I wish I was a teenage American girl so I could say “OMG this stuff is the bomb” or even a teenage Welsh girl so I could say “this stuff is lush.*” Because after years of having to eat soy or ‘healthy’ yoghurt to counteract the impact of creaminess on my lactose-intolerant self, the guys at Arla have created a lactose-free yoghurt creation that is absolutely delicious. Highly recommended.
* is this how the kids are talking these days? I’m getting old.
In Finland, I discovered that when a third of the population is lactose intolerant, the state-run dairy company makes lactose-free EVERYTHING. Lactose free milk, cream, butter, yoghurt, cream cheese, several types of hard cheese and more. Apparently citizens can even get a grant to cover the additional cost of the lactose free varieties!
It was *amazing*. In the UK, where all we have is the premium Lactofree brand doing milk, and now yoghurt, cream cheese, and a slightly underwhelming hard cheese… well, a world of a difference.
BUT, on my return to the UK, I discovered… Lactofree launched cream this month! Hurrah!
And also… apparently there’s been a new finding about food intolerant people.
It is interesting that peoples’ anthropological origins tie into their selective advantage and therefore their evolutionary present. That is to say, if your ancestors herded dairy animals, odds are you had a better chance of surviving if you weren’t lactose intolerant and therefore you probably won’t be today. Of course, lactose intolerance is more of an irritant than a true selective disadvantage (although it can be harder to find a mate if you are excessively flatulent) so maybe the logic doesn’t quite apply.
With that in mind, it’s interesting that the Danes didn’t have nearly as much lactose free stuff around, underlining the fact that despite the fact they are both Nordic nations, the ancestry of the Finns is very different to the Scandinavians. Even more bizarrely, Lactofree is made by a Danish company – Arla – which I discovered when writing this post!
I recently discovered that Lactofree, those nice people that remove the lactose from milk so intolerant people like me can enjoy cereal etc., make cheese – both soft cheese (like Philadelphia) and “hard cheese” – which is meant to resemble cheddar but really tastes more like Swiss cheese.
This is absolutely wonderful news. Amanda made Nigella’s London Cheesecake and it was possibly one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. Ever. And this is on top of the celebratory lasagna I made for her using Lactofree milk and semi-hard cheese (for the white sauce and lasagna topping) after she had her mid-maternity leave back-to-work day.
I’ve also tried the soft cheese on a bagel and its really indistinguishable from traditional soft cheeses. The semi-hard cheese is a bit thin on flavour, hopefully they’ll keep working on it.
So, kudos, you nice people at Lactofree. I’ll try your yoghurts if they ever get stocked by one of my local supermarkets, will look forward to you experimenting with lactose free creams, and getting a proper hard-cheese recipe right. I’ve love to know more about the process by which you get rid of the lactose – it sounds too simple from your website:
Lactofree semi hard cheese is made from cows’ milk. As part of cheesemaking, bacterial cultures are added to the milk to create acidity, aroma and flavour. These cultures need a source of food and this food is lactose. The bacteria uses up the lactose naturally found in the milk to give Lactofree cheese its distinct flavour. The bacteria will stop working only once all the lactose has been used up, leaving cheese that is lactose free.
Lactofree soft white cheese is also made from cows’ milk. The lactase enzyme is added during the cheese making process to break down the milk sugars into simpler forms that your body can absorb. So what you get is Lactofree soft white cheese, with the taste and nutritional goodness of regular soft white cheese, just without the lactose!
Clever stuff.
So I know this is a burning question many of you have, reading the blog of a lactose-intolerant sci-fi loving, pr-consulting, soup-eating technologist, but hey – if I learn a valuable lesson from ‘House’ I like to pass on the love and help clear up the common misconceptions of this world.
The answer is no, as Dr Wilson revealed in a recent episode. His point – the fridge door is subject to the greatest variability in ambient temperature, so if you want to keep your milk fresh, stick it at the back of the fridge. I keep telling you, Karla, it’s the only medical drama worth watching – even though it’s never lupus, it’s both entertaining (Hugh Laurie is legend) and educational, apparently.
And whilst I do cope with a splash of regular milk in my tea, for all serious milk-drinking, baking etc., we get in the Lactofree – a genius invention for people like me and Curtis Donovan – and will keep you safe from the lactokinetics of this world (Misfits fans…).