Rural Missouri - November 2024 - 25

photo courtesy Camel Culture
Above: In early September, Camel Culture hosted an open house for their store owners, families and friends at the Miller farm. Guests were able
to tour the facility, interact with camels and view the twice-daily milkings. Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Sam Hostetler and his
grandsons regularly milk 30 to 40 of the camels twice a day in their FDA-approved milk parlor. The milk is pasteurized, bottled, frozen and shipped
from the farm. Because the camels are milked twice a day, they are curious and friendly to people. They communicate with each other through
sounds such as bellows and moans. Camels have bushy eyebrows and two rows of long eyelashes to protect their eyes from sand and dirt. Camel
Culture's Danny Thompson says his company's mission is to give immigrants in the U.S. a " taste of their homeland " through camel milk. For those
not familiar with camel milk, he says it has a sweet, slightly salty and creamy taste. " Most people say it tastes like regular milk, " he says. " It has a similar
smooth consistency to 2% cow milk. "
In total, Sam has around 200 dromedary camels, which
are the one-hump variety. He and his grandsons regularly
milk 30 to 40 of the camels (whenever they have calves).
On average, the camels produce 15 pints of milk per day,
and are milked twice a day. Three years ago, Sam and his
family built an FDA-approved and licensed processing,
pasteurization and bottling facility for their dairy. After it's
bottled, the milk is frozen and shipped with dry ice to Halal
grocery stores, international markets and natural grocery
store chains. They also ship directly to homes through
their company website and sell products on Amazon.
" There are all kinds of people living in the U.S. from the
Middle East, North Africa, East Africa and Central Asia, "
Danny says. " The mission of Camel Culture is to help
bring a taste of that homeland here to the U.S. market.
We talk with people all the time who have not tasted camel
milk in years. We love to see people's faces light up with
joy when they taste a piece of their home culture again. "
A handful of markets carry Camel Culture milk in Missouri,
primarily in the metro area of Kansas City. Missouri
actually has the seventh highest population of resettled
Somali refugees in the country, according to RefugeKC. In
fact, Somali is the third-most-spoken language in Kansas
City after English and Spanish. These growing numbers
make Danny excited for the future of camel milk.
" A lot of people drink for nostalgia for their home, as
well as the health benefits, " he says. The protein structure
of camel milk is similar to human mother's milk and can
boost your immune system. Camel milk contains high levels
of iron, many vitamins, calcium and antioxidants. It is
low in cholesterol and lactose. It can also be a good fit for
people who have dairy allergies.
Camel milk can seem expensive compared to cow milk,
Danny says. It's an issue of supply and demand, as in
one year, a cow gives over 10,000 liters of milk, while a
camel gives around 2,000 liters. Cow milk costs about
$1 per liter, while Camel Culture milk retails for $26 per
liter. " Camels only produce a little bit of milk, but what
they produce is super nutrient-dense, which is one of the
reasons why the price is so high, " he says.
On the farm, Sam and his family drink camel milk,
which is bright white in color, all the time. " We keep other
milk for company, but my wife and I drink it every day, " he
says. " It's good. By nature, it has a little bit of a salty aftertaste.
We eat it with cereal. If you use it in soup, puddings
or pies, you wouldn't ever notice the difference. "
While the U.S. camel milk industry is in its infancy,
Danny is excited for the niche Camel Culture fills. " It takes
a lot of education, " he says. " When you say camel milk,
people's first reaction is, 'You can milk a camel?' "
For more information about camel milk and Camel Culture
visit camelculture.org.
WATCH VIDEO
Miller
Scan to virtually visit
the camel dairy.
NOVEMBER 2024 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 25

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Rural Missouri - November 2024

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