Author Topic: I found raw milk! Questions  (Read 1208 times)

DoctorCheese

  • Guest
I found raw milk! Questions
« on: April 06, 2017, 09:45:01 PM »
Hey everyone. It is illegal in my state to commercially sell raw milk. However, there are some loopholes that allow farmers to sell their milk directly to the consumer and I found a local farmer who has amazing grass fed free range type cows and a fair price for the milk (fair compared to others anyway, $10 per gallon). I am going to have three gallons of it this coming Monday and I plan to make a washed curd natural rind tomme.

Does anyone have tips or pitfalls in regards to using raw milk for the first time? Thank you!

5ittingduck

  • Guest
Re: I found raw milk! Questions
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2017, 10:28:38 PM »
Be aware of the short shelf life. There is a lot going on in that milk, and I make a point of using mine within 24 hours of milking.
Check the farmers handling if you can, cleanliness is very important.
It will set much faster and firmer than you expect.
Using the same recipies, your cheeses will taste quite different. The flavour will change from day to day, as will the fat content.
That's a bit more than $2 a litre, good find!

Offline Gregore

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Santa Barbara
  • Posts: 993
  • Cheeses: 43
  • Default personal text
Re: I found raw milk! Questions
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2017, 03:41:40 AM »
I say savor the make , I used to use it when I first started , but now it is harder to justify the price difference , 3x more .

It is simply a pure pleasure to use .

Offline Boofer

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Lakewood, Washington
  • Posts: 5,015
  • Cheeses: 344
  • Contemplating cheese
Re: I found raw milk! Questions
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2017, 03:44:21 AM »
The raw milk has natural culture strains so your added cultures can be less.

I used 5 gallons of raw Jersey milk this morning to produce my Castle Blue #2 followed by my Taleggio #7...before lunch.  ;)   Whew!

The health food store I shop in offers up to four raw cow milk dairies with pricing from $9.99 to $11.99 per gallon. The raw goat milk is quite pricey @ $8 to $10 per half gallon. :o

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

DoctorCheese

  • Guest
Re: I found raw milk! Questions
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2017, 04:09:42 AM »
The health food store I shop in offers up to four raw cow milk dairies with pricing from $9.99 to $11.99 per gallon. The raw goat milk is quite pricey @ $8 to $10 per half gallon. :o

I sort of lucked out and found a really cool dairy run by a nice farmer. Here are some pictures of his cows. His competitors prices are ~$18 per gallon so I was pretty happy to find it at $10.