Can you still buy gold top milk

A. Demand for the milk with the cream at the top has increased steadily over the past two years and the supermarket chain Sainsbury's has started re-stocking it alongside skimmed and semi-skimmed pints. These days it is being sold in one litre plastic bottles with the Gold Top lid and the layer of cream is easily visible to the consumer.

Q. Where does Gold Top milk come from

A. Gold Top comes from Jersey and Guernsey breeds of cattle and farmers there registered the name as a trademark in 1970. Unlike other milk, it is unhomogenised, which simply means the fat is not broken down and spread through the milk so the cream can rise to the surface. Gold Top milk has a fat content of up to six per cent, compared with silver top which has around 3.5 per cent and semi-skimmed which has around 1.5 per cent.

Q. Where does the name come from

A. The name was created in 1954 when government regulations were introduced ordering milk producers to carry the Gold Top to show the fat content.

Q. Why is its popularity on the increase

A. For some, the relaunch of Gold Top is a reminder of their childhood when the layer of cream poured over breakfast cereal was hugely popular. As the country became more health conscious, more and more people swapped Gold Top for semi-skimmed and skimmed milk. The television cook Delia Smith is also taking some credit for the resurgence of interest in Gold Top. The presenter of BBC 2's How To Cook series uses the milk to make sauces and puddings.

Q. What other types of milk are there

A. Most fresh milk in the UK comes from Friesian cows and has been heat treated - pasteurised, sterilised or ultra heat treated. This has a negilble effect on its nutritional value, but destroys harmful bacteria and prolongs its keeping qualities. Whole milk is ordinary pasteurised milk that has been heated and rapidly cooled. Homogenised milk is whole milk, but processed so the cream is evenly distributed. Semi-skimmed milk is milk that has a little over half its cream removed. Skimmed milk is milk from which almost all the cream has been removed. UHT milk is milk which has been treated to give it a six-month shelf-life.

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By Katharine MacColl