How to Make Soured Milk

Clabbered Milk,Souring Pasteurized Milk,Uses

Feb 21, 2009 Melody Mundawarara

The name may be off-putting to some, but soured milk is nutritious and generally safe to eat if prepared hygienically.

Soured or sour milk is also called clabbered milk. It is usually made with freshly drawn whole raw milk. Traditionally, soured milk is produced by the uncontrolled bacterial fermentation of milk using lactic acid bacteria that occur naturally in the milk. Pasteurized milk that goes off in the fridge is different to soured milk. Once the milk is pasteurized, the balance of bacterial culture that it usually contains is destroyed. If you leave the pasteurized milk in the refrigerator or at room temperature for too long, the bad bacteria will take over and it will go rancid, eventually developing a nasty smell. This spoiled milk is not edible.

Real soured or sour milk is made from unpasteurized milk that is simply allowed to sit at room temperature. You need untreated milk and the right stuff floating around in the atmosphere. Raw milk, 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. The bacteria in the milk multiplies and converts lactose sugar into lactic acid. This gives the milk a sour, acidic taste that is more tangy than buttermilk or yogurt. The lactic acid also causes the milk proteins to coagulate or curdle, causing the milk to turn thick and lumpy.

The presence of lacto bacilli and its acid environment kills off pathogens which cannot survive in such an environment. The first lot might not be that good, but you can use a bit of this first lot as a starter culture for the next batch which should taste much better.

Naturally soured milk

Ingredients:

  • raw, fresh whole milk (unpasteurized)

Method:

  1. The raw, fresh whole milk is poured into a large glass, stainless steel, enamelled or ceramic bowl. Use a clean dish cloth to cover the bowl.
  2. Put bowl of milk on a kitchen counter (bench top) until the milk just begins to turn sour. At this stage the milk can be put in the refrigerator, especially if the weather is hot. However, it is quite possible to complete the whole process outside the fridge it the milk is in a fairly cool place.
  3. Leave the milk at room temperature for two to three days. The culture present in the raw milk ferments the milk. The milk will slowly become sour and thick as the bacteria produce more lactic acid.

Soured Pasteurized Milk

Ingredients:

  • 1 litre (4 cups) of pasteurized milk

Method:

  1. Heat up the milk and let it cool until it is just warm.
  2. Add two to four tablespoons spoons of plain (unflavoured) Kefir, as a starter, to it. Kefir is like a thin, drinkable yogurt.
  3. Put the mixture in an airing cupboard or any other cool, well ventilated place for few days. Check frequently.

Instant Soured Milk

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • fresh milk

Method:

  1. Put a tablespoon of lemon juice or plain vinegar into a liquid measuring cup.
  2. Add milk until you have a cup (250 ml) of liquid.
  3. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. After this time the milk should be somewhat thick and lumpy when stirred and taste mildly sour. Milk soured in this way can be used for baking or pancakes but does not give the full flavour that is suitable for eating with potatoes or sadza.

Uses of Soured Milk

  • Various ethnic foods call for soured milk. For example it can be eaten with potatoes, the Polish way or eaten with sadza, the Southern African way.
  • There are many baking recipes, most for chocolate cake and cookies that use sour milk. Naturally soured milk is often added to sourdough pancake batter or bread dough in bread baking and to scones or girdle cakes with. For the last two, baking powder is also added to the mix before mixing in the sour milk. The acid of the milk reacts with the baking powder to effervesce, forming carbon dioxide bubbles which acts as a raising agent.

The copyright of the article How to Make Soured Milk in Recipes is owned by Melody Mundawarara. Permission to republish How to Make Soured Milk in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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