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Milk: Share your Knowledge

 
Steward of piddlers
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I don't think I have really appreciated all the information out there that exists for milk.

How many different kinds of milk are there?



What can you do with milk?

Any fun facts about Milk?

Please join me, let's talk about milk.
 
Timothy Norton
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My original inspiration of this thread comes from visiting a dairy farm store the other day. I'm really impressed that they offer a glass bottle system where you pay a deposit and get it back once you returned the cleaned glass. I am now making a point to go every week to exchange for new product. Its cheaper and a bit more sustainable in my book!

They had...

Milk
Skim (fat free)
1% low fat
2% reduced fat
Whole milk
Cream top milk (non-homogenized milk)

Heavy cream

Half and half

Butter

Sour cream

Cheeses

Ice cream
 
Timothy Norton
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For folks who obtain and process dairy on their homestead, how do you separate the cream from the milk?

I know that each part has a variety of uses for a variety of things but I'm so sure how one would go about doing that effectively. Do you just skim as best as you can?
 
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When I used to get raw milk to feed to my cats, I would skim off the cream and make sour cream. If I had no dinner plans for sour cream, we would just shake it up and enjoy it. Oh wait. My cats enjoyed it. Except I forgot every single time. Because of state government.

Then my source sold the milk cow. From anywhere else, I was priced out of the market. I can't pay $10 a gallon to forget to feed it to my cats.
 
Joylynn Hardesty
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Oh, and yogurt. I learned from an outdated site.Here is the updated page for yogurt. by the same person. I expect the other milk products are there somewhere.
 
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Who volunteers to milk the moose?
 
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Grew up with it both milking and getting milk from neighbors at various points.  We always just skimmed it with a stainless ladle.

Amount of cream varies depending on breed, where they are in the cycle, feed and other variables.  We had a neighbor with a brown swiss / guernsey cross.  When she freshened the jar was nearly half skimmable cream for a month or two falling to about 1/4 to 1/3 for the rest of the cycle.  On the other hand the holstein we milked in the same era was about 1/6 cream when freshened and fell to probably 1/8 to 1/10

Sweet cream has a huge number of uses.
 
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Egg nog, clotted cream, (Mexican) crema, kefir, cheesecake, whipped cream, powdered milk or cream, buttermilk, powdered buttermilk, ghee, custard, quiche,panna cotta... So many dairy-heavy foods!
Then there are also soaps & lotions, and you can even wash with it. Leaving it on the skin for a while allows the lactic acid to soften and hydrate the skin. Raw milk can also be healing - my dad's internist told him to drink goat milk, to heal his ulcers - and it worked.

We had a jersey cow, when I was a kid - incredibly good!! Now, I have dairy goats, and though I haven't milked in a couple years, I plan to, start again, in the next couple of weeks.
 
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I did not see the mention of powdered milk, canned milk or sweetened condensed milk.  Sorry, I now see Carla mention powdered milk, powdered buttermilk or powdered cream.
 
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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:
Oh, and yogurt. I learned from an outdated site.Here is the updated page for yogurt.


Their process is pretty much the same as mine, I say this because I live in a place where the vast majority of milk is sold in shelf-stable ultra high temp processed packages, and everyone told me for years that it was impossible to make yogurt with. I did some research and found other people online scalding the milk as described here (I might take it a little bit higher, we go to 175F usually) and getting good results. And now I make yogurt every week with that 'impossible' milk. It's worth trying, if you have access to a living starter!


(as for the types of milk- is this the right place for this?

 
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Pig farmer in the Netherlands milked his sows for cheese making. More of a joke thing, since they don't give that much with the piglets needing their share, but it can be done.
 
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I have always fantisized about "The Milk Store" where all manner of different milk is available to buy:  cow's milk, goats milk, sheep milk, whale milk, kangaroo milk, horse milk, beaver milk, geraffe milk, etc.

I've only had cow's milk and goat's milk, unfortunately, I'd love to increase that number.  And people milk as a baby haha.
 
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I didn't see any mention of kefir, which is an amazing milk based product. The sheer number of beneficial bacteria and probiotics in a cup is stunning. Am working on getting my production of kefir to equal my wants/needs. Highly recommended.
 
Timothy Norton
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Sour Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup of whole milk
tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice

Combine milk and vinegar in a container and let it sit for ten minutes.
Place heavy cream in a mason jar
Add milk/vinegar mixture to heavy cream into jar and mix.
Cover the jar loosely with cheesecloth (secured with ring) and let it sit for 24hrs before refrigerating.

This is my process and I get decent results, a bit on the runny side sometimes that could be my 'close enough' measurements.
 
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I just picked up raw colostrum with my raw milk order. Working on healing my gut.
 
pollinator
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I make yogurt from organic milk and it is so much better than any I buy AND no nasty plastic containers! I got my non-electric yogurt maker from MYCHEESEMAKER.com
My other favorite is making egg custard and flan!
 
Gaurī Rasp
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Correction: it’s the cheesemaker.com
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[Thumbnail for IMG_0220.png]
 
pollinator
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Wow, Tim. I didn't know all the kinds of milk either. Cow's milk is the only one I'm familiar with, although I love goat milk [but not the price. I just can't afford $8.00/quart!
When I have overaged cow's milk, whole milk [bought from the store], I add a little lemon juice or vinegar [better] to make it curdle.
From there, I filter it. The curds can be salted a bit and some pepper and chives added. I get a nice amount of homemade "Boursin" cheese, which around here sells for $7.00 for, I think 5-6 Oz.!.
Unfortunately, the "ultra pasteurized" and "ultra filtered" doesn't lend itself to the treatment as it will not curdle, just go "bad".
I have "retrieved" a bad batch by adding a bit of... wait for it... de-icing salt for sidewalks. The kind that doesn't burn your pet's feet. (Yes. I have the better one, that comes in round pellets and is very 'clean'.)
The best is to verify that the milk you buy isn't ultra pasteurized of ultra filtered!.
 
pollinator
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Milk can even be used to make yarn!
Several yarn brands have a blend yarn made of cotton and casein derived from milk. It is softer than cotton crochet yarn.

 
Inge Leonora-den Ouden
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I am not really sure if it wasn't a joke ... but there seemed to be someone in Amsterdam who made cheese of (human) mother's milk. Of course it was very expensive!
 
Cécile Stelzer Johnson
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Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:I am not really sure if it wasn't a joke ... but there seemed to be someone in Amsterdam who made cheese of (human) mother's milk. Of course it was very expensive!




It is definitely possible, but human milk is very thin ands not really abundant, so yes, it would probably cost and arm and a leg!
 
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Sayer Ji  (not Sayer G) from GreenMedinfo.com has this to say about cows milk. The AI he used to transcribe is not very smart, but you can figure it out, you're human and much more intelligent.
You don't need to buy this product, I posted it for info only, he also has a video on it.

Greetings, everyone. Sayur G here, and I'm really excited to tell you about a product that I absolutely love. I'm actually wearing this shirt, which I got at Joel Salatan's Polyface Farm in Virginia because it says grass-fed. I've been there. It's an incredible experience.
And when you go to a farm like that and you experience what it's like to exist in nature, going back to ancient times, we had animal husbandry that wasn't in cages and they weren't doing factory farming, but the cows were free to eat grass. They weren't forcing them, you know, grains, which get them sick.
So they need antibiotics. We weren't giving them hormones to try to make You know, the female animals have large mammary glands, which then get infected. So they get more milk. This was not the way you did farming. And of course, when you eat that stuff, it ends up making you sick.
So essentially there is a product that I have been using, okay? It's called Viserra. This is the brand and it's A2 protein. Super important that people understand that there are two types of cow's milk protein. There's beta casein alpha one and there's beta casein alpha two.
This stuff, this whey is from cows that have the natural original protein in their milk which is also found in goat's milk and human breast milk and buffalo. It's basically the original protein. And what happened was beta casein alpha one emerged a thousand or so years ago in Europe as a mutation,
which it is believed caused such a profound impact on health that it contributed to some of the plagues that emerged there. Now, why is this interesting to me? Because my own story of incarnation was I was born a pretty sick infant. And it was actually, I didn't actually maintain breastfeeding very long.
And they switched me to a cow's milk based infant formula. And that infant formula contained casein in the A1 form. I became so sick that I would suffocate. I would have these bronchio asthmatic episodes. I would almost die. They would inject me with epinephrine to, you know, get me to come back and open up my lungs and...
Ultimately, I went through that maybe several dozen times, coming close to dying from what essentially was an allergy. Now, yes, there were vaccines at that time and other things that I probably don't even know about that could have contributed to this disease description. But ultimately, I know cow's milk was the issue. because when I was 17,
I started looking into it and found out that if I removed cow smoke from my diet, I would not have asthma anymore. I did it, and from that day onward, I never had an issue again, other than when I'd start to sneak something in, or by accident, maybe eat a little cheese.
Within a few days, I'd start to get the symptoms again. So for me, beta casein and alpha one in cow's milk was a huge issue. But then I started to realize that there were other parts of the cow's milk that I could eat. For example, I could have clarified butter, which is ghee.
And then I started eating butter and I was pretty good with it. And that's because butter doesn't contain the protein. It's the fat component. I mean, there's a little bit of casein, but not enough to cause a problem. And who doesn't love butter? It's incredibly beneficial for you.
So I started to look into whey and whey is the part of the milk that they throw away when they make cheese because it sort of floats to the top. It's very liquidy and water soluble. It's also extremely digestible and assimilable. And that is the key and the reason why so many weightlifters use whey.
because whey enables them to build muscle rapidly and to recover rapidly from what otherwise would put people in bed for days from delayed muscle soreness. And this is something that I started to study on GreenMedInfo. In fact, on our database, we have over, let's see, 100 different conditions that may benefit from whey. In fact, 120 That's amazing.
And some of them include sarcopenia and cachexia, which are when the muscles start to lose their mass. And that's something that happens with age. It also happens with conditions like cancer. It's a really big problem. So what they've done is a number of clinical studies where when they feed them whey,
they get their muscle to grow pretty significantly to the point where it has, you know, a clinical benefit that is highly validated. Other things that it seems to help with are obesity because it's helping to build the muscle mass and increasing metabolism. It's also very good for infection, also hypertension.
And you have a lot of other research even on some of its anti-aging properties. So, you know, the thing about whey that I love so much is that I was someone who was very sick from eating cow's milk. When I started consuming whey, I really liked the effect,
but there were times where I would get some allergy from it or it wouldn't settle right in my stomach. So I still wasn't fully convinced that whey was this thing that I wanted to take daily, right? until this company came by because they were the a2 protein variety now a2 is the
natural protein found like i said in breast milk and you know the universal foster milk which is actually uh goat's milk and it is the basis for many of the things that our body needs because milk is the first food right so there are things in milk immune factors. There are exosomes, for example,
that contain genetic information that help to support optimizing our wellness. So when I started taking it daily, I noticed an immediate effect on my muscle mass and especially my recovery from intense exercise, because I'm someone who happens to love just pushing myself to extremes. And it's the way that I manage the stress of my life.
And so what I do is I use the protein in order to help me to maintain a higher level of function and a higher level of athletic performance. And when I started using their variety, everything just sort of clicked because for one, it contains a special type of probiotic called Bacillus subtilis,
which is actually able to break down proteins and fats and which has an incredible effect on inhibiting opportunistic fungi and bacteria that are known to cause gastric issues like, for example, Candida. Albicans, a very common yeast, tends to overgrow. This is one of the primary ways in which to naturally inhibit it.
There's even research on it being able to break down glyphosate, which is really fascinating. So ultimately, one of the reasons why I love this product is because it has the organ meats. There's tissues of regeneratively certified animals that are from their heart, their liver, and their kidney.
These tissue types contain stem cells that have exosomes that actually are able to stimulate regeneration in certain tissues. It's a big part of my book, actually, Regenerate, getting into the role that these food-based information signaling molecules have. on our own physiology. So to find a product that has that built in is extremely exciting to me.
The other thing, it's sweetened with monk fruit, which is one of the better alternative natural sweeteners. It actually tastes really good. So for me, I'll wake up, I'll get ready for intense exercise. I usually do intermittent fasting. Afterwards, I'm generally not hungry, but in order to replenish my stores, I'll take some whey, sometimes directly in water,
shake it up, tastes great. Or I'll add smoothies, I'll add some flaxseed. In terms of berries for the smoothie, I'll add in maybe a dollop of coconut oil. And it's so nourishing and my body gets so much energy from it. that to me, it's way better than consuming your everyday meal because your body assimilates it.
And that's one of the things I'd point out is that if you look at the serving size, two scoops will actually give you 25 grams. That's about an ounce of muscle because unlike most proteins you're consuming, they assimilate. So they're not getting putrefied in your gut. Many people are eating high protein foods
But the food is literally just putrefying, giving off hydrogen gas, actually. There's a specific gas that causes irritation that some people confuse with excess acid production when it's actually, it's not reflux, it's just irritation from proteins that are not digesting. So this is one of the ways to reset your digestion,
give your body what it needs to immediately implement. For example, leucine is an anabolic amino acid that's found in high concentrations here. So I am such an advocate of this product that I suggest anyone who wants to improve their overall well-being, they want to increase their muscle mass, which helps their metabolism. Also, blood sugar-wise,
those who are dealing with a neuroendocrine roller coaster of the conventional American diet, When you start doing something that is a protein-based approach that adds in other high nutrient but low carbohydrate ingredients, again, blueberries are a great example. Just throw some of those in. Flaxseed for the omega-3 fats and the fiber.
Coconut, one of the best sources of fat on the planet. You're getting around that carbohydrate fixation that so many have. where every few minutes their brain is dying for another hit because they have this insulin release, boom, blood sugar crash, adrenaline is released to get your blood sugar back up.
And then once again, insulin's released and you're in this constant up and down cycle. Can you imagine what that does to your mood? Whey is one of the solutions to help stabilize the blood sugar, feed your muscles what they need in order to be fully functional and healthy,
as well as have all the other benefits that are associated from whey. And one quick educational piece, There is a very well-known book called Devil in the Milk by a professor from New Zealand. His name is Woodford. And his whole book thesis is about the dangers that conventional cow's milk has on, you know, populations.
A lot of chronic disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, you know... There's cognitive issues, especially with autism spectrum disorder, because beta casein actually contains a molecule called beta casein, beta morphin seven. And what this compound does, it acts like an opioid. It literally causes addiction and dopiness and interferes with our body's natural self-regulation.
So that's the beauty of A2 milk. It's not in there. You're not dealing with that addictive cycle. You're not dealing with the fact that it can contribute to autoimmunity because in multiple sclerosis, it's well known that this beta casein alpha one can play a role.
Type one diabetes risk is definitely linked with cow's milk from those forms because of a misidentification of your immune system of the beta cells, beta pancreatic cells that produce insulin with this protein in normal calcium. And then you're dealing with regeneratively certified, which is amazing because not only are you feeding your body the best grass fed sourced
Nutrition. But this is how you regenerate the planet, literally, is that you support regenerative agriculture. And regenerative agriculture spreads around the planet and helps us to overcome the byproduct of monoclonal culturing and monocrops, which have been used to feed cows in the past that then caused them to have all these inflammatory omega six derived proteins.
So this is also one of the best sources of natural micronutrients from the regenerative soil. that is then feeding us through the milk, right, through the product. So I highly suggest for those who want to up their game, who want to live strong and energized throughout their lives, late into their life,
this is the product that you have to try. And I'm so happy I can share that with you. It's been six months of trialing it. And now I finally get to share it with you. So enjoy. There's going to be a special for you to take advantage of.
And we'd love your feedback because I hope your experience is as good, if not better than mine. Thanks so much
 
Riona Abhainn
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If anyone is seeking non-pasturized milk/milk straight from the animal, and doesn't have animals from which to harvest it, there's this website I think its something about getrawmilk or findrawmilk, and it lists farms in your area where you can buy it, some people who think they're lactose intollerant can have cow's milk if it isn't pasturized.  Those farms aren't legally allowed to sell it for human consumption so they say its for baby animals to get around that rule  But if you buy it they won't ask you why

At the chain organic/natural grocery store they have the same thing Tim was talking about, where you buy a glass bottle of milk and then bring back the glass bottle and get money back.  We occasionally do it as a treat, because the store New Seasons sells Jersey cow milk that way and Jersey is my husband's favourite, he had it a lot as a kid.
 
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Probably forty years later, after crawling under the barn floor to drag out a litter of puppies, it popped into my mind one day, completely out of the blue, that the wonderful smell of puppy breath is ... dog milk.
 
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Timothy Norton wrote:

What can you do with milk?

Please join me, let's talk about milk.



This will reflect a bit of the current season here in the US as I like to keep some kind of easy, cool dessert on hand to top off a meal or complement an afternoon cup of coffee.

Cold, custard pies and cheesecake are favorites in this realm in the dairy world and the following is worth trying, even as an experiment and utilizes items often at hand in the kitchen or easily obtained.  It's a 'base' recipe for vegan custard that can be used in pies, but with a bit of tweaking can become quite like soft cheesecake.  With the vanilla version pasted below, you can make a range of variations to suit your interests, palate, and occasion.  Apologies in advance for non-metric measurements.

1)   Measure out 1/3 c, each of slivered almonds, roasted or raw cashews, and dried banana chips.  Place in good, high speed blender or similar food processor.  Measure out 2 c water and transfer 1-2/3 c. of this to the nuts in the blender, reserving 1/3 c water in the measuring cup.  Blend on high for 2 min. to obtain nut 'cream'.

2)  While this blends, add by eye ~1/3 c coconut oil (if solid) to the measuring cup with the residual water.  Heat to melt (I do this in a microwave with the water present since my microwave hates to heat straight oils...).  When the nut blending is done, add the coconut oil-water mixture to the blender and blend on medium speed for ~30 s. to create an emulsion with the oil and nut 'cream'.

3)   Sweetening:  much up to preparer's discretion.  I tend to use standard table sugar....2/3 c. and add ~1/2 tsp salt.  Finally, add 1/4 c. reconstituted or other lemon juice.  The whole point here is to have the salt and the acid work together to form a precipitate with the protein and carbs from the nuts.  So in this regard, many different acids other than lemon juice could be used.  And even a different salt like calcium chloride (aka 'Pickle Crisp') can be used, different acids and different salts producing slightly different outcomes. [Himalyan black salt will add eggy notes if so desired.] If I need to ensure a good 'set' of the final custard, I may add 1 or 2 teaspoons of starch.....all purpose flour, but usually cassava flour/starch.   Once you have added these to the blender contents, mix again on medium speed for ~30 s to blend all.

4)  Magic time!  Pour blender contents into a good sized microwave bowl (if microwaving) or saucepan (for stovetop heating).  Make custard---- 4-5 minutes on high in microwave with intermittent stirring while it thickens.  On stovetop, typical medium heat to near boiling with stirring to thicken.  When thick like hot pudding, remove from heat and add vanilla to taste.  Pour into pie crust or bowl(s) for chilling.  Refrigerate several hours for firming up of the custard.

This evening's attempt (pretty good) was with a chocolate graham cracker crust where I added a few large leaves of mint from the garden into the hot coconut oil to draw out some flavor.  (Leaves were removed before adding oil to the blender mix.) Once the custard was hot and thick, I added dark chocolate chips and swirled enough just to get marbled effect once the custard was poured into the shell.  So in this general example, the nuts are providing the carbs and protein that normally dairy milk/cream might provide, alonng with starch thickener, in standard custard.  

 Pretty quick procedure.  Give it a shot.....good luck!

Edited to add:  Did not use lemon juice tonight since did not think would taste right with chocolate....so used 1 tablespoon of food-grade 88% lactic acid (vegan sourced) which is commonly found in brewing and fermentation shops.
 
Timothy Norton
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Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall
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I'm a fan of this Youtube channel so I'm happy to be able to share them with you.

He utilizes raw cream to make a couple different things while looking at the history of them at the same time.





I found this next video to be a great overview of all of the different parts of raw milk and what you might do with them.

 
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