Ever given a nano-second’s thought to camel milk? Well, neither had I until I saw an article on CNN on a fellow who’s trying to make a go of it selling it in the U.S.
Walid Abdul-Wahab is a Saudi who came to the states a decade ago to study at UCLA. Living in LA, he noticed that there was a reasonably high degree of health-consciousness. (And, I suspect, a reasonably high tolerance for slightly wacky ideas.)
So a light bulb went off, and that light bulb illuminated the words “camel milk.”
After all, lots of Americans have some type of cow’s milk allergy. And Abdul-Wahab thought his home brew was better than soy, almond, coconut, or any of the other growing number of options out there:
Camel milk is a mild drink that's slightly sweeter and saltier than cow milk, he says. Abdul-Wahab believes it could "end the search for a milk alternative." (Source: CNN)
Slightly sweeter doesn’t sound all that appealing. That “slightly sweeter” is one of the problems I have with almond or the other alternatives I’ve tried. And saltier? Hmmmm. Never really thought of wanting a salty drink – other than the occasional Margarita or gargling a sore throat away. Isn’t drinking something salty that last thing you want to do in, say, hot dry, desert-like weather when you want to stay hydrated?
Anyway, Abdul-Wahab wanted to bring the delights of camel milk to The States. So he went hunting for a local source.
Having decided on a product, Abdul-Wahab discovered that most camels in the US are owned by Amish and Mennonite farmers…
I knew that the Amish sold fireplaces. And some of them go rogue and appear on “reality” shows on TLC. (Not that I would ever watch anything on the network formerly known as – ahem – The Learning Channel.) But who knew they were also camel breeders? Or that there’d be enough demand to actually make it a thing? As it turns out:
Amish and Mennonite farmers breed and sell camels for upwards of $25,000 each, says Abdul-Wahab. They also lease them to zoos and churches, which use them for nativity scenes, for up to $1,200 a month.
Wonder what the nativity scene camels do for the rest of the year. $1,200 a month sounds like a lot for camel rental, but that’s pretty much a one-month gig. Surely the 11 month upkeep of a camel would exhaust that $1,200 pretty fast. Anyway, not my worry. And now they have camel milk to fill in some of the gainful employment downtimes in the camel workforce ranks – at least for the girl camels.
Working with the Amish was a challenge, given that most of them avoid using any technology.
Abdul-Wahab had to find creative ways to work with his suppliers. Amish and Mennonite farmers "don't like to be bound by contracts," he says, and "some don't have a cell phone and have to go to a community phone box to make calls." Unable to communicate via the internet, Abdul-Wahab installed a "fax-like technology that connects a landline phone to a printer," in the only two farms that would allow it, and was able to send labels and orders to those farmers.
Abdul-Wahab kept at it, and in 2015, his Desert Farms “became the first US company granted a USDA license to sell camel milk commercially, he says.”
Although camel milk is pretty pricey - $18 a pint vs. $6-7 a gallon for cow’s milk – Desert Farms is selling about 630 gallons per week – direct and through health food stores.
As well as raw and pasteurized fresh milk, Desert Farms sells powdered and fermented milk (kefir), camel milk-based beauty products and camel hump fat.
Wondering why you’d want hump fat?
Camels survive in the harshest environments on Earth, as a result, their bodies have adapted to become truly incredible. So that’s why you’ll find such an amazing variety of nutrients inside Desert Farms Hump Fat.
Hump Fat contains: Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), Arachidonic acid, Caprice acid, Lauric Acid, Stearic Acid, Palmitoleic Acid, Beta Carotene, plus vitamins A, E, K, B12, and Biotin. And there’s 3x MORE Oleic acid (Omega 9) than in coconut oil.
Hump Fat has 40% of your daily Vitamin B12 in a single tablespoon! No other fat or cooking oil offers this level of bioavailable nutrients.
Not much of a come on, but don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it, I guess. If you’re on the lookout for Christmas gifts, a jar of fat is only $21.
Camel’s milk is not the cure for those with lactose intolerance, by the way.
However, camel milk has a different protein composition to cow milk making it less allergenic. "It is more similar to human milk," says [Ohio State dietician Lori] Chong.
Come to think of it, I’ve seen more humans in my life who looked like camels than looked like cows. Forget being a monkey’s uncle. We may be distant relations to the camel. Hump fat for everyone!
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