What does “homogenized” mean as in “homogenized” milk?
When a cow is milked, and as the milk settles, a layer of cream forms at the top of the milk. This used to be the way people would judge the quality of milk. A thicker layer of cream meant better quality milk, and especially when milk was still normally sold in bottles, you could easily see into the bottle to judge the cream layer. Pasteurization had become standardized for milk in most countries, since heating the milk destroys any bacteria in it, making the milk safer to drink. Homogenized milk was the next step. Pasteurized milk could still easily have milk fat proteins separate from the rest of the milk. For some people this was viewed as a disadvantage, though others argue homogenized milk doesn’t taste as good. Since milk is an oil and water combination, it doesn’t stay mixed. Homogenized milk is run through tiny tubes, sometimes during the pasteurization process to keep fat and liquid molecules together. Fat molecules are reduced in size and tend to disperse more evenly througho
