12 Ways to Use Soured Raw Milk (Plus 4 Recipes)

Raw milk that has gone sour is not spoiled. It is still good food, and you can use it in a dozen everyday dishes. Pasteurized milk goes bad as it ages. Raw milk sours instead, because of the good bacteria that are still alive in it. That is why so many families never throw out a jar of raw milk.

These ideas and recipes come from Sarah Pope (The Healthy Home Economist). Her article first appeared in Wise Traditions, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation (Winter 2003). Thank you, Sarah!

The first step is changing how we think about it. Once soured milk stops looking like waste, it becomes one more thing in the kitchen to cook with.

12 ways to use soured milk and cream

1. Homemade whey and cream cheese. Leave the milk on the counter until it fully separates. Then strain it through a colander lined with a clean tea towel. The liquid is whey, and what stays in the towel is cream cheese. Blend the cream cheese with a few strawberries and some maple syrup for a lovely spread on sprouted bagels.
2. Fluffier pancakes. Mix your pancake mix with soured milk the night before and let it soak. The pancakes come out lighter, tastier and easier to digest than ones mixed with water and cooked right away.
3. Scrambled eggs. Whisk a splash of soured milk or cream into the eggs.
4. Custard pudding or crème brûlée. Both recipes are below.
5. Instead of sour cream or mayo. Put soured cream on a baked potato, or spread it on a sandwich.
6. In soup. Stir a tablespoon of soured cream into a bowl of soup. It adds flavor and helps digestion.
7. Overnight oatmeal. Use soured milk instead of whey to soak your oats overnight.
8. “Chocolate milk” for the kids. Stir carob powder and a little Rapadura (whole cane sugar) into slightly soured milk. Sarah says her children never noticed the difference.
9. Sweet potato casserole. The recipe is below.
10. Meatloaf. Use soured cream in your meatloaf. The recipe is in Nourishing Traditions, page 356.
11. Hot chocolate. Warm slightly soured milk on the stove with cocoa powder and Rapadura.
12. British white sauce. The recipe is below.

Cooked into a dish or spread on a sandwich, none of it goes to waste. Real food costs real money, and using every drop is how traditional kitchens always made it go further.

Custard Pudding

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1¾ cups soured raw milk
• ¼ cup Rapadura or maple syrup (maple syrup gives it a flan-like taste)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ⅛ teaspoon sea salt

Directions

1. Whisk everything together right in the baking dish.
2. Bake at 400°F for about 45 minutes, until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.
3. Let it cool, then serve.

Variations: Use half soured cream and half soured milk for a much richer custard. It is also very good baked in a pie crust made with lard.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1–2 pounds sweet potatoes
• ¼ pound (1 stick) butter
• 1 package (7 ounces) raw coconut cream (found at most Asian or Latin American markets)
• ¼ cup soured raw cream
• 3 egg yolks
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

Directions

1. Bake the sweet potatoes in the oven (not the microwave) until tender, and peel them while they are hot.
2. Mash them smooth in a casserole dish.
3. Melt the butter and coconut cream together over low heat.
4. Add the butter mixture, soured cream, egg yolks and spices to the sweet potatoes, and whip until well mixed. Dust the top with more cinnamon if you like.
5. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 30 minutes, until it bubbles on top.

Sarah says this was her one-year-old’s favorite dish.

Traditional British White Sauce

Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

• 2 cups soured milk
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 2 tablespoons Rapadura
• 1½ tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Warm 1½ cups of the soured milk over medium heat. Do not let it boil.
2. Mix the Rapadura and arrowroot together, then stir in the remaining ½ cup of cold soured milk to make a paste.
3. Stir the paste into the warm milk and cook for 5–7 minutes, stirring the whole time. Add the butter, brandy and vanilla while it cooks.
4. When it is done, stir in a little cold soured milk so a skin does not form on top.

Serve it over fruit, homemade cobbler or fruit pie.

Crème Brûlée

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 1 quart heavy soured raw cream
• 8 medium egg yolks
• ½ cup Rapadura
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 8 rounded teaspoons Rapadura or Sucanat, for the tops

Directions

1. Warm the cream gently with the vanilla. Do not let it boil.
2. Beat the egg yolks with the ½ cup Rapadura until smooth.
3. Slowly beat the hot cream into the yolks.
4. Pour into eight 4-inch ramekins (about ¾ cup each). Set them in shallow pans of warm water.
5. Bake at 300°F for 45–60 minutes, until the custard sets and a crust forms on top.
6. Let them cool, cover lightly with waxed paper, and chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
7. To serve, sprinkle 1 rounded teaspoon of Rapadura or Sucanat over each one and slide them under the broiler until the sugar melts. Watch closely, because it melts fast.
8. Let them cool, then put them back in the refrigerator until the sugar hardens into a crust. Serve very cold.

Sarah’s tip: serve this when your vegetarian friends come to dinner. They will not be able to get enough.

Where to get raw milk and cream

All of these start with real raw milk and cream from a farm you trust. Use the Raw Milk Finder to find a farm or homestead near you, and if you are just getting started, grab the free Raw Milk Starter Guide.