When we were at the Annapolis boat show a lovely woman came up to me and said, “My children need milk on board. Do you know of any milk powder that tastes decent? We’re heading offshore soon and I can’t find any.” I didn’t have the answer since recently, Larry and I carry two or three dozen one cup portions of UHT long life milk and use powdered milk only for cooking and baking. I decided to post this question on the cruisers forum and got a lot of good input. The answers jogged my memory back to the time when Larry and I first set off on Seraffyn. At that time Larry liked milk in his coffee plus the occasional glass of milk and cookies as a snack. Long life milk wasn’t readily available where we were cruising. I found powdered milk was tastier if first,I use whole milk powder, not skim milk. Then I’d make up a quart of milk at a time and add a teaspoon of sugar and let it sit on ice for an hour before using it. If we didn’t have ice, I’d put it in the bilge to cool down a bit. Larry claimed it tasted good. Brand name didn’t seem to matter.
In recent years I have found skimmed milk powder tends to last longer than whole milk powder once it is opened and of course is a wise choice for adults for health reasons. But I also find baking tastes better if I double the amount of powder I use when mixing up the right portion of milk for the recipe.
You can read other cruisers thoughts on powder milk choices and the discussion on Cruisers Forum by clicking on this link.
I live on one of the smaller gulf islands in BC so I always have a supply of powdered milk. In my experience “Pacific” brand of powdered milk is the best I have tasted but Canadian prices for dairy products are outrageous.
Powdered Buttermilk tastes much more like milk than the powdered milk products. It doesn’t have the typical ‘buttermilk’ aroma or flavor but it does taste more like real milk.
FW
Being health concious,I use the skim powdered version. Like anything new to the taste buds requires getting accustomed to.The more powder you use the better the taste in my opinion.One teaspoon in coffee,two in tea and for a real creamy cocao four. For one less problem of carting sugar aboard I do without it.