What is whole milk

It's just the milk as it comes out of the cow, with its normal quantity of cream. If you skim some of its cream then you get low fat or fat free milk. Maybe your whole milk is just labeled "milk"?

Yup, whole milk is usually referred to as just milk in stores.  I'm sure you'll be able to find it.

In the U.S. it's usually labeled "Vitamin D" milk. That, of course, reflects that fact that it's been enriched----and to differentiate it from the skim, 2%, 1%, non-fat, and all the others that have had most of the butterfat removed.

Crepechef - I agree with just going for plain old milk.  Crepes need that little bit of fat that it gives you.

Gone are the days when milk = milk   The milkman would come past the house in the early morning with his horse and cart and fill up your milk tin.  The horse would know when and where to stop.

People in the store now look at all the milks in some confusion - and you gotta wait while they make their choice because they are blocking your path.  Whole milk is only 4% fat for goodness sakes.....I bet some people drinking no fat milk add  cheese, sour cream and butter to their potatoes   There is an ad on TV here at the moment with a guy going into the store saying he needs some milk.  Sales clerk spouts off a whole long list of the various milks - he looks confused and says - I just want milk. This post reminded me of that ad.

For every day use at home we use skimmed milk which (I think) is about 2%.  Trying full milk (real milk) does taste different after being accustomed to the skimmed, but it really doesn't bother me one way or the other,

Rant over - my apologies.

Is buttermilk the same as whole milk? 

I always thought the 'reduced fat' milks (2%, 1%, skim, homo) were milks with the butterfat removed/reduced.

As a kid I would, every morning before breakfast, take a glass jar and walk (WALK!) to the farm 3 houses down, sometimes I'd have to wait for the farmer to finish milking the 2 or 3 cows they had, then they'd fill up my jar with frothy warm milk.

Then back home my mum would prepare the cocoa for us, and the cafe-au-lait for herself and my dad.

By the time I got home, there was a thick layer of thick cream at the top of my jar. Thick cream! Not liquid like heavy whipping cream, more like the texture of creme fraiche - only it was just cream (no cultures)!

No homogenized Vitamin D enriched pasteurized microfiltered BS. And guess what - it tasted like milk!!! Nowadays even the local organic milk tastes like water (with white dye). I used to love milk as a kid - now I just use it in my cooking.

Whole milk is homogenized.  3.75% MF.  Homogenization is the process to which whole milk is put through to avoid separation of the milk and cream.  The milk is squeezed through a plate with ultra fine holes in it and literally breaks the fat molocules down into small enough pieces that the fat remains in suspension hence the name homogenized (means "the same throughout")

 Buttermilk = liquid left over after making butter from cream or milk, not technically milk anymore. the stuff you buy in the store is often if not always cultured that is why it is thick

milk-fat= butterfat.. the common names of the fat found in dairy.... leave it in milk and you call it milk fat... churn it out and now you have butter, which btw is usually only about 80% fat and the rest is water and milk solids

Whole milk = "vitamin D" milk, 3.5% milk, homogenized/ homo milk , the names are regional and it has 3.5% milk-fat or butter fat whatever you want to call it

2%= part skim, milk with a total butter fat content of 2%

1% = skim milk, milk with a total butter fat content of 1%

fat free= 0% fat content  and milk only by name, imho

cream =  whipping cream, 35% cream .. technically the cream that French fries skims from the top of his farm fresh milk, but in the store it is mechanically separated and the fat content is consistent. 

non-homogenized milk= milk that the fat floats to the top.. usually on found in farm fresh varieties or boutique milks. some people find this easier to digest

Raw milk= milk straight from the cow to the pitcher... different cow breeds supply milk of varying fat content and it also varies with diet, (as does flavour)  so farm fresh milk can range anywhere from 3%ish to 8% ish and the cream can be anywhere from 30%ish to 50% milk-fat. The milk i buy is raw farm fresh from guernsy and jersey cows with an average milkfat content of 6% by the breed, again it varies by the diet which changes with the season. And the cream from those cows is the consitancy of pudding... i reckon its about 45% fat or so. And the butter we get varies from pumpkin orange in the summer to a pale yellow in the winter. It is tates amazing

Most commercial milk is pretty nutritionally damaged by the high heat processing and storage so that is the reason it is re-fortified with vitamins as marked on the label. Plus it makes for a more consistent product

just thought i would add this..... 

What do you all think of breast milk cheese?

umm...I think I'll pass on that

man aint that the truth. they used just bring it by our house and sell it until it was all gone. oh man all taht fat and goodness. dont even get me started on the vegi here..

The passing of laws makes for the passing (R.I.P.) of flavour.  It must be homogenized, pastuerised, meaning - de-flavourised.  Anyone who can remember the taste of real milk obviously lived to tell the tale  May as well be buying UHT milk. I know there are reasons for all of that, it just spoils it, for me.  I have it only in coffee or tea or cooking now.

When the milk started arriving in glass bottles with the aluminium tops - there was always a rush amongst us as kids to get the top of the milk,  Best bit,

Really showing my age here hehe. Totally OT here, baker's van would stop at every house for your bread order, open the back doors of the van - the aroma was incredible.  Trays upon trays of lovely fresh baked bread and a range of cakes and iced buns.....nice memory, that.  Anyine of us who was home  from school for the day crook (or apparently so...ahem) would score an iced cake,  It shut us up from our moaning, kept us out of mum's hair, kept the baker happy too.

To this day, I fortunately have the family farm to go to where we still hand milk. Only 20 head of cows now but when I go, I of course have to help with all the chores.  This time of year is my favourite for milking as the kittens are out and about in the milking barn.  Give them a treat with the teat.  They never seem to mind getting a face full of freshly squirted milk.  We still use an old hand cranked cream separator and I remember hanging off the hand crank as a kid trying to get the bull wheel spinning.

   Not just the milk was better but all things cooked or baked seem better.  Butter, cheese, cream, it all is definitely better when it has not been pasteurized.

Growing up it was always called Whole milk, then about 10 years ago people started calling it Vitamin D milk for marketing purposes I guess, I never really understood that considering all milk has Vitimin D in an and in fact the same amount in all varities of milk.

www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calories/food/generic/skim-milk

www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calories/food/generic/whole-milk

I too remember those whole milk days with the cream on the top!!   When the milkman came and you went to open that BOTTLE of milk, you shook it first to mix the cream back into the milk...  mmmmmm!!!   We'd finish playing baseball and we'd be off to the deli for an ice cold bottle of the white stuff.   Who needed water or coke!?

I got lucky last year as we have a local dairy farmer who brings whole guernsey milk into our farmers market.   I used it to make some fresh ricotta cheese and some gelato.   Wow, was that ever good as the BF content is so much higher.

Yes, guys... some of us still remember those days!

FL - you, me and many others here must be of the same generation to remember that.

But -shaking the cream into the milk   no way!  That was the prize for bringing the milk in from the front porch  - you really had to be up early with 6 kids battling for it.  Mind you - we got at least 6 pints a day.

Vitamin D is carried by fat and that imight bewhy whole milk is called D vitamin milk. If you remove fat from milk you decrease D vitamin. On the other hand it is possible that Vitamin D milk was skimmed and then added with Vitamin D.

For the first question, just as a temporary remedy, add a little cream (fresh whipping cream) to your not whole milk for crepes.

Skim is fat free, not 2%. From what I've heard; I don't think Reg Vitamin D milk is the same as whole milk but it is about as close as you will find without buying a cow.

Thanks for all the answers and neat stories.....i was wondering the same question.  Got my answer here :)