Camel Milk?

If Dr. Millie Hinkle has her way, camel milk will someday be as easy to find in North Carolina as barbecue.

For 3,000 years, camel milk has been revered for its medicinal properties in the Middle East and Hinkle, a physician in Raleigh, hopes to bring it to the U.S. and make it legal to sell.

"We know that folks who are diabetic or lactose intolerant have absolutely no allergy to camel milk, so it's a great thing for those people as well," she said.

Camel milk is high in vitamins and iron, and it's thought to help fight diabetes and autism. But until recently, it was illegal to ship in the U.S.

Despite its benefits, camel milk faces many challenges in the U.S. -- primarily, the lake of camels.

But Hinkle wants to import the animals from overseas and set up local dairies where they would be raised and milked. First, though, she must raise money to test the milk for the Food and Drug Administration.

To do that, she sells cookies, soap and T-shirts to raise money for her goal.

"We're working with one of the biggest dairies in the world that's interested in coming here, so I'm hoping in the next month we'll know whether they're going to come here. And that'll mean a tremendous amount of money in the state and employment for people in the state," she said.