How to keep grassfed raw milk fresh for drinking as long as possible so that your investment in Real Food is maximally used for your family’s health benefit.
When making the smart switch to unpasteurized milk from allergy-triggering pasteurized or ultrapasteurized (UHT) organic milk, a consumer needs to learn a few tricks of the trade right away. One of the most important is how to maintain raw milk freshness as long as possible.
Practically speaking, this is necessary because quality, fresh from the farm milk is usually at least double or even triple commercial milk prices (unless you buy at the farm and bring your own containers). You want every drop to stay fresh until you’ve used it up!
This is especially important for those who will use the grassfed milk for homemade baby formula.
As someone who has purchased and consumed raw grass-fed milk from over two dozen farms in many different states and countries over the past 2 decades, I thought I would pass along 5 important tips on how to make this happen in your home.
Quality, unpasteurized raw milk should easily remain fresh for drinking on average 10-14 days. In the summer, when the grass is mild and grows fast, I’ve found it will sometimes last 3 weeks or more.
If your farm doesn’t have milk that stays fresh this long, several things could be the problem.
A Large Creamline Locks in Raw Milk Freshness
The type of cow you get your milk from makes a huge difference to how long it lasts in the fridge.
Holstein (black and white) cows, produce milk with a decidedly small to nearly imperceptible cream line.
This is a problem for freshness because the larger the cream line, the longer the milk stays fresh for drinking. The cream very effectively locks in the freshness of the milk. Another related problem with Holstein milk is the A1 vs A2Â cow genetics issue as discussed in the linked article.
Raw milk stays fresh much longer when you get it from old-fashioned cows such as jersey, guernsey, or devon among others.
If you’re not an expert at knowing a cow’s breed just by looking at her, then examine the cream line at the top of the milk.
If it isn’t at least an inch or usually two or more, then it’s probably from Holstein or Holstein-mix cows.
The cream line on the jersey milk I buy is regularly 1/3 the height of the container! No wonder this amazing milk stays fresh for so long.
Milking Protocol
Another reason for rapidly soured milk is the type of milking procedures used at the farm.
If a farm bottles the raw milk before it is cooled to 34-40 ºF/ 1-4 ºC, this can reduce how long the milk remains fresh for drinking by a few days or even a full week. The reason is that milk comes out of the cow at approximately 104 ºF/ 40 ºC. If this warm milk is put into a bottle immediately and then refrigerated, it will take HOURS for it to completely cool down.
The longer raw milk is above 40 ºF/ 4 ºC, the more rapidly it will sour. This occurs from the beneficial probiotic microbes consuming the milk sugar which gradually transforms it into a clabbered milk state.
On the other hand, rapidly cooling before bottling is a huge positive for raw milk freshness. As mentioned above, it will likely add a week or more to the drinkable life of the milk.
Bottling raw milk before it is cold is not necessarily a safety issue. It is, however, a less desirable approach. Rapid cooling before bottling ensures a quality product that lasts longer for the consumer.
Check Refrigerator Temperature
Another common reason raw milk sours quickly is due to consumer negligence. A refrigerator that stores raw milk really must be below 40 ºF/ 4 ºC. Every degree above 40 ºF/ 4 ºC will take at least a couple of days off the drinking life of the milk.
You absolutely cannot tell how cold a refrigerator is by opening it up and sticking your hand in there to gauge the temperature. The only reliable way is to measure it precisely with a fridge thermometer. I use this one.
Most people regularly have a fridge in the 40-45 ºF range and think everything is just fine. That is until they start to store raw milk and wonder why it only lasts a week or even less.
If you are having problems with maintaining raw milk freshness, please don’t complain to your farmer. At least not yet! Check your fridge first.
The ideal fridge temperature is 33-36 ºF. Even better, store bottles of raw milk that you aren’t actively using yet in a second fridge that is 33-36 ºF. This way you add the benefit of the door not getting opened and closed much which helps better maintain the optimal temperature range.
Glass Bottles are Best
Raw milk stays fresh longer in glass as opposed to plastic jugs. That said, many grass-fed farms do not offer their milk in glass bottles. This isn’t necessarily a problem.
For example, the farm I buy raw milk from only offers raw milk in plastic jugs. This is offset by the large cream line and rapid milk cooling system utilized at the farm.
If you can only get your raw milk in plastic jugs too, then simply transfer the milk into glass as soon as you get home. These inexpensive half-gallon jars work well in my experience.
You don’t have to do this, of course! Transferring milk to glass is just a helpful tip for extending the drinkable life of your raw milk. It is also a smart way to maintain raw milk freshness while you are out of town.
Freezing Raw Milk with Baking Soda
It is possible that the only raw milk available in your area is from Holstein cows, milked without modern cooling equipment, and packaged in plastic jugs.
If that is the case, you can try freezing raw milk instead of refrigerating it. This option works even if you use it to make homemade milk-based baby formula. I know a number of people that have used this approach for many years. They simply thaw one container at a time on an as-needed basis.
Freezing is also a smart approach if you need to drive a long distance to pick up your raw milk and are only able to make the trip every month or two.
The primary problem with freezing raw milk is that the cream sometimes gets a bit grainy when you thaw it out. This adds a slightly undesirable texture issue to each glass.
To avoid this problem, add 1/2 tsp baking soda to each gallon before shaking it up really well and then freezing. The baking soda helps to minimize or even eliminate any clumping of the cream when the milk is thawed.
Not sure what type of container to use for freezing? This article discusses tips on how to freeze milk in either plastic or glass with no mess or safety issues.
Do you have any other tips for maintaining unpasteurized raw milk freshness? Please share it with all of us!
i read recently that before refrigeration the practice of adding a silver coin to the milk extended shelf stability and freshness. so i tried adding colloidal silver to my water buffalo milk. no off taste and it seems to extend shelf life – if for some reason i don’t drink it quickly. have you heard of this practice?
Colloidal silver should never be added to raw milk. It kills all the probiotics! https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/colloidal-silver-raw-milk/
What is the recommended temperature for freezing?
Hi Sarah. I agree, the cream line creates the lock of freshness. Sometimes the cream line on the raw milk I buy is tiny, and I figure the farmer had extra orders for pure cream and skimmed off more than usual. I thought about buying cream and adding it to the milk to create that freshness lock. But since cream is $13 a pint, I haven’t tried it!
The farmer should never sell raw milk that has had the cream skimmed off. The leftover milk from having cream skimmed off is best reserved for pigs or for making yogurt, cottage cheese or other things.
Two more tips for extending the life of raw milk is to not leave it in an even semi-warm car. In warmer weather, or if you are running other errands, bring along a cooler in which you have placed already frozen freezer packs. The second tip is to put the milk behind something else in the fridge (and definitely do NOT store it on the door!) because you want to protect it from the warmer air with which it would come into contact whenever the door is opened. I work at a little locally owned natural food market in SC (yay for milk available here at the retail level!) and these two tips, along with yours, are what we share with our raw milk customers looking to extend to life of their purchase.
Also be sure to not store the milk on the door of the fridge, but bury it behind other items to keep it away from the warm air that comes in when the door is opened. When it first starts to sour I will sometimes use it in cooking, like for a white sauce, or I make cornbread, biscuits, waffles, pancakes, or freeze it to use in those items later.
I like to drink the milk straight from the utter so there is no concern for bad bacteria in the mix. I obviously clean the utter afterward and will even go as far as rinsing my mouth with a small amount of baking soda first to make sure there is no transfer of bacteria.
I just bought raw milk (for the first time) from a farm down the road from my house in Mexico. It’s a very barn yard set up and workers hang out there before and after work and drink it with alcohol in it (not sure if tequila or what), supposedly this kills the bad germs. I didn’t have another bottle so I used a water bottle that was in the car and put it in the refrigerator when I got home. I boiled it the next day for about 2 min. Now that it’s cooled, is it safe to drink?
Doesn’t sound very sanitary. I wouldn’t drink it.
Is it ok to consume in some way, raw sheeps milk that has been refrigerated for 6 months? Was in 2nd fridge, didn’t have enough room to freeze it. I was thinking make yogurt or cheese.
If there is no mold, then yes you can make whey or cheese from it, but it will be very strong tasting. You might not like it. Yogurt would be too strong tasting for sure.
In addition to all of your great tips for keeping raw milk fresh, I use a very old method for the glass jars: rinse them very well with hot water and baking soda. I use a teaspoon of baking soda for several jars at once, shaking each one for a few seconds. Then I rinse each jar with hot water. It gets rid of all the soap residue, which, by definition, cuts grease and protein, even Dr. Bronners. It adds several days to the freshness of the milk.
Just read this article on keeping raw milk fresh. We have a couple of cows. We use a machine to milk. Once the milking is completed we double filter the milk into either quart or 2 quart glass jars and place in a picnic cooler that has frozen water filled soda bottles in it A couple of hours or so later we transfer from there to a refrigerator that has the temperature just above 32 degrees. We can have unopened jars of milk stand for 3 weeks or longer. Rapid cooling is one of 4 main components to keeping raw milk fresh. The other three are a squeaky clean udder before the milking unit is attached, properly cleaned stainless steel milking equipment and super clean jars and lids. Our milk from our Jersey cows is always fresh and sweet, no cow/barn taste or odor.