Clabbered Camel Milk Cream Separation

[lanlanonearth]

Hello,

I've been experimenting making clabbered raw camel milk. It's purchased frozen. I thaw it in the fridge, and leave it to clabber at 25C for 24 hours with an airtight lid. This is what I notice. After the 24 hour period, the milk becomes noticeably thicker in texture (and sours). A film of milk would cling to the container surface if I swirl it. But the milk is still throughly homogenous throughout. Then, I put the entire container (lid still airtight) in the fridge. After about a day, I would notice a thick layer of cream risen to the top with a very distinct cream line, similar to what raw cow milk would look like when it's just milked (but for my camel milk, this is after I have clabbered/soured it and also left it in the fridge for a while). If I scoop it out, it's just like sour cream.

I haven't found anything that explains the science behind this. Why would the cream rise after the raw camel milk has soured? The cream separates but there is no curd separation and no whey. Does anybody have any clue or any information to point me to? Thanks!

[mikekchar]

You're doing some interesting stuff!  Unfortunately, from what I understand camel milk has little or no casein.  The result is that it works *very* differently from other milks you may be used to using.  Anything else I could say is pure speculation.  I know that camel milk *is* used to make sour dairy products, but I *think* that it involves heating it (so possibly denaturing the albumins to make a ricotta like sour cheese).  If you look around on the internet you might be able to find some references, but it might be tricky.

[lanlanonearth]

Hi Mikechar,

Thanks I've looked at a few articles and videos on camel cheese making, unfortunately they do not have any recipe in detail. I also found a popular camel yogurt drink called Chal or Shubat, and it turns out to be very similar to what I was making. It's interesting that they let the incubation of Shubat under 30C where as in cow milk yogurt making, many people recommend much higher like 40-46C. I'd be interested to know why.

That reminds me, I also notice something with very fat whole yat milk. If I leave the milk as it is (in a bottle anaerobically) in the fridge too long, the top cream part begin to coagulate along with some curds in the liquid but the milk does not sour. If I take it out to room temperature, the curdling speeds up, and I would get a (naturally) curd of cheese-like end product and (normal looking) whey. However, there is no sour taste to it and I'm reluctant to eat it due to safety concerns. Again, I am very curious to what is behind this transformation as this looks like raw yak cheese making without any heat (though also without assurance of safety).

[mikekchar]

Are you talking about the cream separating and forming a plug?  Basically you get big floating clumps of solid cream on top?  Yes, that happens with non-homogenised cow's milk (at least for most breeds).  Long story, short: fat in milk is held up in "globules" (which are exactly what you probably think they are).  If the globules are big, they will bump together, stick and form clumps, rising to the top of the milk (because the fat is less dense than the water in the milk).  If the globules are small, then the random motion of the milk essentially keeps them apart enough that they don't stick together and they don't rise to the top as much.  Some goat breeds and other animals have fat globules that are small enough that the cream basically never rises.

Most milk these days is homogenised.  What they do is force it through a very fine filter which breaks all the fat globules, ruining your milk.  They do this because they hate people and especially they hate people who want to make cheese.  Or possibly because some people have difficulty digesting the fat globules, but I think that's just an excuse.  Actually, the history of homogenisation is fascinating and has a lot to do with politics and forcing small farmers to pool their milk.  But it also allows them to put milk on the shelf and leave it for weeks without the cream rising.