Udder variations

I'm not sure I want to know the details, but I have certainly noticed the variation in cow udders.

I bought a certain brand of organic yogurt a few months ago, and found it pleasantly creamy despite being nonfat, as well as just the right consistency (between gelatinous and nearly liquid). Yum. So I bought it again this week, only to find that it had the same flavor but a totally different consistency such that it was basically drinkable.

And on a recent trip to Michigan, I noticed that the yogurt-- no matter what flavor-- had a lemony taste. There was lemon-vanilla and lemon-strawberry, for instance, although my mother didn't notice because she lives there all the time. Also, there is a difference between the taste of dairy products in the summer, when the cows eat grass and clover, and the winter, when they eat hay.

Cow chemistry! I love it. Human milk does the same, you know. Perhaps your little baby tastebuds were shaped by these early meals such that certain foods have certain flavors to you that they don't have to me.

I'm waiting for someone who claims they can identify cow types, or countries of origin, or diets, simply by the taste of their milk. They could figure in a good mystery novel...