Raw Milk: soured w/ culture vs lost in back of fridge

[sedalbj]

I can't figure this out! I have a pt of heavy raw cream in the fridge that has been there a long time. What can I do with it? I would love sour cream, is that possible?

I guess I have the same question about raw milk. Is there a point where it is too sour and should be dumped?

[dogmom327]

I may be misunderstanding your question but I'll give it a shot. If it's been in the fridge for awhile, adding a separate culture won't likely do much good. Once milk has aged a bit, the bacteria in the milk has built to the point that it will overwhelm a separate culture (such as Piima or Buttermilk). Personally I find that once my raw milk is about a week old, it doesn't make yogurt or buttermilk reliably any longer.

[honeysesame]

in a different interpretation of the question (though i'm happy to know that info dogmom-- i've wondered! ):
my understanding (correct me if i'm wrong, someone!!) is that raw milk or cream that has gone sour can still be used for cooking or any other thing you want to eat. it doesn't go rancid the way pasteurized milk does, just sour. so you can use it like you would use buttermilk-- it won't *be* buttermilk, nor "sour cream"-- but you might be able to cook with/use it similarly. on the other hand, if you want "clabbered milk" for example, you might need to follow a certain protocol. personally, i would probably consider raw milk not so good to drink if it were left out in hot weather for a long time and had some weird fizzy or crazy looking or bad smelling thing going on-- unless that fit in with some kind of product i was going for! hth....

[Junegoddess]

I do not know if this is true or not... but I remember some discussion, I think on an NT email list, about how temperature effects bacteria... favors certain ones over others. Good, beneficial bacteria like "room temperature" or warmer, but there are some icky bacteria that like it colder. So, the theory is... milk that has soured in the fridge could potentially have bad bacteria in it.

I was having some bad digestive issues at the time I read this, and had been drinking our raw milk a couple of days after it started souring in the fridge, and it all seemed to make sense.

Now I know it was probably due to the fact that I'm ALLERGIC TO MILK. LOL And other things. And was just really sick.

But, it has stuck in my head as something to warn people about.