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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
How long is the sour milk drinkable? For example, can I drink it as old as a few months? Does it need to be refrigerated?
Hi! I love your blog!!
I recently tried making clabbered milk from raw, unpasteurized milk. After about 3-4 days at temperatures between room temperature and about 110 F or so in an insulated container, it has separated into what looks like curds and whey. It’s still quite thin and runny. I haven’t tasted it. I smelled it, thinking it would smell like yogurt, but it didn’t smell like anything at all. (And I’m pretty sure my nose still works!)
Is this normal?
Thanks so much!
Yes it’s normal with raw milk, but I don’t know l the scientific explanations as to WHY. 🙂
We found a gallon of raw milk that was left outside in a cooler accidentally (in south Florida) for two weeks.
What would you do with that?
Can I use raw milk to make chowder? I have never been a huge milk fan but would like to try raw milk in a chowder recipe I have. I made it with Organic pasteurized milk but would love to use raw milk. Does it destroy all the beneficial aspects when using it in a chowder?
My Grass Fed Raw Milk tastes just a little sour, can I use this milk to culture kefir? Is there enough natural sugar still in it to feed the kefir grains? Do I need to add some sugar? If so, what kind of sugar? Grade B maple syrup?
Thanks, DeAnna
Yes you can … the kefir will be a bit more sour than usual though.
I learned a trick from an old timer dairy farmer that as soon as you see the cream sticking to the sides of the jar pour the milk into new clean jar. He told me that when it starts to stick the process is starting where the milk wont taste good to drink. I used to have the problem of milk only lasting one week in the fridge.
Since I began doing pouring the milk into new containers, my sweet raw milk lasts much longer, retaining it’s good flavor in the fridge.
I’ll have to try that, thank you 🙂
Found an AWESOME roasted chicken recipe that calls for a pint of milk.
http://www.thekitchn.com/jamie-oliver-chicken-in-milk-best-chicken-recipe-all-time-80388
Milk from grain fed cows is still better for you than store bought milk, right? My mother-in-law always has a milk cow but feeds it mostly grain & we have all the milk we could want for free.
I Wouldn’t Drink It Personally. As Grain Makes Cows Get Sick, Because They Can’t Digest It Like Grass….. http://Www.Realmilk.Com Has Some Good Information On It.
Sorry About All Caps…. My Phone Is Screwy On This Page For Some Reason…. :/
Grain does not make cows sick. The milk is just as good from grain supplemented cows as from grass -fed cows. No one feeds mostly grain to their cows. They eat primarily grass and hay, and in order to help keep up production of milk without losing condition (cows will take the energy from their own bodies to maintain milk production as long as possible), dairymen supplement the cows with a small amount of grain to keep up the highest level of production with the best health of the animal. If grains were bad for cows, they wouldn’t eat them.
You must be right! Just like people wouldn’t eat Twinkies or drink Coke if it was bad for them!
It is the GMO grains that I worry about!! (And GMO grain IS bad for cows) And when people hear “we feed our cows small amounts of grain (or any grain for that matter), that is the first thing that comes to mind.
Most grain is GMO. And yes, grain does make cows acidic which makes them get sick. Which is why antibiotics are given which decreases milk production which is why growth hormones are given (cascade of interventions as it relates to cows instead of birth this time…). Instead feed them grass abs they don’t need the antibiotics…
I love this comment <3 Thank YOU!
ROFL. Tell all the cows that have died from bloat that grain isn’t bad for them. The rumen isn’t designed to digest grain, period.
You’re absolutely right, Mary. My husband and I are cattle farmers, and most of these blabbering people have no idea what they are talking about! Farmers do not feed endless supplies of grain to their cattle, only a measured amount daily. ANY feed, substance, or forage in excess will cause cattle illness. In the summer when the different grasses are growing in our pastures, we do not grain at all. However, when the forage dies off in the winter, it is absolutely necessary to supplement with grain (which, by the way, IS NOT acidic!), which the gives the cows a healthy substance to burn energy, that keeps them warm and keeps their milk supply coming. In all the years I’ve farmed, we have NEVER had to give a cow antibiotics because they were eating grain! LOL! That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard! And a little more information for your negative posters, grain doesn’t normally cause a cow to die of bloat, unless the farmer is ONLY feeding grain and providing NO forage at all by keeping the cow locked up in a small area with no greenery to forage on. By the way, a farmer would NEVER do this! Death by bloat is mostly caused from grass tetanus in the spring when the nitrogen levels in the grass are too high and cattle cannot process the amount properly. Sorry that you had so many negative posts in reference to your comment. Sometimes these boards are filled with people that are very under educated and over opinionated about a subject, so you have to take some things with a grain of salt.
Thank you, Mrs. T. for your voice of experience and reason! I love your response and I appreciate that you took the time for reply. I would TOTALLY eat grain fed raw milk over store bought milk any day. As a matter of fact I do this too…in the winter!
GMO wheat, oats and barley are not commercially available though some universities may have developed them.
GMO corn is, of course, readily available.
Wheat which was sprayed with Round-up prior to harvest is pesticide contaminated.
Of course grass fed milk is the best! Still ANY raw milk is better than ANY pasteurized homogenized milk.
Unfortunately, I’ve been to one farm in the heart of Amish country in Lancaster, PA whose dairy cattle are in MOST of the day feeding off corn silage. How do I know? Because I did the VIP (visit in person) tour with a few other families and heard it directly from the Amish farmer himself. This particular farm had a contract with Land O’Lakes, so you can figure the rest out from there. Interestingly, the wife showed us the Jersey cow the family uses for their own consumption, which was smaller and feeding purely off the pasture.
So hats off to you and your husband, Mrs. T, and all cattle farmers like you, BUT the cold reality is there are plenty of farmers who do not raise cattle as they should.
I believe what this person was trying to say was that grain causes the ecoli in a cow’s gut to EXPONENTIALLY increase, therefore in a commercial operation one would have to really worry about the feces contamination in the milk and the meat that is BOUND to occur the way things are done in those circumstances. However, in a small setting, although optimally grass fed is BEST, grain fed would be okay as long as the milking stalls are very sanitary. Yes, ECOLI is a MUCH bigger concern in grain fed cows. Thank you!
Does grain really increase the ecoli level in the gut of cows, or does it lead to leaky gut, which allows ecoli into the blood stream, as is the case with humans, especially celiacs and all susceptible to leaky gut?
Grain does increase the e coli in a cow’s gut but it has to be a large part of the cow’s diet. Small amounts are fine. Studies that I have reviewed have shown that particularly distillery grains increase e coli .. but the amount the cows were eating was very high … something like 40% or more of the diet.
Yes!