Pasteurizing Raw Milk - Pros/Cons

[SANDQ]

My wife and I have been making soft cheese for over a year now, we are at this moment draining a batch made for the first with raw milk. We have not noticed an increase in yeild but certainly we have noticed a better thicker curd, so will be going down this route for our cheddar.

[SANDQ]

Here in Bulgaria we are 60 years or so behind anywhere else in Europe, and although we are a provisional member of the EU it does not look as though we will be accepted anywhere in the near future. The big plus side to this is that in the villages, everyone with their own dairy animalS sells milk,  produces cheese ( not cheddar ) and sells it without any regulation problems. It does not need to be labeled ther are no checks on the milk etc. I just want to be sure by joining this band wagon that I produce a safe and far superior product. Made our first batch of fresh chees with raw milk today, getting a far better curd, we also sell this so some sort of pasteurisation is still reccomended?

[Sailor Con Queso]

SandQ - Raw milk cheeses need to be aged for 60 days or more to be safe. Soft cheeses, curd products, yogurts, etc need to be pasteurized.

[MiaBella Farm]

SandQ - Raw milk cheeses need to be aged for 60 days or more to be safe. Soft cheeses, curd products, yogurts, etc need to be pasteurized.

Are you saying that soft cheeses need to be pasteurized in order to SELL them or to MAKE them?  I make soft cheese regularly from raw milk and it tastes great!  So I am just curious why you suggest pasteurizing?

[linuxboy]

It's required by the FDA in the US. Anything dairy not aged 60 days must be pasteurized per PMO regs and other relevant CFRs.

IMHO, it's a little risky to make some raw milk products, like chevre, even for personal consumption. Fine if you own the animals and milk them yourself and can have confidence in their health and your practices, but I wouldn't make a chevre from purchased raw milk.

[MiaBella Farm]

It's required by the FDA in the US. Anything dairy not aged 60 days must be pasteurized per PMO regs and other relevant CFRs.

IMHO, it's a little risky to make some raw milk products, like chevre, even for personal consumption. Fine if you own the animals and milk them yourself and can have confidence in their health and your practices, but I wouldn't make a chevre from purchased raw milk.

Yes, we own our own goats and they are very well cared for and in excellent health 

[SANDQ]

Thanks guys for all the input,
 In my experience and from what I am learning here, making fresh dairy products from raw milk, can increase the health risk to the consumer, so for fresh milk products the milk should be in some way pasteurised. Using raw milk for aged cheese, such as cheddar it should be aged for 60 days minimum to reduce the the chances of a health risk to the consumer. This is for a health and safety reason, wether you sell it or it is for your own consumption, as I understand ( those more in the know please correct me if I'm wrong ) Ive been making the Bulgarian version of chevre for over a year now, but made my first batch with raw milk today, and even that I know how sterile my environment is I am very reluctant to eat it! and probably wont! More of an experiment to see how better curd I will get from unpasteurised milk, for my cheddar. Can anyone answer my mold question? ( posted elswhere )  thanks Q

[Sailor Con Queso]

Baby animals everywhere thrive on raw Mother's milk. It's ironic that we have "improved" on Mother Nature by pasteurizing and homogenizing and adding things to an already perfect product. Google raw milk and you will find that many more people have died from pasteurized milk and milk products than raw milk. And there are many health problems that are implicated with homogenization.

Raw milk carries natural lactic bacteria that are transferred from the mother cow or goat. That's a good thing for cheese because it provides a richer flora that can't be duplicated with freeze dried cultures. That's why we can never truly duplicate the fantastic natural European cheeses.

So here's the $60000 question. If pasteurization kills all of the bacteria, then why does store bought milk spoil, even in an unopened container? Take a container of raw milk and a container of pasteurized store bought and put them on your kitchen counter for a day or two and see what happens. The raw milk will curdle and make lactic cheese. The pasteurized will spoil and stink.

The Europeans have been using raw milk for soft cheeses for hundreds of years. Raw milk is extremely safe if it's handled properly. If you are lucky enough to have a source for raw milk use it.

If you're not going to eat your Chevre, send it to me.

[MarkShelton]

I think that raw milk is generally safe, and that pasteurization is as much to ensure a safe product as it is to limit liability. One law suit would bankrupt a small company, and the cost to pasteurize (both in money and quality of finished cheese) insignificant compared to the financial obligations from law suits.

Thats here in the US though. Other countries seem to be much less eager to sue anyone and everyone for everything. I'm not saying that you wouldn't care if your cheeses hurt anyone though.

[mtncheesemaker]

Hear, hear, Sailor!

[FarmerJd]

I can vouch for sailor's impromptu experiment having actually done this; raw milk does not sour in the same way. I also know from experience that a gallon of my fresh milk will last in the fridge for more than a week longer than the store-bought stuff, (that should be strange, right?). I also concur with Linuxboy that u can usually tell if something isn't right with your cheese.
I have never pasteurized and never will. I understand the need for some kind of intervention for safety purposes when selling to the public, but is pasteurization the only answer? Surely not. It is sad that so many people never know the real experience of drinking a cold glass of 6.5% raw, whole milk. My lips get greasy just thinking about it. 

[Sailor Con Queso]

My aunt had cows when I was growing up and she never put milk in the fridge. She would take a glass out to the barn and come back with fresh milk for lunch. She always drank it warm, right out of the cow. I always hated warm milk. Still do. But man, your right JD. Store bought milk just tastes funny these days.

I really like LinuxBoys suggestion about UV sterilization.

[Brie]

In my experimentation, pasteurized milk has no comparison to raw milk in the cheese-making process. I began with pasteurized, then found a dairy that provides raw organic milk--what a difference! The cheese is 100% better tasting, and process results are much more predictable. I fetch my five gallons of milk every week, as close to milking as possible. How I adore to see the inches of cream rising to the top (depending on season) as I decide which cheese I will endeavor. Slim-line of top cream means I will make a Parmesan--thick heavy cream inclines me toward a rich Brie or Reblochon.  I truly believe that cheese-making is much like growing plants--to each there is a season. In essence, I let the cows decide; which can only be done with raw milk.

[MiaBella Farm]

Sailor...I am not sending you my cheese!  I am eating all of it 

The other thing that I have noticed about store bought cow milk is that it "smells", can't describe it, but it does!  I have smelled raw cow milk and raw goat milk and neither of them have the store bought milk smell...I assume that is due to pasteurization....or handling or some of both.

I love my raw goat milk and that is all I know! 

[cheesehead]

Hi there can anyone help me? I make a stirred curd variety of goats milk cheddar using my own milk. The last 2 batches I have made I am getting alot less curd for the same amount of milk and the same process. Not throught choice I have chenged my brand of rennet, is this likely to affect the ammount of curd I am getting?    thanks  Q

Yields are seasonal based on the protein levels of the milk.  As protein levels drop seasonally, my yields drop but again I track that data so I'm prepared for it when it starts to happen.   The next step in measuring protein is what % the casein is in the protein.  There is a science to cheesemaking for sure.  Measure & record data is a key to getting better

As an extreme, cottage cheese is drastically affected - sometimes by 10%  (yield-wise) by protein levels since I make it with skim milk.  When protein drops I add some skim milk powder to get the solids up to keep yields more steady.  Theres an added cost with adding SMP but its worth it for me.