When J was smaller, we only gave him goat’s milk. It must have been for the year between 1 and 2: before 1 he only had Mama’s milk, and after 2 we transitioned to “regular” (cow) milk.

I tasted it a few times--used it in coffee when we’d run out of our own milk, once just out of curiosity.

It tasted like a richer, grassier milk-- but like milk. We’d given it to J because the fat molecules are more similar to mama milk fat molecules, making it easier to digest, and supposedly, reducing the likelihood of lactose intolerance, eczema, and all kinds of other ailments.

It was pretty expensive though, and it had almost too much flavor for us to drink: it stood out in the coffee instead of blending in. You had to pay attention to the flavor instead of letting it blend it. So once J stopped taking a bottle, it seemed to make sense to transition to our (cow) milk. Ironically, while he loves yogurt and cheese and whipped cream, J isn’t much of a milk drinker; usually he takes a cup of half kefir, half milk.

But reading Goat Song made me curious, again. We used to buy J’s goat milk at Rainbow, and I had a vague recollection that they sold cajeta in the cheese department. After Brad Kessler’s lyrical description of it, I was driven to try it. Well really, I just wanted to try something form the book. I think I just wanted to somehow commune with that book in another way--eating a tomme, cajeta, anything. I would have eaten the book if I could.

Somehow instead of cajeta, though, I ended up with goat’s milk fudge, from a place called Kidding Around With Chocolate. Puns with food aren’t usually a good sign to me.... but maybe I am going to have to re-think that, too.

It was divine. Dark, rich, smoky, creamy,mysterious. One of the best things I have ever eaten. Not fudge, really, more like some sort of hand-held chocolate mousse: there was an airyness to it.

I would have taken a picture but I ate it all.

And I wonder, does J not drink cow’s milk because he is missing goat’s milk? Is his platonic ideal of milk grassy, rich, creamy, instead of bland and quiet?