My kids eat a lot of dairy, but it does happen that we find that a bag of milk, cottage cheese, or yogurt will be sitting in our fridge past its expiration date. I have a few recipes ( e.g. pancakes, tuna casserole) that call for buttermilk or another type of fermented milk product.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I would like to find uses for sour milk.
By barbara
Pour it in the garden pour it in your compost pile ( you do have one don't you ) :-) use it to water your plants outside , and roses love it !
Only raw milk sours properly. Any milk that's been pasteurized will only rot and never sour. But if you have access to raw milk and it sours you can use it interchangeably with buttermilk. Its delish and tastes like a a mellow buttermilk.
Does anyone have any frugal uses for sour milk that is not fit to drink anymore?
Check your favorite cookbook. Many cakes, cookies, pancakes and waffles call for sour milk as an ingredient. I have substituted sour milk for buttermilk in recipes for pancakes or cornbread with good results.
There are recipes, most for chocolate cake and cookies that use sour milk.
They even tell you how to make your own if you don't have any. I have an excellent cookie recipe that uses it. - Margie
Chocolate Drop Cookies
1/2 cup soft shortening (part butter or margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 squares unsweetened chocolate (2 oz.) melted and cooled
3/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped nuts if desired.
Mix shortening, sugar,egg and chocolate thoroughly. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla.
Measure flour and blend with baking soda and salt; stir in. Mix in nuts (opt). Chill at least 1 hour. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Drop rounded teaspoons of dough 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes until no imprint remains when touched lightly with finger.
Makes 3 1/2 dozen 2 1/2" cookies.
It's my understanding that only raw milk that has soured is safe to use in cooking. Pasteurized or homogenized milk is not safe to use in cooking. Since the deer like to nibble on our plants, I pour sour milk or cream on the shrubs the deer like and they avoid them, at least until the milk washes off in the rain.
I use milk that has just turned in cooking. It makes great pancakes, gives flavor to cakes and other baked foods. It can be safely used for things like scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, etc.
- Rose B.
I have a bread machine and use it to make bread dough and then I bake my loaves in the oven. My family prefers bread made with milk instead of water. I just substitute the milk for water and put it in the bread dough. The bread tastes wonderful and there is no sour taste. I have also used sour milk in muffins. There are also some cookie recipes that specifically call for sour milk.
I use soured milk in a lot of baking. For anything that uses Buttermilk, you can use the sour milk.
- Sue
I use sour milk in things like pancakes. Also, although vets would probably not approve, I've given it to our cats and dogs. It seems less wasteful if you can give unusable food to pets or barnyard animals. It hasn't hurt our cats or dogs yet. - Sue
As mentioned above only raw milk, not homogenized milk (like the kind you buy in the store) is fit for human consumption after it has gone sour. Actually, the milk usually has gone sour before you notice it! If you need sour milk for a recipe, add some lemon juice to milk to sour it.
MaKES GREAT SODA BREAD
The previous comments about only raw milk that has soured being suitable for cooking with sounds interesting. But where are you all getting your information? Why isn't using pasteurized milk that has soured safe for cooking?
Okay, I found the answer! Pasteurized milk that has soured hasn't "soured" in the natural term, but has actually gone rancid. Raw milk, on the other hand, since it hasn't been pasteurized, still has all of the good bacteria that allow it to sour naturally, so it can actually be healthy for you.
Here's the website I got the info from: www.westonaprice.org/
Absolute rubbish regarding the not using none pasteurised milk. The pasteurisation predominatly kills coliforms, listeria, salmonella etc.
The souring, which is the same process in both pasteurised and unpasterised milk, is caused by lactic acid bacteria - its the production of the acid that causes the souring and the curdling. This process is absolutely vital in unpasteurised milk as its stops the harmful bactiera (coliforms, listeria etc) reproducing which otherwise would be a significant threat IF you used the milk and it wasnt involved in a cooking process that raised the temperature above about 70oC.
Overall provided the souring has occured and provided a cooking process is used, the milk employed is irrelevant.
What absolute nonsense. Pasteurized milk which has soured naturally is perfectly safe to use in cooking or even for eating as it is. Full fat soured milk ferments to give an almost yoghurt-like consistency. I often add naturally soured milk to my sourdough pancake batter, to my sourdough dough in bread baking and to make scones or girdle cakes with. For the last two add a level teaspoon of baking soda to the mix before mixing in the sour milk. The acid of the milk reacts with the baking soda to effervesce, forming carbon dioxide bubbles which acts as a leavening agent. This method of leavening has been used since at least the 1800's. The same leavening is used to make traditional irish soda bread. Since raw milk is almost impossible to obtain here in the United Kindom, only from the farm gate, I have never used it so can give no informed opinion on it.
Pasteurized milk that has soured naturally has NOT gone rancid, It has been fermented under the action of naturally occuring lacto bacilli in the same way as it effects raw milk. While I sense a movement to return to raw milk, this product was prohibited for sale for the reason that it could possibly be unsafe, harbouring all kinds of pathogens which the pasteurization process kills. I would be reluctant to drink raw milk myself, unless it had soured. The presence of lacto bacilli and its acid environment kills off pathogens which cannot survive in such an environment. Rancid is an emotive word and is not the term that describes soured milk which is a quite naturally occuring process.
What would be the ratio of baking soda to 1 C. of sour milk?
Whomever it was that said raw and pasteurized milk are the same is lacking in the knowledge department. When you pasteurize something, you kill it - good and bad alike. Therefore, there is no such thing as 'naturally soured' pasteurized milk. If it turns, it is spoiled and if consumed will make you sick. Not so with soured raw milk. In fact, it's better for you that way than before because the good bacteria has multiplied and produced more goodies for your body.
Now, if you add an acid or the like to 'regular' pasteurized milk, you'll get a clabber that's much like soured milk in consistency, but it's not the same at all.
And before you start attacking what I have to say, my family (including my children) have been consuming raw milk for over seven years with no ill effects whatsoever. In fact, quite to the contrary, we don't get sick near as much as we used to on store-bought milk. Look at the link provided before for Weston A. Price Foundation - there are many resources that prove that raw milk is better for you and the environment.
What is the difference between sour milk and bad milk? Can I use sour milk in baking? My carton says 11/26.
By nonna1 from Montclair, NJ
I always understood sour milk to be milk that is kind of old, starting to go bad but it's still not horribly bad. Some people call this blinky milk. You wouldn't drink it this way but it's ok to use in pancakes, quick breads, etc. Your carton says Nov. 26th so it won't be sour until some time after that. To make sour milk out of fresh milk, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a cup of milk and stir. Let it stand for 10 minutes before using.
I welcome soured milk. I use it even if it has separated, just shake it up and use it. Very good for baking anything, use in place of liquid. The best light pancakes you can have. I keep it in the fridge for a very long time. Makes nice bread also.
Soured milk goes through a rancid stage when it smells and tastes bad (you would probably call this "spoiled milk". At this stage, leave it out of the fridge until it coagulates (a day or so, depending on the temperature). You will find that the bad smell and taste have gone. Replace it in the fridge until the sour milk is quite cold. You can either drink it or cook with it (stir first). The taste is fresh and rather like a mild, natural yoghurt. Many Europeans make sour milk as a drink to have with a meal.
Brenda from Oz.
Sour milk only occurs when you have raw milk that has not been pasteurized/homogenized. If you have store milk that smells or tastes nasty, throw it out, it can make you violently sick. Sour milk, on the other hand, has more beneficial bacteria, and is quite good for you. If allows to separate, you can use the curd as sour cream, cream cheese (if you drain it off and allow it to sit in a strainer to get more whey out), and the like, it's much like yoghurt in that aspect. You can also use the whey (the watery liquid left after the curds separate) for many things too.
Sorry but this information is incorrect. It's important for us to post correct, educated information not to confuse and mislead
Sorry, but, this information is also incorrect. Also, is not information either. It's important for me to post correct, educated information not confused and mislead to know what I'm kidding about is just my opinion but also nobody really ever likes my jokes anyway. Your not alone there
Wow! What is this world i just stumbled into..and, I was just kiddin around with ya about what but this is whaaa? Oh, and ladies and gentlemen, I really did enjoy the many different responses to looking into an avocado and this caught my fancy. Thanks for all the ideas..I'm very inspired to read more. Seems to be many who use milk all kinds of ways or purposes. Can't wait to experiment myself! Thanks again. Consider the possibilities..or not, but, I'm having a blast. Later peeps
I really like this idea for tips and steps and all this. Pretty nifty. I cannot type my original comment though. Just this new one.
*Raw* Milk duly noted. Thanks. Now, to look up "raw" milk..lol. I was the one joking about that other comment, just teasin, but a new concept for me. Hope you understand. If not just disregard and thanks for all the rest. All new info to me. Thanks again i appreciate it
I didn't know about unpasteurized/unhomogenized milk, this means "raw" milk? That is something I think mighta just got me started looking for recipes for the next 4 hours and so on. Thanks to all, helped me tremendously..
You need to make any edits before you leave the feedback box. After you click on "Post", there is a chance to review and edit it. Or you can contact us and we can fix anything for you.
Glad you are enjoying the site. :)
What are some good, easy recipes that use sour milk?
By Marlene
Very healthy hair rinse.
How old can sour milk and buttermilk be before it's not good to ingest? I am now an old man, alone and don't know much about cooking.
By JG from Holt, MI