Almond milk, soy milk, goat milk, milk milk (cow’s milk) and now, believe it or not, camel’s milk. Yes, camel’s milk – I just saw a bottle of it at Whole Foods.

The Company that makes it is called Desert Farms, located in Santa Monica California.  It is a conglomerate of 9 Amish family farms scattered throughout the United States.  Some of the farms have but a single camel, while the largest has roughly 50, most of the farms have about 10, including both Bactrian (2-hump) and Dromedary (1-hump), as well as hybrids.

The Desert Farms website is very informative (Desert Farms).  I learned that camels are native to North America but were hunted to extinction 9000 years ago.  Today there are about 3,000 camels in America.  Moreover, Desert Farms makes numerous claims to the benefits of Camel milk over cow’s milk, such as higher protein, lower cholesteral, a close substitute for human mother milk, and a number of medicinal uses.

Camel’s milk is expensive.  A pint will cost you about $25 at whole foods.  Desert farms explains that it is not easy to breed camels, and lactation lasts only about 10 months.  So the next time (or first time) you drink camel milk, don’t waste a drop.

I’m IzzyKat – and remember to bikepenguin !