Milk Question

[adalton]

I normally use store bought milk for my cheese making and I try and use the milk the day I buy it or maybe the next day, but I have noticed my Kroger has manager's specials where I can buy the milk for $1.50 instead of $3.75.  Obviously the milk is close to the sell by date when they slap the manager's special sticker on it.  For firm, aged cheese does it matter how fresh the milk is?


Andy

[Sailor Con Queso]

The reason milk has an expiration date is that the bacteria count starts increasing and the milk sours. So, it is technically a bit risky to make cheese with milk that might have an elevated count and a low pH. However, I am very familiar with Kroger's milk specials and the milk still has at least a few days left before expiration. If you are still in the learning phase, go for it and learn the basics on cheap milk. If you are wanting better cheese, use fresher, higher quality milk.

Now, that being said, in my area, Kroger's does their own processing and it is the worst milk possible for cheese making. It is way over processed and is often very difficult to work with.

Here is a nifty little website that will tell you the source of your milkl.

Where Is My Milk From?

[adalton]

Thanks Sailor, I appreciate the website and the information.

Andy

[MacGruff]

Thanks. I pulled out the two containers of milk that we have and found that one is from Ohio and the other from Pennsylvania. Not too big of a surprise I suppose given where I live. On the other hand, I was surprised that they were so different given that I bought them at the same store only days apart...

P.S. - This was milk for consumption is milk and not for cheesemaking...

[Sailor Con Queso]

Now that you know where the milk is from, you can call and ask about their processing and pasteurization standards. It's surprising that the store has 2 different sources for the same milk.

[iratherfly]

Cheesemkr you mentioned firm aged cheese.  Supermarket brand milk is usually a terrible candidate for that as it is made very cheaply and is highly processed, and comes from animal with horrendous diet. While you may not feel the flaws so much in young or fresh cheese, they do become very apparent in the texture and flavor of well aged cheese. They also may cause issues in long term aging such as bloating, bitterness and cheese blowouts.  If you must use it, do it with young cheese and do it with acidic cheese where whatever culture you put in it is allowed to grow wildly and outcompete whatever undesired pathogens are spoiling the milk now.

[adalton]

Every cheese I made was with store bought milk, but with that said it took me a bit to find one good source of milk.  I asked the question about Kroger, just because it was so cheap, but that's for a good reason getting close to the sell by date.  I have always used Country Fresh LLC, brand milk since that's the brand I've had the best success with so far.  Unfortunately, store bought milk is my only source right now.  I'm doing some looking into raw milk from a couple local dairy farms around here.  Until that happens, store bought is my only choice.

Andy

[MacGruff]

Hi Cheesemkr,

On a different topic, the same discussion of sourcing milk came up and this link was provided:

http://www.realmilk.com/where08.html#pa

I know it takes you to the Pennsylvania listing, but you can scroll to your area.

My personal journey was that I looked over the list, and none of the places listed are actually all that close to me, but I called one of the dairies listed. They suggested that independent health food stores tend to be more likely to carry raw milk - even in places like Pittsburgh PA! I followed that suggestion and stopped at one that is not far from my house and lo and behold - not only do they have raw milk from local farmers, they carry both cow and goat raw milks!

I ordered two gallons of raw cow's milk to make my next cheese. The store owner told me that the farmer she gets the cow's milk from will be milking the cows on Thursday for her orders, and I will pick it up on Friday. Saturday will be cheesemaking day in my kitchen!!!

Maybe you can follow a similar chain and get results also?  Good luck!