Did you know that a clabbered raw milk smoothie tastes very similar to one made with drinkable style yogurt?  This is perhaps the best and most economical way to use farm fresh milk that is no longer at its best for drinking!
In 2004, I wrote an article for Wise Traditions journal titled Learning to Maximize the Use of Your Real Milk and Cream.  The basic premise of the article is that Real Milk and Real Cream (as in fresh from a grassfed cow), do not go bad, they sour.
Big difference.
Pasteurized milk from the store that goes bad must be thrown out. It is putrid and can make you sick if you consume it. It is full of pathogenic bacteria.
Real milk fresh from a happy, healthy, pastured cow that has soured has not gone bad. It has clabbered which means the good bacteria have simply consumed a good portion of the milk sugar (lactose), thereby giving the milk a more yogurt-like smell and taste.
Nevermind that you’ve probably never heard of clabbered milk let alone consumed it. Fact is, clabbered sour milk is totally fine and healthy to eat. Do not throw it out! There are many uses for such a wonderful food, which that article details.
I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of that piece over the years and have forwarded it to many people who are using Real Milk for the first time and are unaccustomed to souring as opposed to the putrification of store milk.
Clabbered Milk Smoothie
You can imagine my surprise when I discovered yet another use for clabbered milk that wasn’t even mentioned in that article, yet is probably the BEST use of clabbered milk that I have found to date!
How about using clabbered milk for smoothies!!!
Some of you are probably rolling your eyes right about now thinking, “Like, I’ve been doing that for years already!”
I should have been doing this for years, but I am so rarely out of raw kefir or yogurt for my smoothies that it literally never crossed my mind as an idea.
The thought came to me for the first time just a few days ago when we were completely out of milk. I didn’t have any kefir or raw yogurt either. The next farm delivery was a couple days away.
Buying a lower quality product from the store to get me through? Not an option for me. I’m waaaayyyy too much of a dairy snob for that.
Moreover, I was just dying for a smoothie.
I thought to myself, “Hey, maybe I could use some of that lightly clabbered milk in the fridge, after all it is pretty similar in texture and taste to raw yogurt!”
I have said this before and I’m sure I will say it again, sometimes the most obvious stuff just takes awhile to bubble to the surface! At least that’s how my brain works.
In case you’re wondering, here’s my favorite smoothie of the moment.
Clabbered Milk Smoothie Recipe
Nourishing recipe for a clabbered milk smoothie that is an economical way to use farm fresh raw milk that has slightly soured and loaded with probiotics.
Ingredients
- 1 pint plain kefir preferably raw
- 2 bananas ripe
- 2 Tbl raw honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup creamy roasted peanut butter
Instructions
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Mix all ingredients together in a mason jar using a handheld blender.
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Serve immediately and enjoy! Refrigerate leftovers.
More Smoothie Recipes
- Peanut butter banana smoothie
- Kefir smoothie
- Smoothie alternative
- Raspberry lassi recipe
- Coconut milk smoothie recipe
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Can I make real butter from fresh/old milk that has been sitting in my fridge for two weeks?
You cannot make butter from milk. You make butter from cream.
I like the idea of ‘Clabbered Milk’ and am going to try it later today.
Here’s a recipe which would be good for it.
Zippy Banana Smoothie
1/2 cup cornflakes
1 cup skimmed milk
6 arugula leaves
1 stalk of celery
2 apples
1 banana
10 red grapes (seedless)
Roger James and Cherry Mae
I made this today with a little less peanut butter, but added a tablespoon of Great Lakes hydrolyzed gelatin and a teaspoon of Green Pastures infused coconut oil, and an ounce of raw cocao beans. It was really yummy and I was very happy to use milk that a year ago I would have given to the chickens. I’m so glad to have a good use for milk that didn’t get used when it was fresh. Thanks for the recipe.
Hello
Has anybody tried adding the clabbered milk to coconut milk. I was thinking it might be a great way to make a great probiotic coconut yoghurt.
Thanks
Sarah – I read somewhere that according to Chinese Medicine bananas produce dampness, phlegm and mucus in throat. What’s your take on this?
My son (4 y.o.) is prone to nasty colds which sometimes leads to asthma, despite my efforts of providing him with real food (sweets only in the form of raw honey on smoothies, 90-95% of grain free diet and lots of healthy fat and grass fed meat /chicken / eggs). His daily breakfast include this same smoothie above sans vanilla and the peanut butter. He loves bananas, maybe he’s eating too much or too often? Any response would be very much appreciated! Thanks.
I have a stupid question but here goes. What exactly is clabbered milk?
Sara,
I love raw milk, however I don’t have access to it where I live. What I have access is to a wonderful farmer’s market, where I can get low temperature pasteurized milk from pastured cows. Can I let this milk clabber, or does it have to be 100% raw? I would like to make the cold cereal with the milk instead of Yogurt.
Thanks,
Fran