I've been using raw milk for the last couple of years. Due to pasteurisation laws in Australia you cannot legally buy or sell raw milk or raw milk products as food. However you can buy raw milk, butter and cream as "beauty products" from farmers markets, co-ops and health food stores. Raw milk is an incredible, completely whole, healing super food. The direction that farming has taken has meant that generally raw milk is not safe to drink. Conventional cows are grain fed, unhealthy and overworked, are given high doses of antibiotics, have infections, etc, etc. That milk is not safe to drink unheated. Happy, well cared for, grass fed, organic cows are a different story though. Not only is this a much better option for you it's a better option for the cows.
And if you think you're lactose intolerant you may find you can stomach raw milk. This wonder food as well as having every mineral, vitamin and amino acid you need it also carries the enzymes your body needs to digest it. I highly recommend lengthy reads on this topic and this website here is a good place to start. One thing about raw milk is that it sours rather quickly. I can't tell you how many litres of it I must of thown out. So much so that I nearly gave up on buying it. The thing that I was late to pick up on is unlike convetional pasturised milk which is near deadly to drink sour. Raw milk gets better with age, higher in vitamins and minerals and even better for your digestion! Yippie! Obviously this is not good news for your cup of tea but it's great, spectacular news for making the best dairy products at home.
It is impossible to make any cheese with convetional milk without the aid of either rennet, lemmon or viniger. Raw milk still has all the lovely enzymes to this all by it's self. Once raw milk is left to sour and thicken up what your left with is called clabber which you can then make all kinds of dairy products with.
And if you think you're lactose intolerant you may find you can stomach raw milk. This wonder food as well as having every mineral, vitamin and amino acid you need it also carries the enzymes your body needs to digest it. I highly recommend lengthy reads on this topic and this website here is a good place to start. One thing about raw milk is that it sours rather quickly. I can't tell you how many litres of it I must of thown out. So much so that I nearly gave up on buying it. The thing that I was late to pick up on is unlike convetional pasturised milk which is near deadly to drink sour. Raw milk gets better with age, higher in vitamins and minerals and even better for your digestion! Yippie! Obviously this is not good news for your cup of tea but it's great, spectacular news for making the best dairy products at home.
It is impossible to make any cheese with convetional milk without the aid of either rennet, lemmon or viniger. Raw milk still has all the lovely enzymes to this all by it's self. Once raw milk is left to sour and thicken up what your left with is called clabber which you can then make all kinds of dairy products with.
The first one that I've got down is Cottage cheese.
The thing I love about this method is that is completly raw and so so easy. And on top of that there is a huge amount of satisfaction doing something like this all by your very own self.
Raw milk usually has a lot of cream in it, how much depends on the farm and the cows from which it came. Jersey cows produce the creamiest milk by far. If the milk you buy has a lot of cream in it it's worth separating it from the milk and using it as cream, letting it culture for sour cream or making it in to cultured butter (again so, so easy). If there is not much cream in the milk then I don't bother doing anything separate with it, it all just goes into making the cottage cheese.
You'll now how much cream is in it by putting it straight in the fridge for half an hour when you get it home. A very obvious line will form between the cream and the milk with the cream sitting on the top. If the cream takes up about a third of a two litre bottle, then it's worth making butter with it. If it's less than that then you can use it just as cream all throw it all in and make extra creamy cottage cheese.
Below: Left is the milk, right is the cream. I wasn't able to separate them completely You can see a faint line where the milk separates from the cream.
Raw milk usually has a lot of cream in it, how much depends on the farm and the cows from which it came. Jersey cows produce the creamiest milk by far. If the milk you buy has a lot of cream in it it's worth separating it from the milk and using it as cream, letting it culture for sour cream or making it in to cultured butter (again so, so easy). If there is not much cream in the milk then I don't bother doing anything separate with it, it all just goes into making the cottage cheese.
You'll now how much cream is in it by putting it straight in the fridge for half an hour when you get it home. A very obvious line will form between the cream and the milk with the cream sitting on the top. If the cream takes up about a third of a two litre bottle, then it's worth making butter with it. If it's less than that then you can use it just as cream all throw it all in and make extra creamy cottage cheese.
Below: Left is the milk, right is the cream. I wasn't able to separate them completely You can see a faint line where the milk separates from the cream.
DIRECTIONS
Cottage Cheese
Get two litres of Raw Milk. If your milk is creamy enough to warrant separating it, cut a few slits into the bottom of the milk container and place it over a big glass jar. It should take a half hour or so and you will have milk in the jar and cream left in the container. It wont be exact. as you can see in the photo above with the milk on bottom and the cream on top. Thats ok just do your best to try and even them out . A bit of cream left in the cottage cheese is good for flavour. Store your cream in the fridge or leave it in a glass jar on the counter for 18-48 hrs, once you see tiny little bubbles in the cream your good to go. Use it as sour cream or make cultured butter (instructions to follow).
Place your jar of raw milk on the counter and cover the top with muslin, the air helps the good bacteria to grow. Leave it on the counter for 3-5 days. It will be obvious when it's ready as you will able to see the curds and whey clearly. The weather will also affect how long this takes.
When you're ready, line a colander with muslin and place it over a large bowl so you can catch the whey. Don't through the whey out it's full of protein, keep it and cook your grains and legumes in it or add it to bread dough. Tie the curds up tightly and leave in the colander over a bowl in the fridge. This will need to be there for 24-36 hrs depending on how thick you like it. I prefer to leave mine for 36 hrs. After a day you might need to tighten the string on your muslin so you ensure that your squeezing as much liquid out as possible. When it's ready place it in a clean glass jar and store in the fridge for up to five days. Cook with it, eat it in salads, eat it on toast etc, etc.
Above: clabber ready to be strained and made into cottage cheese
Below: Cottage cheese ready to be stored or eaten
Butter
Once you have your cultured cream, place it back in the fridge for a while till it's nice and cold. This step is pretty necessary as the butter is quite hard to clean if it's not cold enough (trust me I've tried). Place it in a cake mix or use a hand held electric beater to beat the cream. This can take up to 10 minutes. When you see that the butter has formed and separated from the butter milk strain the butter from the butter milk. Put the butter milk in a jar in the fridge and use it for baking instead of milk within 5 days. It makes things extra light and fluffy. Rinse the butter in cold water until the water runs clear, pat dry with a clean tea towel and store in a container in the fridge.
Enjoy!
