Dairy
Milk
Milk is the foundational dairy ingredient, a nutritious emulsion of fat, protein, lactose, and minerals drawn from domesticated mammals. Its mild sweetness and creamy body make it a drink, a cooking liquid, and the raw material for cream, butter, cheese, yoghurt, and countless other products. Fat level, animal species, breed, and processing (raw, pasteurised, UHT, homogenised) reshape flavour and culinary behaviour. From Jersey cream-top bottles to buffalo milk for mozzarella and camel milk on desert tables, milk reflects geography, farming tradition, and kitchen technique worldwide.
Also known as: Doodh, Suu
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Nutrition
Typical values per 100 g edible portion. Nutrient names open the reference page.
Nutrition Facts
Per 100 g edible portion
Amount per 100 g
- Total Fat 10.2 g
- Saturated Fat 6.91 g
- Trans Fat 0.2 g
- Monounsaturated Fat 2.98 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat 0.32 g
- Cholesterol 32.2 mg
- Sodium 78.3 mg
- Salt 0.19 g
- Total Carbohydrate 5 g
- Dietary Fibre 0 g
- Total Sugars 2.5 g
- Complex / starch 0 g
- Protein 4 g
- Water 78 g
- Energy 128 kcal
- Water 78 g
- Carbohydrates 5 g
- Sugars 2.5 g
- Monosaccharides 3.74 g
- Disaccharides 6.42 g
- Protein 4 g
- Animal Protein 7.92 g
- Fat 10.2 g
- Saturated Fat 6.91 g
- Monounsaturated Fat 2.98 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat 0.32 g
- Trans Fat 0.2 g
- Vitamins 495 mg
- Vitamin A 479 µg
- Vitamin B1 — Thiamine 0.04 mg
- Vitamin B2 — Riboflavin 0.18 mg
- Vitamin B3 — Niacin 0.09 mg
- Vitamin B5 — Pantothenic Acid 0.35 mg
- Vitamin B6 0.04 mg
- Vitamin B7 — Biotin 1.7 µg
- Vitamin B9 — Folate 6.7 µg
- Vitamin B12 — Cobalamin 3.4 µg
- Vitamin C 2 mg
- Vitamin D 0.4 µg
- Vitamin E 0.08 mg
- Vitamin K 0.6 µg
- Minerals 473 mg
- Major Minerals 466 mg
- Trace Minerals 6.8 mg
- Salt 0.19 g
- Sodium Chloride 0.19 g
- Cholesterol 32.2 mg
Vitamins
vitamin-c: 2 · vitamin-b12-cobalamin: 3.4 · vitamin-a: 479 · vitamin-b1-thiamine: 0.04 · vitamin-b2-riboflavin: 0.18 · vitamin-b3-niacin: 0.09 · vitamin-b5-pantothenic-acid: 0.35 · vitamin-b6: 0.04 · vitamin-b7-biotin: 1.7 · vitamin-b9-folate: 6.7 · vitamin-d: 0.4 · vitamin-e: 0.08 · vitamin-k: 0.6 ·
Minerals
Sodium: 78.34 · Potassium: 229 · Calcium: 159 · Iron: 1.4 · Zinc: 0.4 · Iodine: 5 ·
Dairy contributes complete protein, saturated fat, and lactose unless cultured or strained.
Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
History
Neolithic pastoralists in the Near East began milking domesticated ruminants, establishing dairy as a dietary staple.
Residue evidence from European pottery shows early cheese-making and lactose-tolerant dairy cultures spreading northward.
Louis Pasteur's heat-treatment research led to commercial pasteurisation, transforming milk safety and urban distribution.
Mechanical cream separators, bottling lines, and refrigerated rail cars industrialised fresh milk supply chains.
Homogenisation, UHT processing, and powder milk made long-shelf dairy staples available far from production regions.
Specialty milks including A2, organic, grass-fed, and non-bovine species gained mainstream retail presence worldwide.