Homesteader Depot

Tag: raw milk

  • How to Make Natural, Raw Sour Cream

    How to Make Natural, Raw Sour Cream

    Sour cream is a delicious staple condiment of American cooking, that can greatly enhance the taste of many delicious dishes, from potato pancakes, to baked potatoes, to nachos.

    Most people will be familiar with the store-bought version, a thick, gooey cream that comes in a plastic container and often with additives and even artificial flavoring. But did you know you can very easily make your own at home?

    Like pickles, homemade sodas, yogurt, and sourdough, sour cream is one of the many delicious, healthy, and easy home fermentation products that anyone can try themselves. And it just so happens to be one of the easiest! You don’t need anything at all but raw milk. However, that the milk you use be raw is essential. Pasteurized milk, that has been heated to very high temperatures to kill the bacteria that naturally occurs in the milk, simply won’t sour the way cream from raw milk will, and it is also homogenized, meaning the cream won’t naturally separate for you to harvest.

    When you buy fresh, raw milk, if you let it sit for awhile, cream will naturally separate on the top, and this is what you can use to make sour cream. Here’s what it looks like:

    As you can see there is a distinct line between the cream on top, and the milk. That cream is what you use to make sourcream. Also, if you have milk that has naturally soured before you were able to use it up, you can use the cream on top for sour cream. This is a great way to use up soured milk!

    Here’s what you do: 

    Skim the cream off the top of your raw milk, and place in a small jar. I find a metal measuring cup works best for this, but you can use anything you can dip into the cream and extract it, without mixing the milk in with the cream.

    If you get a small amount of milk in with the cream you’re skimming, don’t worry, it will naturally separate later.

    Once you’ve collected all your cream and put in a separate jar, cover loosely with the lid, and leave on your countertop for 24 hours. After 24 hours, taste and smell it, to see if it has soured. It should have thickened in this time, although it won’t be as thick as store-bought sour cream. Depending on the weather, it might need another 24 hours, just use your own judgment and preference.

    When soured, tighten the lid, and put in the refrigerator, will it will thicken even more. Use as you would regular sour cream, and enjoy!

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  • The Real Benefits of Raw Milk (Video)

    The Real Benefits of Raw Milk (Video)

    I’ve written a bit about the benefits of raw milk on this site, and I’m a big believer in it. Raw milk might give many Americans who have gotten used to pasteurization pause, but the truth is, pasteurization actually reduces many of the natural health benefits of milk.

    Pasteurization has certainly helped with many food safety concerns as far as packaging and transporting food products in the US, but that really might be part of the problem. Or post-industrial world, reliant on national transportation grids to get our food to our door, totally removes the many benefits of a localized food system. Fortunately, many people are waking up to this, and if you’re lucky enough to live near a farm that sells raw milk, right from the cow’s udder, you can help close this gap and improve your health.

    This video from the Wenston A. Price Foundation, one of my favorite resources for nutritional and health information, explains the health benefits of raw milk and how to handle it properly. It is a great introduction to just how good raw milk is for you, and most importantly, why raw is best. Enjoy!

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  • The Easiest Way to Skim Raw Milk

    The Easiest Way to Skim Raw Milk

    A cold glass of fresh milk is a delicious, wholesome treat. If it’s non-homogenized, the higher-fat cream will naturally separate from the milk to be skimmed for butter, whipped cream, or to splash into a hot cup of coffee. The traditional skimming process, however, is a tedious repetition of scooping out the cream ladle after ladle (and sometimes spoonful after spoonful). If this setback has kept you from enjoying the bliss of fresh cream, here is an incredibly easy method to try using a siphon.


     Supplies:

    • A clothespin (the kind with the metal spring)
    • 1 Vinyl Tube, ¼” or more wide and at least 3 feet long (use afflink for this product)
    • A jar large enough to hold the skimmed milk

     

    Directions:

    • Put a jar of milk where the cream has risen to the top on a high surface, like a counter or table.
    • Use a chair or stepstool to hold the empty jar well below the level of the milk jar.
    • Insert one end of the tube down into the milk until it hits the bottom.
    • Create suction to start the milk flowing through the tube.
    • Place the dry end of the tube into the empty jar and allow the skimmed milk to flow.
    • Clip the tube to the rim of the milk jar so you don’t have to hold it. Now you can walk away and make lunch!

    For half a gallon of milk, the skimming process with this method should take about ten  minutes. When the milk is almost done draining, come back and keep an eye on it. You can see a thin line of cream start to get pulled down into the suction if you leave it in place. Just move the milk end of the tube around the bottom of the jar like a vacuum until all the skim milk is gone.

    To clean the tube, simply run hot water and antibacterial dish soap through it until it is clear of milk, and give it a good rinse.

    Now, with virtually no effort, you’ve skimmed yourself some delicious, healthy cream to use however you wish. Wasn’t that easy?

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  • How to Safely Handle Raw Milk

    How to Safely Handle Raw Milk

    Probably the primary appeal of having a family cow is the delicious, nutritious and plentiful milk you can get from her. Raw milk, meaning fresh, unpasteurized milk, has many more beneficial enzymes and bacteria than store-bought milk.

    But it is important to handle it safely to maintain optimum freshness and sanitation. This is particularly important if you plan on selling your raw milk. If you want to sell your milk, make sure to check your local laws. In some states, it is highly illegal to sell raw milk. In other places, there may be certain restrictions. But even if you just want to share with friends and family or just keep it yourself, it’s always best to use safe, clean practices to maintain the quality, nutritional content, and longevity of the milk.

    Here is a simple guide to safe raw milk practices:

    1. Prepare your milking area

    You will want to have a proper set-up for milking. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, but a dry, covered area, with a place to tie up your cow and feed her as well as space to comfortably sit by her, is probably all you need. You will also want a place that will either have a sink or be in close proximity to the area where you will clean your milking equipment.

    2. Have the right Equipment

    Again you won’t need anything fancy, but a good, stainless steel bucket for milking is ideal, especially with a top to keep the milk protected. Stainless steel is easier to clean than plastic and will withstand possible kicks from a grumpy or restless cow. You may also want some soft, cotton rags to wipe the teat while milking.

    3. Sanitize

    Before milking, you will want to make sure you have properly washed your bucket, hands, and cow’s teat thoroughly. Some people use a small amount of bleach, but hot water and soap should be sufficient.

    4. Practice

    When you first start milking, it might take some practice to keep the milk clean. You are ultimately trying to keep the milk from getting any debris like manure or dirt in it, so if that happens, you won’t want to drink that milk. You can give it to your other animals.

    5. Strain the milk

    You can use a coffee filter, fine mesh strainer, or strainer made specifically for milk, but the idea is to get out as much debris as you can.

    6. Cool the milk

    As soon as you are done milking, you will want to cool your milk as quickly as possible. Some people even keep reusable ice packs at the bottom of their bucket. When your milk is strained into the bottles or jars you want to use (which should be properly cleaned and sanitized first as well), put them in the freezer for an hour-set the timer so you don’t forget about them! And then transfer to the fridge. You can now use as you would any other milk, although because it is raw it might not last as long, but it’s so delicious that might not be a problem for your family!

     

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  • The Health Benefits of Raw Milk

    The Health Benefits of Raw Milk

    Raw milk is simply amazing. Most milk you will find in grocery stores, however, has been pasteurized, losing many of the benefits raw milk has. Raw milk has been under attack in recent decades, highly regulated and even illegal to sell in some states. But if you’re lucky enough to live in one of the many states that still allow the sale of raw milk for human consumption, you can reap its health benefits. Here are just a few reasons to find a local farmer to buy some from today.

    It’s only milk

    Milk in stores often contains additives, preservatives, hormones, antibiotics and added synthetic vitamin D. Raw milk is just milk, right from the cow, often within a few days of your purchasing it. Not to mention, it’s typically organic. As you’ll read more below, raw milk from small farms is normally grazed and organic.

    Farm fresh and local

    Most raw milk comes from dairy cows at small family farms, meaning they are pastured. Grass-fed meat and dairy is far superior to the more common industrial grain-fed alternative, as grass is what cow’s stomachs were designed to digest and there are far more nutrients available to them in fresh grass. It’s also very environmentally-friendly; grass-fed milk has a much lower carbon footprint than a feedlot farm cow.

    Raw milk is also local-most likely very local-and you can buy from the farmer directly. It is very cool to hand the person who milked the cow that you’re buying the milk from your money-a locavore’s dream.

    It’s nutritious

    Raw milk contains the enzyme lactase which helps our bodies break down the lactose in the milk. This enzyme is no longer available in pasteurized milk. So when we digest pasteurized milk, the enzymes already available in our stomach are often depleted which can wreak havoc on the digestive system. Gut health is crucial for overall health, so this is why consumption of dairy is often attributed to a multitude of health issues-but raw milk counteracts this. It also contains healthy fats, bioavailable vitamins that are also often depleted during pasteurization, and has been known to reduce allergies in many happy drinkers of raw milk. Read more about the nutritional benefits of raw milk here. 

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