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The many uses for sour raw milk at home which, unlike pasteurized milk, does not go putrid, but naturally ferments into probiotic clabber.
One of the most frequent questions I get from readers is what to do with naturally soured milk, also called clabber.
Sour raw milk is quite unlike pasteurized milk that has gone past its “use by” date. Pasteurized milk goes putrid and must be thrown out at that point, but raw milk is still a highly useful item in the kitchen.
The difference is that pasteurized milk is quite literally a dead food. In other words, there are no enzymes or probiotics present. So, when store milk goes bad, it becomes a huge foodborne illness risk to consume it and it must be discarded.
Sour Raw Milk is Safe
Raw milk, on the other hand, is loaded with enzymes and probiotics. When raw milk starts to sour, it simply means that beneficial bacteria called probiotics have started to use up the lactose (milk sugar) which causes the milk to no longer taste as sweet.
Raw milk that tastes sour is still very much safe to drink and is even more beneficial to health as the higher level of probiotics initiates the fermentation or clabbering of the milk.
So if you find yourself with some soured raw milk in the refrigerator, check through this list and see what makes the most sense for using it up. It doesn’t have to be raw cow milk either. Any type of unpasteurized milk will do including sheep’s milk, goat milk, camel milk, and even water buffalo milk!
Whatever you do, though, don’t throw it out! There is no need for even a drop of your nutrient-dense, grass-fed dairy to go to waste!
There are so many uses for the clabber itself as well as the raw liquid whey separated from it.
Uses for Sour Milk (Clabber)
1. Make scrambled eggs with it.
2. Whip up a pan of quiche with it.
3. Add it to a breakfast smoothie.
4. Make homemade pudding with it (if slightly soured).
5. Make hot chocolate with it.
6. Use it for garden fertilizer (just pour around the base of your plants or trees). It really gets the worms going crazy.
7. Give it to your pet. Cats love it!
8. Make egg custard pudding with it.
9. Make this traditional British white sauce recipe with it.
10. Ferment homemade kefir with it.
11. Make yogurt with it.
12. Blend with flour to soak pancake batter.
13. Use it to soak cold breakfast cereal batter.
14. Use it to soak waffle batter.
15. Remove the soured cream off the top and add to homemade soups.
16. Remove the sour cream off the top and add to meatloaf.
17. Just drink it. It tastes like buttermilk and is very good for you.
18. Use to make devil’s food cake.
19. Make omelets with it.
20. Use it instead of water to cook up your soaked breakfast oatmeal.
21. Use it to soak crepe batter.
22. Soak banana bread batter with it.
23. Soak pumpkin bread batter with it.
24. Use it to soak buttermilk biscuit batter.
25. Soak muffin batter (any kind) with it.
26. Separate the liquid whey from the clabber.
27. Remove the sour cream off the top and add to a baked potato.
28. Add buttermilk culture and make buttermilk with it.
29. Take a bath in it. It was good enough for Cleopatra, right?
30. Separate out the liquid whey and make ricotta cheese.
31. Make mozzarella cheese with it.
32. Whip up a pan of flan using it instead of milk.
33. Make sweet potato casserole with the sour cream off the top.
34. Make cottage cheese with it.
35. Use as a base for ice milk (if only slightly soured).
36. Use it instead of evaporated milk to make pumpkin pie.
37. Use it to clear up pinkeye.
38. Soak frozen fish in it until thawed for improved texture and flavor.
39. Soak dull-looking silverware in it for at least 30 minutes and then rinse for a beautiful shine.
40. Use it as a conditioner for your hair. Or, take a bath in it. Remember Cleopatra?
41. Repair fine cracks in your china by boiling them in the soured raw milk (the milk reacts with a chemical in the china to seal the crack). I’ve never done this myself but it supposedly works.
42. Use it ice cold to soothe the discomfort of poison ivy.
43. Dab some on mild sunburn for instant, cooling relief.
44. Rub dry skin patches with it several times a day to make skin soft again.
45. Make cheese sauce for Welsh rarebit with it.
46. Make paneer (easy South Asian cheese that requires no rennet).
47. Make potato cheese soup.
48. Freeze the milk and use it later when you have a dire need for clabbered milk.
49. Make tapioca pudding with it.
50. Make bread pudding (soak the bread in the milk).
Need More Ideas? Let’s Keep Going…
51. Stew pork loin in it.
52. Make no-bake cheesecake with it.
53. Make lassi with it (Indian yogurt-style smoothie).
54. Use it instead of water (or a blend with water) to cook up amaranth porridge.
55. Separate the whey to use as a natural facial toner.
56. Use to cook up teff breakfast porridge.
57. Use blended with water to make cream of buckwheat porridge.
58. Make fermented almond milk.
59. Make homemade orangina soda.
60. Brew some detoxifying beet kvass.
61. Make homemade ginger ale.
62. Add a cup or two of the separated whey to a warm detoxifying bath instead of vinegar.
63. Make fermented lemonade.
64. Use instead of yogurt to make fermented potatoes.
65. Make homemade sauerkraut.
66. Use the separated whey instead of sauerkraut juice to make homemade pickles.
67. Make apricot butter.
68. Make probiotic mango chutney.
69. Use whey instead of raw ACV to make homemade mustard.
70. Use the whey to make fermented corn relish.
71. Blend up some probiotic thousand island dressing using some of the separated whey.
72. Make raw cream cheese.
73. Make fermented cilantro salsa.
74. Use whey to make homemade ketchup.
75. Add the whey to homemade mayo so it lasts three times as long in the fridge.
76. Add separated whey to potassium broth for extra minerals and digestibility.
77. Use to make cultured rice water.
78. Blend some to homemade wild rice milk to add probiotics.
79. Mix a teaspoon into a glass of homemade electrolyte beverage to add more minerals.
80. Use whey separated from clabber instead of kombucha to make a maple dijon salad dressing.
81. Stir a teaspoon of separated whey into homemade barbecue sauce to add probiotics.
82. Use liquid whey instead of raw ACV to make homemade cocktail sauce.
83. Use whey to make fermented salsa.
84. Substitute whey for lemon juice to make homemade steak sauce.
85. Whip up some homemade teriyaki sauce.
86. Add a drizzle of whey to artichoke dip to add probiotics and enhance the flavor.
87. Liquid whey is an important ingredient in hypoallergenic DIY baby formula.
88. Whey from clabber is also a key ingredient in homemade goat milk baby formula.
89. Add a drizzle of whey to sweet potato casserole baby food to add probiotics.
90. Liquid whey separated from clabber (or yogurt) is a key ingredient in homemade baby formula.
91. Use clabber blended with flour to make soaked waffles.
92. Whip up a pan of gluten-free soaked cornbread.
93. Make homemade tomato bisque using the soured milk instead of plain milk.
94. Use it to soak homemade quick oats.
95. Make a pan of Mexican mac & cheese.
96. Use instead of water to cook a pot of whole grain millet.
97. Make a buttermilk-style egg nog with it!
98. If only slightly sour, use it to make a refreshing matcha frappe.
99. Use as a substitute for water in this easy rice cakes recipe.
100. If only slightly sour, use to make a red rooibos latte.
101. Drizzle some into your cup of dandelion coffee if the sourness is very mild.
Do you have more suggestions to add? Please share with us in the comments section!
I’m sure there are literally dozens more uses for soured raw milk and the liquid whey separated from clabber that I’ve missed!
More Information
Organic UHT Milk
A1 vs A2 Milk
Why Skim Milk Makes You Fat
Low Temp (Vat) Pasteurized Milk Compared to Raw
Oooh, perfect! I get raw milk half of the year from the CSA, and poured too much sour milk into my garden. I’ve decided that this year, I’m going to figure out “101 Uses” for that milk so that none will go to waste. So, I’m bookmarking this page. Thank you!!!!
Ours never lasts long enough to sour!! Our family of 4 devours 4 gallons a week. I’d love to add the fifth, but that would mean another share purchase. Not in the budget, right now. 🙁
do you know if your farm feeds their cows gmo corn ? is it organic ?
By definition GMO corn is not organic.
You don’t want your cows to eat corn, you want them to be grass fed cows if you get raw milk. You don’t want them to eat grain either…
Ours never lasts long enough to sour!! Our family of 4 devours 4 gallons a week. I’d love to add the fifth, but that would mean another share purchase. Not in the budget, right now. 🙁
I know what you mean… We drive to the farm and get ours, and we get 12-13 gallons for two weeks for two adults and two children (3 and 1), and it never gets wasted, lol. :o) I am glad though I don’t have to do a cow share, I would much rather just pick up what I need every two weeks… :o)
I haven’t had any luck with making yogurt or kefir with my soured milk. It seems the bacteria compete and I’m left with something awful. But that’s just my experience.
If you bring the milk to just under a boil and remove it from the heat right away, that will kill of most of the competition and potential pathogens. Check the instructions of your culture to see how much you need to cool the milk before inoculating it.
you can’t make a fermented product with sour milk bcoz d reason of increasing acidity is not only lactic acid bacteria but also other bacteria. and the yogurt culture contain only two acid forming bacteria ( lactobacillus bulgaricus & streptococcus thermophilus ) growing symbiotically. so u have 2 make sure that the milk contains less amount of other bacterias.
*Cringe* My husband just poured half a gallon of souring raw milk down the drain, before I could tell him NOOOOOOOOOOOOO…
If you have a septic tank, maybe the good bacteria in the tank got a boost! 🙂
Can you make ice cream with it?
You can make ice milk since there isn’t enough cream really to make ice cream. Only if the milk is slightly soured though. If it’s really sour, you will have to cook with it or use it some other way listed above.
If you make home made ice cream the old-fashioned way, hand-cranked, and using the old recipe for French parfait, slightly soured milk makes the best tasting ice cream in the world! No matter what flavor you make (choclate, vanilla, fresh ground mint, etc.)! The recipe for Fench parfait calls for adding raw egg yolks to the milk (separate and discard the egg whites), plus real vanilla flavoring (not imitation) plus your natural flavor of choice (real choclate, or freshly ground mint leaves, or lemon concentrate) plus just the right amount of real sugar (personal taste) to the sour milk, and slightly heating (simmering) it (do not boil), then letting it cool, then freezing it in the cranker.
Do you have the exact recipe? I tried googling but wasn’t getting the right thing. Lots of sugary synthetic recipes.
I have some more:
Use it in smoothies.
Use it in ice cream recipes to replace some of the milk.
Make panna cotta with it – just google “Buttermilk Panna Cotta” for ideas.
Use it when making fish/crab cakes.
Use it when making cornstarch puddings.
Use it to “marinate” chicken so it gets really tender.
Make mayonnaise with it.
Make mashed potatoes with it.
Use it for salad dressings.
9 kids does not allow this problem usually, but my fridge went out and I had 4 gallons, 2 of them had started separating so I made cream cheese and whey with one and gave one to the 9 chickens. Now for the last 2 days I have been getting almost double the eggs. I get 50 chicks on Fri. and I will be adding soured milk to their diet.
Diane,
It’s been over a year to test your odea about doubling egg production with sour raw milk. Did production hold?
Thank you.
Make an Indian dessert with it, mawa