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
I’m trying to find out why my pasteurized milk actually clabbered. Not spoiled, Nothing done to help it clabber. It did it all by itself. Now, I grew up on a farm, we had cows, we milked cows, churned for butter, and the whole works. So when I say that I bought a gallon of pasteurized milk at the store, and since it was a week past the expiration date, I was preparing to pour it out when I realized that it had clabbered, and there was actually some whey collecting on the top of it, I know what I’m talking about!! So why would pasteurized milk clabber, without anything being done to help it??? I can’t find an answer!
Can you use the whey from regular grocery store whole milk? I made Paneer a few days ago and had TONS of whey left. Will this still work even though it is not raw? Thanks!
hi sarah! i wanted to tell you how much i love your blog and also ask some really important advice from you:
i’ve been on the scd diet(similar to gaps) for a while and am really interested in traditional foods. a big problem i’m having is that in canada buying raw dairy products is illegal(except for aged cheeses) and finding grass-fed butter is impossible. it’s possible to find a cow-share, as they’re in some kind of legal gray area, but they get busted often and i also don’t want to start looking for one until i move across the country in a few months
so my question is, what dairy do you think i should be having? i know it won’t be as good as raw or grass-fed but is there any dairy that will still give me some benefits, just not be as good? and then others i should avoid completely?i do believe that a lot of the research about detrimental health effects of dairy is because they’re talking about pasteurized dairy…
anyways, i’m currently having raw cheeses. i’m definitely not drinking pasteurized milk, but i do make 24-hour fermented yogurt from organic whole milk (not ultra-pasteurized or homogenized)
any dairy advice you have for me would be great!
thanks so much! sorry for this novel of a post…
Hi, Lauren. I did SCD to a T for 18 months, and it was so good for my gut healing and so many other benefits. I hope that if you are doing SCD for the same reasons that you have great success.
Fantastic info… although, with all the cultured butter, yogurt and cheeses I make, I’m not sure WHAT I would do with all this extra whey… As it is, I ferment juices (lemon/lime/orange), soak a few grains and beans (we eat very few grains/beans to begin with), make crispy nuts, etc. I’m unsure what wheys are best suited for certain recipes – I generally use yogurt whey for 90% of things that call for whey (the other 10% are generally small amounts – like when making crispy nuts or soaking beans). I give my dog whey too, really helps with her digestion, but still end up with lots of whey seeming to go to waste.
Does whey sometimes appear clear and other times look cloudy white, or even yellowish? I have made it 3-4 times now and each time it looks a bit different.
You can remove that white stuff with a clean tea towel or restrain if you like. I have whey right now in the fridge that is easily 2 months old that is fine.
HI Sarah,
Apparently, I have a sensitivity to casein, so I’ve been staying away from milk, whey, cheese , etc. I LOVE raw milk, cheese, yogurt, etc, so this is a real sacrifice for me. Last summer was the first time I made your fermented lemonade and I’m HOOKED! I have a craving for it again and wondered if the fermentation process changes anything about the casein? Or is that even necessary? Please tell me I should just drink it! 😀
You have been such an important guide for me and my daughter in improving our health -THANK YOU!
The casein is more or less depending on the breed of cow. We have bread our cows to produce more and that has resulted in a higher casein content. Some breeds have very little. There are also two types of casein that I am aware of.
Thanks, Mary!
I learned on one of Sarah’s posts or videos about the 2 types of casein. Don’t we learn so much from her? I’m wondering if fermentation changes the structure of either type of casein. I understand that there isn’t much casein in whey anywhey :D, but thought Sarah would know if fermentation changes it at all…I sure hope she has time to answer.
The timing of this entry is just perfect! I started last week Monday in attempts to make the whey and curds from week old raw milk. By Friday it had finally clabbered. I just don’t know if everything turned out “normal”. Should the curds taste quite bitter and sour, kinda like blue cheese, or should it be milder in flavor? The whey is in the fridge and has white foam at the top. Is this what I should expect? I have done some searches on this, but to no avail. I would just like to know what it is supposed to taste like and smell like. BTW, I will be watching your videos to see what to lacto-ferment first!
Thank you so much, Sarah, for your time and for sharing with us your common sense knowledge on such important health topics! I LOVE your blog and I am on the path to good health thanks to it!
I’ve had the same issue. I tried for about 4 days and then finally opened it and it did not appear to be clabbered, but it smelled sooooo bad! I just couldn’t go through with the rest of the process. I used a glass jar sitting sideways with the lid not sealed shut. I noticed in your video, Sarah, that you used a plastic gallon milk jug. Could it have anything to do with glass versus plastic?
I finally got the clabbering process to happen but it took from Monday to Friday and just like DJ it smells pretty sour. I watched your video again and when you smelled the cream cheese you said it smelled so good. I would not describe mine that way. It is quite sour smelling. I probably won’t use the cream (I drained too long it is came out somewhat dry), but am wondering if the whey should be okay.
What if my clabbered milk is bitter, I had to spit and rinse my mouth and rise some more after I tasted mine this morning. It’s been in my fridge for about 2 weeks now and then 2 days on the counter “clabbering”. What does it mean when milk tastes bitter, is it is bad/dangerous? Maybe it was too old?
I’ve heard of raw milk going bitter instead of souring. I think this is a problem at the farm (imbalance somehow in what the cows are being fed). I would try another farm if this happens.
Hmm, well this farm sells 100% grass fed, nothing but the grass. Their cream does tend to go a little bitter as time passes. I have no idea what is going on.
im having the same problem. i have raw milk and it never sours just goes bitter… as in it tastes bad. the cream cheese when separated tastes very bitter too, you can’t eat it. and the whey is terrible?
I have a question! I found an old school milk jug at a garage sale, with a cork as a stopper in the top. How sanitary is that to actually use for milk? What about using it for something like water kefir?