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Comment by pujjad | Hacker News Reader

In Germany, the consumer demand for UHT is low as well. Fresh milk is prefered over that, UHT tastes weird for most. No idea where the article gets the idea from that Europeans care less about UHT.

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I was going to comment basically the exact same thing but tried to do some reasearch first and came across an article [1] claiming that UHT (H-Milch) has a market share of a whopping 70% which does not match my personal experience at all. But it was the only article naming an actual number that I could find within a 5 minute google search.

[1] https://www.bwagrar.de/Aktuelles/Kuenftige-H-Milch-soll-mehr...

I did a quick search and got a similar trend for Europe overall (although, like that article, there were no serious citations). I wonder if it could be including commercial uses, such as in restaurants or for manufacturers of milk-derived products (but not cheese as it seems UHT ruins the proteins needed for that).

Not sure if true, but it was explained to me once that UHT is more popular in hotter climates as it's easier to transport vs refridgerated lorries (France vs UK)

I noticed in France that UHT was very popular. Here in Germany, seems to be a mix with a preference for normal milk.

It's possible that consumers declare the they don't prefer UHT milk when asked but actually buy UHT milk without realising. In Greece, UHT milk is often sold in similar packaging as fresh milk (i.e. in plastic bottles rather than cartons) and placed in the refrigerated section alongside fresh milk.

To confuse matters further, some UHT milk is sold separately, outside the fridge and in the typical carton packaging that one expects it. So it's very easy to be confused about what is UHT and what is fresh, just by looking at where a product is and how it's packaged.

Of course you'd think that the taste would give the milk away- but I find that if UHT milk is refrigerated, its "burned milk" taste is much reduced and can easily fool someone who only drinks a little milk at a time or mixed with other foods or drinks, e.g. in their coffee or cereals.

I live in Canada (Quebec near the Ontario border) and I buy UHT milk once in a while as some backup milk just in case I run out before the next groceries and I happen to need some for a recipe or something. It was handy during the pandemic, where I tried (and still try) to minimize exposure.

I couldn't really taste the difference.

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