We do! A neighbor’s cow is producing an over-abundance of milk…so they have blessed us with several gallons of raw milk. Yippee!
I happen to be lactose intolerant, so I can’t drink milk, but I can use milk and milk by-products in cooking. So far, I’ve made mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt. I’ve got some sour cream fermenting on the counter. It takes about 3 days to “make”, which means it should be ready tomorrow.
I also made some butter. I’ll post the instructions for that in a couple of days.
“Raw” just means that the milk hasn’t been pasteurized, so you get all of the good, beneficial stuff that is present in milk to start. It also means that you have to be super careful handling the milk, making sure that your hands and equipment are super clean.
“Raw” also means that the cream is still in the milk, which is super yummy! I have found that a tea jug with a spigot is the ideal way to store the milk, and makes it super easy to separate the cream from the milk. Once I pour the milk into the glass tea jar, I put it in the fridge for at least 12 hours. In a short time, you can easily see the line between the milk and the cream, just pour the milk into another container, then use the cream for whatever…including whipping cream, butter, heavy cream for your coffee, ice cream, etc.
