Just sitting there in the dairy cooler, the plastic jug might look like it’s full of your regular, run-of-the-mill chocolate milk. But it’s not. Buckeye Country Creamery has one-upped everyone in the chocolate milk game: it makes Buckeye Milk.
As someone from the Buckeye State, you already know what this means: peanut butter chocolate milk. It’s both, in one glorious taupe-colored concoction. You already know how this is going to taste, but for the deliberately naive, Buckeye Milk is sublime, supremely sweet and smooth, chocolatey, with just a hit of roasted peanut in the background. It’s like chocolate milk with more body.
Buckeye Creamery hails from Ashland. Its website mentions that its products are non-homogenized and pasteurized in a vat. That means shaking the milk before pouring is a good idea, to better distribute the cream on top. There are evidently several flavors in its line-up, which at times includes cookies n’ cream and blueberry. In terms of the buckeye version, the label is a little cryptic regarding the secret formula. Once you get past the milk, sugar and cocoa, you’re down to stuff like “natural and artificial flavors.” Artificial isn’t all bad, of course: it allows the creamery to promise a non-allergen peanut butter flavor. That opens doors to those who might otherwise be shut out from all the peanut buttery chocolate goodness.
It’s worth noting that the Buckeye milk jug was labeled A2A2. That means the milk comes from cows (the creamery hosts Holsteins, Jerseys and Brown Swiss) that produced A2 beta casein protein. A1 is the more common variant in these parts, and is associated with lactose intolerance. The internet suggests that A2A2 is superior to regular milk, in terms of digestibility. By all accounts, that’s a good thing, as a peanut-butter chocolate combo is enough to drive anyone to excess.
Locally, you can find Buckeye Creamery’s products at The Hills in the dairy section.
For more information, visit buckeyecountrycreamery.com.