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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
use it to make salad dressing for fresh lettuce and other greens.
I had some soured raw milk that I was going to use but the jug had become completely puffed out. Is this normal?
According to Natasha Campbell-McBride, soured/fermented milk is an excellent armpit deodorant and colonizer of the ‘sensitive’ tissues, proving ‘good’ bacteria where women need it most quite often. Simply rub it on externally in or near the areas in question.
Whoa! Never heard of using it for a deodorant!
That would be like using yogurt “down there” for yeast infections. Works every time!! :o)
As to the garden – it adds calcium which is much need by plants like tomatoes and cucumbers. Should prevent blossom end rot. Whatever skim milk I have leftover after making my half and half and yogurt for the week I try to remember to water into the garden when I have tomatoes growing.
Kinda funny: the other day I’d left the milk in the fridge for about 10 to 12 days and decided to empty the jar so I could return it and get more. But of course I forgot and left it overnight (or maybe over two nights) on the counter. When I finally got back to it I poured it down the drain but every instinct in me wanted to just grab the solids with both hands and eat them right then and there. Guess my body knew the right thing to do even though my brain didn’t. Oh well maybe next time. 🙂
I’m not sure about whey helping the blossom end rot. I poured lots of whey from cheese making (using fresh raw milk) on my tomatoes in grow bags and pots and lost almost my complete crop to blossom end rot. The plants in the ground tolerated it much better. Yes, whey from cheese making (heated to a maximum of 105 degrees) isn’t from whey from clabbered milk, but I would be very reluctant to try it again. The soil in the grow bags and pots was commercial organic soil mixed with compost and some peat moss. The soil in my garden is pretty alkaline. Maybe the difference in the pH was important . . . but losing all those tomatoes was pretty discouraging! No major improvement in the garden tomatoes either, so I’m skeptical about doing it again without more technical information.
My husband accidentally left out an entire gallon of raw milk while I was out of town. He called me the next morning and said “I messed up, how do I fix it.” I told him to just leave the milk out and let it separate into curds and whey. It took a few days but then I had a ton of whey. I gave the curds to a baker friend and then I bottled up the whey. I also made a bunch of whey ice cubes by pouring the whey into ice cube trays. Now I have a whole bag of frozen whey cubes to use when ever I need some. I use the whey in smoothies and also to make delicious fermented mayo. I assume that the whey will still be good once it thaws. What do you think? The milk was fresh (not previously frozen) when I soured it.
Sure, that’s fine. Very creative right brained thinking. Love it.
Can soured raw milk be used to “culture” raw veggies? Just wondering since the enzymes and probiotics are already there? Has anyone tried that? (Might have to just to see.) Thanks.
If you separate out the whey from the clabbered (sour) raw milk, yes this can be used for culturing raw veggies.
thanks for this! it almost never happens, but when it does, i want to do something with it!
I love that sour milk is still useful and nutritious, whereas pasteurized milk simply rots.
Perfect timing! We just got a herd share from Davis Family Farm in AZ.
This website is fantastic! We owned a jersey and sold her last September. One reason we sold her was we didn’t know what to do with 4-8 gallons of milk a day for a 3 person household (this was only one small reason for selling her) but if I’d only known what to do with all that good milk at the time. We have found another source for raw milk since then so I will be trying many of these wonderful ideas. I will say this, my husband tended to have stomach issues prior to owning the cow. While on raw milk I cannot remember him having any issues yet for the past 6 months since not having raw milk to drink his stomach has been acting up again. Raw milk is like gold to us. Thanks for this website and all the information you post!
Mindy why instead to sell the cow,you could give some milk to the neighboors