Last week on August 31st, we received multiple awards at the New York State Fair highlighting our delicious, fresh, and local dairy products.
We won awards not only for our ice cream, but for our milk as well. We won Best Milk, Best Flavored Milk, Best Chocolate Ice Cream, AND Best Open Class Ice Cream in New York State!
Cornell University collected samples from New York State plants. The samples of whole milk, 2%, 1%, fat free milk, flavored milk, and chocolate milk were scored on various criteria, including best flavor. Milk samples are judged on microbial analyses, fat determination, freezing point, and flavor.
So… what makes Stewart’s Milk the BEST in NYS?
ALWAYS FRESH & LOCAL:
We source our raw milk from 20 local family-run dairy farms across Washington, Saratoga, and Rensselaer counties, which directly supports our neighbors while bringing our customers the freshest milk possible. Not only do we source our milk from local farms, but we know our farmers personally! We like to visit the farms to ensure herd health and proper care of the animals. All our farmers pledge not to use rBST, an artificial growth hormone. Plus, Stewart’s Milk is New York State Certified, which means it comes from farms that meet specific food safety standards and demonstrate environmental stewardship.
We care for our milk ourselves, all the way from farm to the shop! Our drivers will pick up the milk directly from the farm, and from that moment, our Dairy Partners tend to the milk all the way through processing, bottling, delivery, and storage at the shop. Our milk goes from the farm to our shops in 48 hours or less. You’d be hard pressed to find fresher milk!
Did You Know? We pick up over 28,000 gallons of milk EACH DAY and process it at our dairy plant in Greenfield, NY. HOLY COW! That’s a lot of milk!
AWARD-WINNING DAIRY PRODUCERS:
We pride ourselves on making fresh, great tasting milk all year long, which we couldn’t do without our producers. One out of our 20 local dairy farms is Gettyvue Farm, who has been producing milk for Stewart’s for many years. This farm is based in Granville, NY and has been operating since 1853! The Getty family has a long history of producing the highest quality award-winning milk. In the past, they have received multiple awards recognizing their remarkable product like the Supermilk Award, National Dairy Quality Award (NQDA), and the 30-year Dairy of Distinction Award.
Did You Know? This family farm milks 200 cows on the farm’s 420 acres twice a day, seven days a week!
PASTEURIZED NOT ULTRA-PASTEURIZED:
Fresh milk, which is guaranteed at all Stewart’s Shops, can bypass the ultra-pasteurization process; a procedure which heats the milk at extremely high temperatures, giving it a cooked taste. Stewart’s Shops requires that all milk be pasteurized for safety; however, the extremely high heat of the ultra-pasteurization process is not necessary, because every carton of milk is sold within days of leaving our local farms.
Did You Know? We code our milk in days not months. Yes…you can taste the difference because fresh tastes better!
HIGH STANDARDS = HIGH QUALITY MILK:
We have a team of certified milk inspectors that ensure each farm has the finest standards. Once the milk is delivered to our plant in Greenfield, NY, our certified receiving lab will then test for not only quality, but bacteria, and to ensure there are no antibiotics present. After we bottle and store the milk, it is yet again tested for flavor, weight, fat level, and the nutritional composition.
Did You know? Our fat free milk tastes different than other fat-free or skim products. This is because we take the extra step to add fat free milk solids into our fat free milk to enhance the body and taste. You’ll never get a watered-down taste with our fat-free or skim products unlike other brands.
VARIETY, VARIETY AND MORE VARIETY:
Some families use gallons of milk at a time and other households just need a quart. Stewart’s Shops offers a variety of milk flavors and packaging sizes. You can take home a gallon, half gallon, quart, or 16 oz Refresher of Stewart’s Milk. The white milks come in Whole, 2%, 1%, Fat-Free, and Lactose Free. You can also enjoy eggnog year-round, strawberry, cappuccino, chocolate, and peanut butter chocolate flavored milks. Top off your Stewart’s coffee with our fresh half & half too!
Did You Know? We have rotational flavors throughout the year like our popular mint flavored Shenanigan Shake, or our brand-new Cookies & Cream Dairy Shake.
STEWART’S MILK = STEWART’S ICE CREAM:
Our delicious ice cream you all know, and love is made with the BEST milk in New York State! The quality and flavor of Stewart’s milk provides the perfect foundation for creating award-winning ice cream. We currently have over 60 flavors to choose from, so there’s something for everyone. Whether you prefer a cone, half-gallon, or a pint!
Did You Know? Not only do we use our award-winning milk to make our ice cream, but we also use it to make many of the food items that we produce in the kitchen at our plant! From mac & cheese to chicken alfredo, we are always using the finest and freshest ingredients to create exceptional food for our customers!
WE ARE CLOSER TO YOU:
“My grandfather and his brother started this business as a dairy company over 100 years ago. We take great pride in the quality of our dairy products and providing fresh and local milk to our customers,” said Stewart’s Shops President, Gary Dake.
Matthew St. Onge, Manager of the Dairy Department explained, “With all the milk passing through our facility daily, our number 1 priority is always having the freshest milk with the best quality delivered to our shops. This happens through the sourcing of our milk from local, family-run dairies, the ownership our Partners have through the connection to our ESOP, and our vertical integration that ensures we can deliver farm-to-shop freshness in 48 hours or less.”
We take pride in our dairy products and strive to provide our customers with fresh, local, and delicious products all year long! From the 3 thousand cows on our 20 local farms, to the dairy, to the Shops, Stewart’s Shops wouldn’t be an EIGHT-time award winner of Best Milk without our hard-working Partners. Without them, our dairy products wouldn’t be nearly as flavorful as they are!
We MOO (Make Our Own) For You AND it’s always Fresh & Local at Stewart’s Shops