When folks start getting into Traditional Cooking, learning to ferment foods like clabbered milk is a basic skill that must be mastered. Lacto-fermented foods are rich in enzymes as well as beneficial bacteria.
Think of lacto-fermented foods like clabbered milk, sauerkraut or pickles as “super-raw” foods. The enzymes in lacto-fermented foods more than compensate for the enzymes lost in the foods that are cooked when consumed with a meal.
Lactic acid is what is responsible for the magic of lacto-fermentation; it preserves food by inhibiting putrefying bacteria. This organic acid is produced by a beneficial bacterium present on the surface of all plants and animals – even our own skin!
Traditional cuisines from around the world prized lacto-fermented foods and beverages for their medicinal properties as well as delicious taste. Most traditional cuisines included at least one fermented food or beverage with every meal, which worked to improve digestion and nutrient absorption.
Why Clabbered Milk is Important
When embarking on the adventure of lacto-fermentation for the first time, a basic ingredient required by many recipes is liquid whey.
Liquid whey serves as an inoculant and so is of critical value in fermenting vegetables, fruit chutneys and beverages; having some on hand is of primarily importance when incorporating these traditional methods into your routine.
Whey must be homemade and can be easily made by straining the clear liquid from plain yogurt, kefir, or clabbered raw milk through a dishtowel into a bowl. Powdered whey cannot be used as a substitute as whey is very fragile and its qualities are ruined when it is dried or powdered.
Once you’ve got a big jar of liquid whey ready to go from your first batch of clabbered milk, the world of fermenting food is truly your oyster! The whey lasts 6 months in the refrigerator, so it makes sense to make large batches at a time.
You can also make delicious beverages with your clabbered milk. Try a milk clabber smoothie, or a sweet lassi, India’s delicious yogurt-style drink.
I’ve Left the Raw Milk on the Counter for a Week and it Won’t Clabber!
If after following the recipe below, your the raw milk still does not clabber, it’s time to have a conversation with your dairy farmer.
There is likely an issue with the Milk Urea Nitrogen value (MUN), which probably measures 23 or over. A high MUN prevents the raw milk from fermenting into yogurt or even clabbering properly. Cream from high MUN milk will not whip properly either.
This article on evaluating a grassfed dairy farm provides more information.
Homemade Clabbered Milk Recipe
Recipe for making clabbered milk at home which can be used for making homemade fermented foods and drinks loaded with enzymes and probiotics. Makes a great substitute for yogurt in smoothies too.
Ingredients
- 1 quart raw milk preferably grassfed
- 1 Tbl whole milk yogurt optional
- 3 drops lemon juice optional
Instructions
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Add optional yogurt OR lemon juice to milk container if you need clabbered milk as quickly as possible. Skip this step if your milk is already sour or you are not in a hurry.
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Shake up milk container vigorously.
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Leave on the counter for 1-5 days until yogurt like curds form and separate from the clear liquid (whey) portion of the milk. How long this will take depends on the temperature in your home as well as the freshness of the milk. Here in Florida, clabbering typically takes 1-2 days no matter the time of year.
Recipe Notes
When attempting to clabber milk, it is best to use raw milk that is a week old or more. Keep it at room temperature on the kitchen counter and don't try to clabber in the refrigerator.
If your raw milk is very fresh and you don't have time to wait the many days until it clabbers, add the optional a few drops of lemon juice or a tablespoon of yogurt to the container of milk and shake it up. Leave on the counter as usual and it will clabber much more quickly.
NEVER attempt to clabber pasteurized milk even if low temp (vat) pasteurized. It will go putrid if left on the counter and is never safe to consume.
More Information
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Clabbered milk is raw milk that has been allowed to sit out at room temperature long enough for the curds and whey to separate. It may take several days for it to separate. After it has separated you can dump the whole thing into a cheesecloth or large piece of muslin fabric, laying in a bowl (you want to catch the liquid whey that drips through), tie the corners of the fabric and hang it up over the bowl to catch the whey. After about 12 hours, most of the whey has dripped into the bowl, and the curds will remain in the cheesecloth.
You can season the curds with herbs and spices to use as a dip, or use it as a substitute for cream cheese in recipes.
The buttermilk that separates from butter is NOT whey.
The best clabbered cream I ever had was a bottle the farmer gave me. He had accidentally left a gallon (gasp!) of raw cream in his truck in the summer (pacific nw summer… not SO hot – but hot) for a week! It was SO good. SO GOOD! so I think warmth must help.
I’m just curious how you used the clabbered cream?
Hi Sarah
Is the whey from clabbered milk a culture? say for example, if i wanted to make cultured butter would the whey act as the culture? would that prolong the butter from going rancid?
Thanks
To make cultured butter you can either let raw butter culture naturally or add a culture to the butter when it is fresh (see my Resources page for where to buy cultures). It does maintain the flavor of the butter better as raw butter does get strong tasting as time goes on even in the refrigerator which is why I freeze what I’m not going to use in a couple of weeks.
Sarah – What is your take on the info out there in the foodie community about whey not being the best thing to ferment veggies because the bacteria in the fermented veggies and the whey are completely different. (actual veggie cultures are being promoted/or salt ferments) Also, this week I also read that mason jars are not recommended for fermenting anymore, the you should used the special jars/crocks to ferment your food. It was mentioned that in the updated version of NT, Sally Fallon was going to change the recommendation of using a mason jar, opting for the (rather expensive) lacto-fermenting containers (pickle-its I think they are called). Thanks!
I tried using whey in exactly one ferment (salsa), which molded horribly shortly after I moved it to the refrigerator. I emailed a well known real food blogger (not Sarah) for advice. She said she doesn’t use whey when fermenting because she’s had such variable results.
Since then I’ve only used salt, with excellent results. I’ve always used mason jars too. I think these methods are just fine. These foods have been made in traditional cultures forever, and I highly doubt those traditional people had access to special “veggie starter cultures” and fancy fermentation equipment. They used… salt, and whatever containers would work, I’m sure. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with purchasing expensive air lock fermentation crocks and starter cultures, but they are not necessary. I’ve made many lovely, delicious ferments over the last 4 years with salt and mason jars.
Fermenting is NOT an exact science! Don’t worry about doing everything “perfect”. I don’t even follow recipes anymore. Just dig in, experiment and have fun. The results will be delicious!
Some of us are just more concerned about this because we’re on GAPS and we want the ferments to do as much as possible to heal our guts. Being overseas and reading about how much better a Pickl-It is than an ordinary jar really hurts, because I can’t get a Pickl-It. I am going to try to find a store that sells wine-making supplies and hope they have airlock containers. I’m afraid I won’t find any small enough to just ferment veggies in!
My ferments in ordinary jars fail half the time, and it’s frustrating to put in all that work (and make the amount of ferments needed for 5 people on GAPS) then be forced to throw out half of it!
Are you in France or in Europe, Laura? I am……and still trying to source lots of things like fermented cod liver oil. If you are, let me know – we can forward addresses when we find something.
Ages ago I came up with pickling items from Germany – often they ship to France being in the EU (European Community).
Hi Helen T., I’m in Ireland. Greenpastures ship FCLO to Europe, it’s not cheap though.
Also I learned not to use ANY kind of antibacterial soaps or bleach in your containers that you clabber or churn in.It kills ALL the bacteria.
I want a T-shirt that says, “Help! My Raw Milk Won’t Clabber!”
Seriously, happy to read this. I clabbered milk for the first time this week and it took 4 days. I went though the steps anyway. Then, I found out that the cow had gotten into some weeds that make the milk taste bitter. Sarah, do you think it’s still ok to use? I don’t know what the cow ate.
Sarah,
My family and I are preparing for the GAPS diet. I’ve known about traditional cooking for some time and have worked some of it into my cooking–but still had trouble with my stomach. When I came upon the GAPS diet info I had an “ah ha” moment thinking that maybe this was my problem–my gut is probably in such a mess that even properly prepared foods aren’t being digested properly. So…here in Virginia raw milk is illegal (grrr) and getting a cow share is very expensive. I’m currently working on our budget to make this happen (and no, I don’t buy junk food, never have)–in the mean time I’m trying to find out how to get the most bang for our buck nutritionally out of a gallon of raw milk. With GAPS/traditional foods diet in mind, what is the best way to use a gallon of milk. Make butter, sour cream, yogurt, kefir…..whey.
Now I realize that the amount of cream in the gallon varies according to the cow species, time of year, feed…. but generally speaking if you were only able to get 1 gallon of raw milk, what would you make with it in order to use every precious drop of it and get the most benefit and going the furthest to stretch the dollar.
We are a family of 4, and I should mention that I’ve been buying Kerry Gold butter and loving it, and, I just bought the fermented cod live and butter oil blend. I about tossed my cookies taking it though, however, I am determined to get the stuff down.
I bought milk and water kefir grains and a kombucha scoby (I haven’t hydrated any of them yet)– so I’m poised to make probiotic drinks and I’ve tried some fermented carrots and pickles.
BTW, can you drink kombucha that is still sweet (hasn’t had all the sugar eaten up) on GAPS?
Lots of questions! Thanks in advance!
If I could only get 1 gallon of raw milk, I would ferment it into kefir and make smoothies with it. Drinking raw milk fresh is a luxury no doubt.
The first couple of years I ate traditionally, raw milk was hard to come by .. I shipped in raw cream from Pennsylvania frozen and did raw cream everything. That worked fine. When a local farm finally started having raw milk available and I could actually get as much as I wanted weekly, that was a dream come true.
Its not possible to find raw milk were I live (Puerto Rico) It not like the old day its illegal now, and I live in apt, can I use the organic one for cream cheese or to extract Whey?
Yes you can use organic plain yogurt to get liquid whey.
Oh am I ever glad to see this post!!! I have a question on topic and was hoping to get it answered. We will soon be moving to a place where it is going to be very difficult to obtain raw milk (by all appearances, anyway). Can I make several batches of whey and freeze them? Will they still work for lacto fermentation? I am really hoping the answer is yes…I will be lost without my whey!
I haven’t used raw milk to make whey, but often use yogurt from the store (obviously organic, low temp pasteurized) and drip the whey out. Then I have the whey and some yogurt cheese. I’ve been fermenting for about two years now using this whey and have had great results. This could be an option for you
Thanks for your reply Colleen. I can’t get my hands on raw milk either (yet!). Do you recommend a brand of yogurt to use?
Hi – sorry this is a few days later, so not sure if you will see it. I usually just go through the store and look at the labels for those that are just milk and cultures. I sort of mix and match with what’s available.