Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
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
I don’t believe it!!! oh, not that I don’t believe YOU, but me! I had bought raw milk at the health food store 9 days ago. I had never done it before, and there was an “S” marked on the cap of this gallon of milk ….which I might add was almost 7 dollars. Silly me. What would the “S” mean? Oh, must mean “sweet”. Nope. Got it home, tasted it and spit it out. The “S” was for “Sour”. I thought, I’m not killing my family with soured milk. I sure wish I had either read a post like this 9 days ago, or waited to buy that milk today! LOL Thanks for the good-to-know information, I’m filing this away for future use.
For using fresh milk or cream the taste is a much better guide than the “best by…” date. It might have been better if you had used it earlier, but it might still be delicious. I have used fresh cream sometimes weeks after I got it ( my farmer does not put a “use by…” date on it). Just taste it.
As for the goat’s milk- if you don’t like the taste, try to give it to someone who does. I really like fresh cow’s milk, and I think that fresh sheep’s milk is the best stuff ever, but I have never gotten to like goat’s milk. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it.
You might try making cheese with it. Even some of us who do not like goat’s milk like goat cheese.
I was looking for the post that said something about the milk smelling (or tasting) like BO. I find it funny because a friend told me about milk goats – to not let the females even touch noses with the male goats or the milk would taste like a male goat smells. I tried this out and it really did work. Never cared for goats milk until we started milking our own and keeping them separate (two separated pastures) after the kids are born. The milk is sweeter than any other milk I have ever tasted. I had an unfortunate incident when one of the male goats got loose and went to visit one of our three females that we are milking. That milk tasted “tainted” for at least 4 days. I made lebany (probably misspelled as it is Arabic) out of it and some other soured milk. That is similar to yogurt but is more twangy and goes great with stuffed grape leaves or stuffed squash. I did the whole thing in a rice cooker and it took more than a day as I was experimenting! I used greek yogurt as well as some probiotic capsules emptied into the mix. I was pleased that there wasn’t but about a fourth of a cup of whey to pour off the whole quart and a half of stuff.
Thanks for the website as I did google what to do with sour goats milk as I have been keeping it for awhile in hopes of making cheese. I think this will work great with lots of different things to make! Good ideas here.
Today two little girls came over to visit with their grandmother and had poison oak and a history of skin problems. They spread sour goats milk all over and said the itching subsided. Was glad to send them home with a pint as I have two whole shelves of my fridge full of quart jars and pints. LOL
I have a question. I’m new to the raw milk thing. I have a pint of raw jersey cream, unopened, but is now 8 days past its “best by” date. What can I make with it or do with it?
I also made some yogurt out of raw goats milk. I have 2 quart jars of it, but I don’t like it. It’s a bit too “goaty” if that’s a word! Is there anything I can do with it? I thought, could I water the goat yogurt down and spray my garden with it??? I don’t think I want to cook with it as I don’t like the taste, unless I can hide the flavor I guess lol.
Silver looking dull? Soak it overnight in sour milk. Next day, wipe it off and wash as usual.
I had quite a bit of sour raw milk to use this past weekend and so I made several batches of homemade cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup and froze it in 2 cup servings to use instead of the nasty canned stuff!
Make sour milk pie! You don’t have to put lemon juice in the sweet milk to sour it, it’s already sour!
MY GRANDMOTHER LOVED CLABBERED MILK. SHE PUT RAW MILK IN A LARGE BOWL ON THE TABLE AND AFTER ABOUT 3 DAYS IT CLABBERED AND SHE DRANK IT.
Thanks so much for providing this, our house got broken into while we were gone for a few days and they left our extra fridge open and spoiled more than 3 gallons of milk!
so i’m guessing the unused jars of raw cow/goat milk, cream and yogurt that have been in my fridge for… at least 3 years (!) are best used for my septic system since i have no garden? is there any danger to even open to dump? needless to say, i’ve not been committed to the lifestyle change, and contented to let this sit in the back of my fridge. i’d appreciate any genuine advice
Soak dry beans prior to cooking in it instead of water. Drain off what is left before cooking.