A pinta straight from the cow

[Guest guest]

IT'S half a century since TV and print adverts urged us to 'drinka pinta milka day' and the sound of a whistling milkman on his round is also fast becoming a fading memory as more and more people turn to the supermarket.

A family-run Hailsham firm however is bucking the trend and reviving the sound of glass milk bottles clinking on the doorstep.But there's a twist to the milk sold by Longleys Farm — it's come straight from the cow.Father and son team Phil and Steve Hook have around 340 satisfied customers in Hailsham, all preferring back-to-basics raw organic milk to the pasteurised alternative sold in stores.Often, Longleys milk is poured into breakfast bowls less than 24 hours after being produced by a cow.It's the very definition of 'fresh' — and farmer Steve dismissed scare stories and said not only is it completely safe, it can actually improve your health.He said, "There has been a real movement towards raw milk, particularly in the US where a lot of scientific evidence shows it can lower your cholesterol and reduce the risk of children suffering from eczema."Some of our customers are nutritionists and consultants — people who understand what they're putting into their bodies and they choose our milk."What the Hooks sell is raw milk which has not gone through the pasteurisation process. This process, according to Steve, not only kills the 'bad' bacteria it intends to remove but also the 'good' bacteria and many of milk's natural nutrients.He said, "Pasteurising milk destroys the beneficial bacteria acidophilus, the Vitamins C, B12 and B6 and the digestive enzyme required to break down the protein in the milk."Raw milk has all these constituents still in their natural form. The body can therefore fully utilise all the goodness of raw milk."Pasteurisation of milk was first introduced in the mid-19th century when hygiene standards on farms were a lot lower and milk contamination more common.But dairy farms today are visited on a regular basis by health and safety officials and conform to very high standards.Steve said, "In 2003 the government decided not to ban raw milk but to instead license producers to sell it."The Food Standards Agency analyses our milk every three months to make sure its got the right bacteria in it and is fit for public consumption. Even then we still, by law, have to put a safety warning on bottles."If I thought it was a danger to other people, I wouldn't sell it. But I believe in raw milk as a product."I'd say 90 per cent of our customers have it because of the taste and others take it for medical reasons."Steve described the taste as 'fuller and sweeter' than pasteurised milk.He said, "Raw milk tastes fantastic. Anyone who has tasted the difference between processed milk and fresh raw milk needs no convincing. The full bodied, rich flavour of raw milk speaks for itself."It also doesn't go bad like pasteurised milk. If you left a bottle to stand on its own the cream would rise to the top and seal the milk inside. It then goes sour and you can use to make cheese and yoghurt."Phil and Steve's herd of 60 cows graze on the rich grassland of the Pevensey Levels.They are milked in the afternoon and the Hooks bottle the milk in the early evening. It is then put it in the chiller for it to be delivered the next morning. This means the milk which reaches doorsteps is often less than 12 hours old.The Hooks' milk is sold in traditional glass pint bottles which can be re-used and recycled. The local deliveries mean customers know the exact source of the milk and that it hasn't had to travel far.The first pint was delivered on January 1 last year — by Christmas the Hooks had added another 300 to their books and now deliver to around 340 people.Their success has largely been through appearances at Hailsham's monthly Farmers Market and word-of-mouth from satisfied customers.Next month they will expand into Eastbourne — and bring their back-to-basics milk revolution to an even larger audience.For more information or to be added to the customer list, call Phil or Steve on 449494 (24-hour answerphone) or visit the website at www.hookandson.co.uk

Steve Hook, Hook and Phil Hook of Longleys Farm