Raw milk question...

[Fabiola]

Hello, I recently started making cheese, so far I made about 10 batches from store pasteurized milk, but I just found a place that sells raw milk and I decided to give it a try, I made a Colby exactly the way I have done it with store milk, and after I finished the cheese, I read that raw milk needs to be boiled before making cheese or you may be exposed to harmful bacteria, but I also read that as long as you age the cheese more than 60 days, it should be OK. Can someone advice me about what to do with this cheese, should I throw it away or age it for 60 days to kill bacteria?

[steffb503]

Personally I would never advise boiling raw milk, even to kill any bad bacteria. You might want to pasteurize it by heating to 145 for 30 mins but never should it be boiled.
Here we make raw milk cheese and age over 60 days. That is the law at least here in NY.

So let it age 3-4 months and I bet it will be wonderful.

[Fabiola]

Thank you for your response, I would leave it aging 3-4 months, can I do that even if I didn't pasteurize?

[steffb503]

Yes
The 60 day mark would be the point at which any bacteria would no longer be viable.

[Tiarella]

Fabiola, I make raw milk cheese all the time and don't always age past sixty days.  It's all about milk quality/cleanliness.  Since I use my own milk I know how it's been kept safe.  It's been proven that the sixty day rule isn't the complete answer anyway but others here will remember more about that. 

[Sailor Con Queso]

The 60 day mark would be the point at which any bacteria would no longer be viable.

Actually, that's not true. The 60 day rule is a generally accepted cut off time for aging that inhibits pathogens from reaching clinically significant levels. But LOTS of bacteria, even pathogens, can & do survive beyond 60 days. A series of aged cheese recalls last year in Kentucky proved that Listeria can survive beyond 60 days.

[Fabiola]

Very good information, thanks a lot everyone...