Indiana Dairy Wins International Award for Unique Cream Top Milk Flavors

In partnership with: Indiana State Department of Agriculture

Indiana Grown products have a reputation for being the cream of the crop, and one of their members, Amish Country Dairy, recently earned recognition for the world’s best milk, thanks to their unique cream top milk.

The distinction came at the 2022 World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin for the Shipshewana dairy’s coffee maple-flavored concoction.

The dairy produces several other regular and seasonal flavors, such as peach and blueberry, as well as whole milk. While the coffee maple flavor is popular, chocolate still ranks highest. The unique cream top is a brand signature.

Nutrient Cycle

At Amish Country Dairy, they do things a little differently.

“Forgoing homogenization for low-temperature pasteurization is what gives it the cream top,” says Leon Miller, co-owner with Harry Stutzman Jr. and Lamar Kuhns, who also owns Kuhns Orchard.

Mass production dairies typically remove some milk fats for whipping cream and butter production. Homogenization further breaks up remaining fat, preventing milk from separating.

“But if you look at real foods, they separate. It’s a natural process,” Miller explains.

Keeping their ingredients and process as close to nature as possible is the recipe for Amish Country Dairy’s success. Their production facility purchases milk from nearby Stutzman Dairy.

“It’s a closed herd, meaning all the cows are born and raised on that farm,” Miller says. “None are moved in or out, so it’s a stable environment. Comfortable, healthy cows mean better quantity and quality milk.”

Other creature comforts include clean, warm wood shaving bedding year-round and fans and misters during summer.

The farm produces nearly 70% of the herd’s diet, too. Fall cover crops help retain the soil and its nutrients as well as prevent water runoff, and the animals’ manure goes back into the fields as fertilizer.

“It’s a giant nutrient cycle,” Miller says.

See more: Indiana’s Specialty Crops Diversify the State’s Agriculture Industry

All Natural

From there, the cream top milk is minimally processed with natural ingredients – no chemicals or additives that wouldn’t be found in nature, including artificial colors and flavors.

“For example, many milks and milk products contain carrageenan, an emulsifier that comes from red seaweed that provides thickness and prevents separation,” Miller explains. “We don’t use that in our milk or our flavorings.”

Products come in 3 liters, 59 ounces or 16 ounces from more than 150 Indiana retailers.

“We use only top-quality ingredients to create good, natural, whole products,” Miller says. “Even our bottles are made from the highest quality plastic we can find. We don’t make anything we wouldn’t want to give to our own families.”

See more: Across Generations: Hoosier Homestead Program Honors the Arnold Family