Can I eat/freeze this: sour milk edition
April 15, 2020 12:17 PM Subscribe
Barely used gallon of milk separating (but not exactly curdling) 2 days before the sell-by date... is it going to kill us?
Normally when milk is starting to sour, I'll use it in cooking/baked goods with no compunction. But this gallon of milk doesn't look like it normally does. It had visibly separated into layers, with a clearer layer on top and kind of mixed with some of the more milky blobs. It was disturbed before I saw it so it may have been more distinct layers. When I shook it, it looks like normal (just very bubbly). It smells slightly sour, not rancid.
So.... what happened to my milk??? Is this a new deadly bacteria? Or can I still cook/bake with it? And possibly most importantly, since it's such a large quantity, can I freeze it to defrost at a future point for cooking/baking with? [Regardless if it is actually safe, we will not use it cold out of flavor preference.]
Normally when milk is starting to sour, I'll use it in cooking/baked goods with no compunction. But this gallon of milk doesn't look like it normally does. It had visibly separated into layers, with a clearer layer on top and kind of mixed with some of the more milky blobs. It was disturbed before I saw it so it may have been more distinct layers. When I shook it, it looks like normal (just very bubbly). It smells slightly sour, not rancid.
So.... what happened to my milk??? Is this a new deadly bacteria? Or can I still cook/bake with it? And possibly most importantly, since it's such a large quantity, can I freeze it to defrost at a future point for cooking/baking with? [Regardless if it is actually safe, we will not use it cold out of flavor preference.]
Best answer: This usually happens when the milk has been exposed to too high a temperature for awhile, as when it stood in your kitchen while you sanitized the outside of the bag with warm water and detergent, or if the guy delivering the milk had to social distance and wait every time a shopper approached the milk fridge he was loading at the store.
If it tastes okay you are fine to eat it or use it, but you have no more than twenty-four hours to do so and should not use it for anything where the milk separating with be nasty. You can use it in batter in other words, as long as the taste is okay. You could potentially freeze it in small containers such as ziplock sandwich bags and defrost with cold water for immediate use. If your pancake recipe calls for half a cup of milk freeze it in half cup servings.
Sour milk is normally quite safe to eat, rancid milk is another thing. Make sure you really are okay with the taste before you go to any trouble to salvage it.
You could also try turning it into yogurt if you had a live culture to start it with, but that could easily fail because it would separate completely during the pasteurize before adding the bacterial culture stage.
posted by Jane the Brown at 2:11 PM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
If it tastes okay you are fine to eat it or use it, but you have no more than twenty-four hours to do so and should not use it for anything where the milk separating with be nasty. You can use it in batter in other words, as long as the taste is okay. You could potentially freeze it in small containers such as ziplock sandwich bags and defrost with cold water for immediate use. If your pancake recipe calls for half a cup of milk freeze it in half cup servings.
Sour milk is normally quite safe to eat, rancid milk is another thing. Make sure you really are okay with the taste before you go to any trouble to salvage it.
You could also try turning it into yogurt if you had a live culture to start it with, but that could easily fail because it would separate completely during the pasteurize before adding the bacterial culture stage.
posted by Jane the Brown at 2:11 PM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: It makes the most sense that it was exposed to improper storage temperatures - we've been ordering delivery as well, and no way to know how long it was at room temp before getting to us.
posted by DoubleLune at 2:52 PM on April 15, 2020
posted by DoubleLune at 2:52 PM on April 15, 2020
One test I’ve found is if it’s gone off it will curdle when you add it to tea. It usually seems to start tasting sour just as it gets to that point. I’m sure adding a dash to a cup of boiling water will have the same effect.
Also, a consequence of lock in baking is that I made an oven baked rice pudding the other day: 40oz milk to 2oz pudding rice, makes four servings, and I’m sure someone on the internet has rice substitutions. Also needs sugar and deserves most of a nutmeg. Useful for milk on its last day.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 5:47 PM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also, a consequence of lock in baking is that I made an oven baked rice pudding the other day: 40oz milk to 2oz pudding rice, makes four servings, and I’m sure someone on the internet has rice substitutions. Also needs sugar and deserves most of a nutmeg. Useful for milk on its last day.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 5:47 PM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
Sounds like it soured - so what you have is a common Slavic drink :) Or you can eat the more solid parts with boiled potatoes and dill. If it tastes all right, just sour-cream-like, it's safe.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 2:00 AM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by I claim sanctuary at 2:00 AM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by childofTethys at 1:50 PM on April 15, 2020