Raw milk has more healthy bacteria and enzymes than pasteurized milk.
The idea of using sour milk for anything might sound unappetizing, but raw sour milk contains healthy bacteria and has a slight acidic taste that is nothing like spoiled pasteurized milk. Raw milk is available in many states from local producers, farms and at organic markets, and raw soured milk can be used to make many other dairy products.
Buttermilk
Sour raw milk is close to buttermilk in taste. You can use sour raw milk as a substitute for buttermilk in recipes like sourdough bread, buttermilk biscuits, waffles, smoothies, scones and buttermilk pancakes. You can easily make buttermilk by adding store-bought cultured buttermilk in a one to three ratio to your sour milk and letting it sit for two days until the liquid coats the jar. You can also add a teaspoon of clabber, and let it sit out to thicken. Clabber is raw milk left out in a jar to sour to varying degrees of tartness and thickness, depending on the temperature. It's ready when it has thickened and is just sour enough for your taste.
Kefir
Kefir is a thin yogurt-like drink that is popular in Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Russia. Some of the bacteria in kefir are already present in sour raw milk, and you don't have to do anything except add flavors that you like. You can also add kefir grains or kefir starter kit powder, which can be found online or at health food stores, to increase the number of healthy bacteria. Add kefir grains or starter to soured milk in a jar or covered glass bowl, and leave it out for up to 24 hours or until it thickens. Kefir can be used to make a fruit smoothie, mixed with honey and cinnamon or your favorite syrup, and used to make salad dressing by adding oil, salt, pepper and herbs.
Yogurt
Start by heating your raw sour milk to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Add a starter culture, like Greek or Bulgarian yogurt with live cultures or a yogurt starter kit, stir and keep the mixture warm for eight to 12 hours. You can use a yogurt maker, a hot water bath, the oven or a crock pot to keep the yogurt warm during the culturing period. After the yogurt has thickened, put it in the refrigerator to set for two hours. The resulting raw milk yogurt will be thinner than store-bought yogurt. You can add fruit, honey and granola to your yogurt, or use it in baking recipes.
Cream Cheese
If you've already made yogurt, making cream cheese is easy. Use the same yogurt-making process, and then put the yogurt in a cheesecloth or muslin cloth to strain it. The cloth should be elevated so that the liquid whey can to drip into a bowl. You can hang the cheese cloth from a kitchen cabinet or put it in a strainer inside another bowl. Let the yogurt strain for up to 24 hours, depending on how thick you want the cream cheese. You can use your cream cheese as a spread, for make frosting and dips or in any recipe that calls for it. You can use the leftover whey to make ricotta cheese, baking breads or boiling potatoes or rice.
Tags: sour milk, healthy bacteria, used make, bacteria kefir, cream cheese, kefir grains
