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Comment by raphinou | Hacker News Reader

What milk can be kept 2 or 3 weeks in the fridge? Is there a special methodology? I never reach that conservation time with milk.

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UHT milk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_process...

It has a shelf life of months, it's highly popular in southern Europe.

UHT milk has a shelf life of years as long as the pack's not open.

Once the seal has been broken, it should age and spoil at around the same rate as normal pasteurised milk.

So the real secret is

1) small packages, portion size

2) a way of extracting milk that keeps the contents sealed. Something like a bag-in-box wine container?

Then you could do without the fridge completely.... for milk

I was a big fan of ultra pasteurized when I was using a very poor propane fridge.

But I'm finding I can keep non-UHT for 2 weeks or more in summer in fridge0 when it's the same 0.01-0.5C as the thermal mass.

that does not need refrigeration either, does it? I've never seen it sold in the fridge area in supermarkets.

If i'm not mistaken you should refrigerate it once open.

Only after you open it.

The article is probably talking about "ESL milk" (extended shelf life), which is most fresh milk sold in Germany nowadays. It doesn't have the change in taste that UHT milk has compared to fresh milk. Because it keeps longer (up to 3-4 weeks) and doesn't taste different, it has replaced most non-ESL milk here.

Organic milk here in the US processed using UHT has expiry dates 5-6 weeks in the future.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-organic-m...

Lactose free has a lot longer shelf life: https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/34884/why-does...

I learned this the hard way. Do not buy milk that comes in a plastic jug, as it typically spoils much quicker.

This is so so true. Milk in cardboard containers just lasts dramatically longer.

That is because many of these boxes have a very thin antibacterial coating on the inside (e.g. Silver).

In the Alps it has been a century old trick to put a silver spoon into the milk to make it last longer.

Huh, what country you in? I usually get a solid 2 weeks in California from just regular Safeway or trader Joe's branded milk.

Fresh bio milk is ok for about 2 weeks here in NL (6deg Celcius fridge). Only a few days after opening it.

Unless it is treated with heat. pasteurized or even sterilized milk. But that changes the taste.

After a day of four you notice the quality degrades: making cappucino milk foam is more difficult then.

Can you actually buy unpasteurized milk in NL (except from the farm directly)? I thought there was some sort of EU rule against that.

The EU only enforces clear labeling of unpasteurised milk. Member states are free to choose if it can be sold.

Organic milk seems to last even longer (with longer in the future sell-by dates printed), as well.

Organic meaning what? Not to be pedantic, but the word doesn't mean anything to me anymore.

Ultrapasteurized milk (seems typical for organic milk these days) has a very long shelf-life, 3-4 weeks and beyond.

Is this the same as UHT milk? If so, I find it has give the milk a taste.

UHT is subject to Maillard Browning. Can change taste and smell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_process...

yes UHT milk has not preserves the good natural taste, but ESL technology has and it also has 21-28 day life time.

Check the temperature of where you keep the milk. Some parts of the fridge are warmer than others. Lots of fridges now have spots for milk in the door, but that's probably the warmest spot. Move it to the top back where the cold comes from the freezer if your fridge is like mine.

A couple of weeks is unremarkable here. I get a carton from the local store. They sell a lot of milk so it likely hasn’t been in the pipe line for long before I get it.

Looking at other comments, and FWIW this is non-organic whole milk.

I think a lot depends on where you bought the milk from. Our current grocery store milk last much longer than the milk from a previous grocery store. It probably has something to do with temperature in their refrigerator or something.

The colder it is, the longer it keeps; in the low 40s(F), which is common for the door of a fridge, it keeps about a week; he keeps the milk in the coldest part of his fridge which looks to be ~34F, so 2-3 weeks is believable.

Probably normal if it's not UHT milk. Also, depending on the time it takes to get it from the shelf in store and take it home (ideally < 2 hours, or < 1 hr on a hot day), it can spoil sooner.

Depends on the milk. Whole milk keeps longer than 2% or skim, for example.

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