Alpine Cows Caught with Terpenes

Holy cow! Norwegian food scientists in 2016 found that cows left to pasture in alpine rangeland showed a fivefold increase in terpene content in their milk and cream, as compared to cows fed indoors. In fact, the monoterpenes alpha-thujene, sabinene, gamma-terpinene, and beta-citronellene were exclusively found in the milk/cream of the alpine-fed cows. While terpenes are naturally found in all sorts of plants, one might wonder if the cows found a patch of the “good stuff.”

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