Why don’t we drink pig’s milk?
From cows to camels and from donkeys to elk: we drink milk from all kinds of animals. But pig’s milk? You won’t find that anywhere on the shelves. Why not? Does it not exist? Is it harmful? Or does it simply not taste good?
Pig’s milk definitely exists. After all, pigs are mammals, so piglets drink milk from their mother. It isn’t harmful, and there’s nothing wrong with the taste either. Apparently, it tastes slightly fattier and creamier than cow’s milk.
The reason we don’t drink it has mainly to do with cost and efficiency: while a cow produces around thirty liters per day, a pig produces only five liters per day. What’s more, a cow produces milk virtually all year round, while a pig only does so during the few weeks when she is nursing her piglets.
Impractical
It’s not very practical either: a pig has an average of fourteen teats with several openings in each, causing the milk to spray in all directions. So milking one is quite a challenge.
That’s not to say it never happens: three years ago, Piggy’s Palace made actual pig’s cheese as well as pig sausage cheese. A kind of reverse grilled-sausage cheese. They did have to spend a full week milking them.
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