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Cow's Milk - Pasteurized Store Bought Or Raw?

Started by andymick01, July 01, 2010, 11:30:24 AM

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andymick01

I am looking at starting to make my own cheese (preferrably hard cheese) and was wondering if I could use shop bought whole milk or does it need to be raw cows milk

Regards

Andy

MarkShelton

Welcome to the forum!
I have used store-bought homogenized/pasteurized milk plenty of times before I found a source of raw milk. Many others here have and still do use supermarket milk also because raw milk may not be available, legal, or convenient. It will work nearly as well as raw. Be sure to get some calcium chloride, though, from a cheese supply retailer, as pasteurized milk will need it to get the calcium ions back into balance from the rough treatment it's had during processing.

Just be sure it is NOT ultra-pasteurized. UP milk has been processed so severely that it is no longer good for making most cheese types. Low-temp or vat pasteurized milk would be better than regular milk, but most importantly be sure to get the freshest milk you can find; preferably with an expiration date about 2 weeks in the future.

mcfly

Hi,
I'm also new to cheesemaking and find store milk fine to start off with. I hope once I get to grips with cheesemaking I'll move onto raw milk. I live in London so its quite expensive to buy raw milk and I hate the thought of wasting it.

For now, I have learnt a great deal from store milk and my cheese ain't to bad!  ???

andymick01

Hi Steve

What type of cheese did you make? I'm from the north but finding it difficult to source a supplier for raw milk

Regards
Andy

mcfly

Hey Andy,

So far I've made a Limburger, cheddar and a gouda . The Limber turned out ok although I'm sure it'll be better from raw milk. I'm awaiting the others to mature so I've gone back to making  a few goat cheeses ;)

North London or North uk?
There are a number of farmers markets in London at weekend but the raw milk is around ₤5 per gallon? There are many farms you could probably call and buy a lot cheaper!

andymick01

North Manchester. I'm going to give it a go this weekend