What to do with first bottle of raw milk?

[GlowingGhoul]

I went to pick to our weekly ration of eggs at a local family farm, and the woman there purasuaded me to buy a 1/2 gallon of the raw milk they started offering.

Generally, we use skim for coffee drinks and baking....it's been decades since I switched from whole milk, and now find driking whole milk to be too rich.

What should we do with this stuff?

We love raw milk cheeses, but I'm at a loss. Any recipes that would benefit from the unqiue characteristics fo raw milk?

Edited December 19, 2011 by GlowingGhoul (log)

[patrickamory]

Drink it!

[curls]

Make something that highlights the milk like vanilla custard, flan, ice cream, crème brûlée or pudding.

[Alex]

Wow, you can actually buy raw milk. Here in Michigan, we can be part of a cow share or herd share program, which is closely monitored for sanitation by the state, but selling the milk outright is illegal

As you probably know, the milk's characteristics will vary depending on the season, what the cows are eating, and, of course, the breed. We always let the milk sit in the fridge for a couple of days, skim the cream to use for coffee or sometimes cooking (great vanilla ice cream, especially with farm eggs!), use the mostly skim milk for cereal or occasionally drinking, then make yogurt with what remains after the next biweekly pickup.

You also could make whole milk mozzarella, if you're up for it.

[annabelle]

Make a pastry cream. It'll give you an excuse to make some sort of decadent holiday dessert.

[patrickamory]

I wasn't joking about drinking it, btw... I grew up forced to drink pasteurized skim milk or homogenized pasteurized whole milk. Raw milk was a revelation.

But beyond that:

ricotta

yogurt

[thayes1c]

Pasteurize it. (Couldn't resist!)

If I got my hands on some I'd definitely make some mozzarella.

[Philip Le]

Perhaps butter?

[Shalmanese]

Seems like a waste to heat it up since you lose the raw milk flavor. Yogurt might be good.

[djyee100]

Put it in your holiday eggnog.

Or make gelato. Banana gelato: http://www.food.com/recipe/banana-gelato-457098 (from Pamela Sheldon Johns' cookbook).

Custard gelato: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Custard-Gelato-103830 .

[HowardLi]

Is it not illegal to sell it in most states?

If you were concerned about safety you could probably SV it at 145F for 30 minutes. Not as safe as UHT, but better than completely raw.

[Snadra]

Having been raised drinking mostly raw milk, I say drink it!, it's delicious! But proceed with caution, based on how careful they are about hygiene. Pasteurisation became the standard for very good reason, and organic methods and good intentions are not a substitute for hygiene and proper management.

If its raw it's unlikely to be homgenized anyway, so the cream will float soon enough. Use the cream for butter, whipped cream or your coffee, and drink the rest.

If you truly have concerns regarding its safety don't bother with pasteurising it yourself, just feed it to pets or bathe in it (one local raw milk producer gets around regs by promoting it as bath milk).

Edit: fix autocorrect!

Edited December 20, 2011 by Snadra (log)

[Lior]

pasteurize it maybe?

[GlowingGhoul]

Well, it turned out this farmer had her terms mixed up. The milk isn't raw, just local and not homogenized.

Edited December 24, 2011 by GlowingGhoul (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Queso Fresco, then!

[Jenni]

Make yoghurt and then make butter and ghee from that. Nothing finer.

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