Cream from Raw Milk?

[Tatoosh]

I'm looking at a guide for making Mozzarella at another website (called Heavenly Homemakers) and the woman talks about skimming cream off her raw milk when she makes Mozzarella and she uses it to make butter.  I realized that homogenized milk won't give cream if used, but apparently raw does?  So question number one:  should I expect to have cream to skim each time I start heating the raw milk (cow or buffalo) each time I make cheese?

To be honest, from her description, it looks like the cream separates prior to heating. And the milk I've had from the dairy was not raw, but their "pasteurized" stuff and had cream globules, usually on the sides of the 1 liter plastic bags it comes in.  But never a separate layer on top.  Of course, I usually refrigerate it right away.  The milk from the dairy only stays good for 3 days or 4 days tops, so I think their "pasteurization" is closer to what I've seen described as "thermization" which is done at lower temperatures and is/was found in Europe, not the USA so much.   Question number two: Should I be leaving the milk that is destined for cheese making out at room temperature (usually DT of 75F and NT 60F here)? 

Lower temperature pasteurization is part of my plan for the milk, so if the the cream hasn't come off before, will it then?  I am thinking of doing the 142F for 30 minutes to minimize changes in the milk. Should I expect to see cream as part of this process? Or, if cream is there, will it separate out during the Mozzarella making?

I will start my initial trials using 1 liter of milk and if I can get stable results, move to 3.7 or 5 liters of milk.  I realize that a lot of things can effect the amount of cream, provided it does separate at temperature, such as the type of cow, milking techniques, and so forth.  But given that there  is cream in the milk, question number three: skimming it off versus stirring it back in would be acceptable?

Tatoosh

[SayCheese!]

Hi Tatoosh,

As far as I know, as long as the milk isn't homogenized (whether it is raw milk or low heat pasturized) it should separate by itself just by leaving it undisturbed in a jug for about 24 hours.

If you are trying to take off the cream, it helps to have the milk in a clear jug (like a sun tea jug) with a  tap at the bottom so you can drain off the skim milk without disturbing the cream.  That being said, even though it is not as effective, I usually just pour off the cream from the top of a milk jug.

I am not an expert, but I don't believe heating the milk will help you separate out the cream.

You can make your cheese with whole milk.  I skim mine because I like to use the cream for other things.  My next venture might be butter! 

Good luck,
BJ

[Tatoosh]

Thanks SayCheese.  I am hoping to get cream for various other things too. I love making ice cream, but heavy cream here in the Philippines is running 7 bucks a liter these days.  Sour cream isn't much cheaper.  So if I get into making Mozzarella often, I have visions of butter (both sweet and cultured), ice cream, and sour cream/creme fraiche dancing in my head!  Or even some half and half for my coffee would be good.   

Tatoosh

[Tobiasrer]

It sounds to me like the milk you are getting is skimmed milk, or at least partly skimmed.
Its like oil in water when left to sit and settle the cream will rise to the top, unless homogenized.
Since you are only getting som small trace amounts I would guess that the dairy has already seperated the cream out.

[MrsKK]

You say that you get the milk in bags and that there are clumps of cream on the sides of the bag.  It sounds to me as though the milk is getting agitated on the trip home, some of the cream is just stuck to the sides of the bag, while the rest is mixed back into the milk.  I've found much the same thing when transporting a jar of milk.

If you want to find out just how much cream will separate out, you would do best to transfer the milk to a wide-mouthed container.  I recommend a clear glass jar so you can see just how much you are getting and to make it easier to remove the cream.  I use gallon-sized jars for storing my milk and a gravy ladle to remove the cream from the top.  It isn't perfect and if I try to get all of the cream I end up with some milk in it, but from experience, the sun tea jars with the spigot at the bottom tend to leak and the spigots are really hard to get completely clean.  For milk, everything needs to be kept meticulously clean, so you really don't want that.

I keep my milk in the fridge at least overnight to separate out the cream.  24 hours is even better.  But it doesn't sound as though the milk you are getting is staying good for very long.  Are you keeping it cold while taking it home?  I suggest a cooler with ice-filled plastic containers for transporting your milk.

[Tatoosh]

Thank you for your ideas.  I am not sure if their "pasteurized" milk has been skimmed or not.  If the cream comes off when heated, then that might well be what is happening.  Also, I do not think they use full pasteurization, even though they call it that.  When I learned about "thermization" which generally keeps milk good for 3 days, it really sounded a bell with me.  Three days is all they guarantee their milk for. 

The milk may be agitated some, MrsKK. We generally don't handle it roughly, but we don't baby it either.  Sometimes I have a cooler with blue-ice and sometimes not. It depends on if they have milk when I call and where I am at that time.  If I have time to plan, I use a cooler. If it is spur of the moment, then it can end up in a plastic bag and takes a 15 to 30 minute ride home depending on traffic. 

I will buy some later this week and store it in some sort of wide mouth container.  Sadly, no mason jars here.  At least none that I've seen.  Those would be very handy.  But there has to be something around for sure. 

I will do the same test with the buffalo milk, but that comes frozen.  No other option.  None the less, the frozen milk looks to have significant layers in the bottle, which is a narrow 1 liter "soda" style bottle.  I can try to thaw the buffalo milk, pour off the top layer and then let it sit and see what happens.  I suppose we can make ice cream or butter from carabao milk similar to making it from cows milk, right?

[Homestead]

Just another hint...a turkey baster works great to skim the cream!  Also, I've found that the more the milk is shaken/disturbed the harder it will be for it to separate.  Also, as the milk gets older (day to day) the fat globules of the cream will shrink in size creating a smaller yet more dense cream/ cream line.  I find it best to skim the cream as soon as it separates. 

[Tatoosh]

I had a chat with the head of the diary co-op here.  He said that they do not skim the milk prior to sale.  They do pasteurize at 72C for 15 seconds (if I remember right).  He suggested that we use a cooler for moving the milk, particularly raw milk.  So we will give it a whirl as we have ingredients arrive.  Buttermilk starter from the USA is due anytime. Local vegetable rennet in granulated form will be here next week from Manila.  So we can start with those.

The more traditional starter for Mozzarella is available here, but I won't be able to get until April or maybe May.  But I will try using the buttermilk starter.  Or if that doesn't work, I have access to yogurt so I can use that as a starter instead. 

I will do the cream skimming and see if we can get a cultured cream fraiche and we might try making a some ice cream if there is enough cream, but I won't hold my breath on that one. 

Luckily, I ran into another expat, a likable Irishman, that has another source for milk that he says is very creamy.  So always good to have multiple sources.  Milk is not quite so ready to hand here as in the USA except for UHT milk.  And that is a buck and half a liter which is just over a quart.  So it runs about five dollars and fifty cents a gallon here.  Heavy Cream of the UHT variety (the only kind available), as I mentioned before, goes for 300 - 360 pesos per liter or about seven bucks give or take a couple of pennies.  That makes cream recovery a very real economic interest along side the uses culinary it will have.

Thanks again to everyone for their input.