat. Vitamin A Palmitate Is Listed on Some Milk Cartons.

And then this:

Have you ever tried Safeway's Lucerne brand Skim Supreme milk? It's skim (no fat) milk with added flavor and coloring to make it taste more like whole milk.

While it does taste more creamy and doesn't have the bluish tinge that skim milk usually has, this milk is messy. It leaves a residue on glassware, sippy cups and bottles. Also, when you heat it, it forms white solids that float on the top. (This happened both when I heated milk for cafe au lait and added it to condensed tomato soup.)

If you spill it on your clothes or let it dry on your lip, it leaves a white, chalky substance. It's as if you spilled diluted white paint on yourself. Not attractive. Next time I'll take the regular skim milk, thank you very much.

And finally:

Several dairies are experimenting with new fluid milk products that seek to bridge the gap between the flavor/richness profile of whole milk and the cholesterol-cutting appeal of lowfat/skim milks. Tuscan Dairies, a subsidiary of Canada's John Labatt Ltd., has introduced Skim Supreme, a protein-fortified nonfat milk that "tastes like whole milk." Skim Supreme is made by adding whole milk solids to ordinary nonfat milk.

Farmland Dairy's entry in the metropolitan New York area is Skim Plus, "Skim Milk Plus Whole Milk Taste." According to introductory advertising, Skim Plus "is fat free ... virtually cholesterol free .. and very low in calories. It contains 24 percent more protein and 12 percent more calcium than whole milk."