Some of you may be purchasing your raw milk directly from the farm. Here are some tips about how to transport and store your farm-fresh raw milk.
Chill raw milk within an hour of milking
Raw milk is approximately 99-102 degrees Fahrenheit (F) as it comes from the cow, and needs to be chilled to 40°F as fast as possible, preferably within an hour of milking since bacteria count doubles every 20 minutes at body temperature. Chilling the milk fast ensures a longer shelf life — and it just tastes better (will have less "off flavors") if it is chilled quickly and stays cool. (If milk does not stay cool, it will sour and separate.)
The bulk milk tank at the organic farm is the beginning of the “cold chain”. Rapid cooling inhibits the good lactic-acid bacteria which causes milk to sour (turning it into clabber) and will inhibit the growth of bad bacteria faster. For optimal preservation of milk quality, it should be stirred as it is rapidly chilling, and it should be kept cool during transportation and storage until use.
How to store raw milk
It’s very important that farm-fresh raw milk be kept below 40 degrees F at all times in the delivery system — from tested clean source to home kitchen. Containers that maintain proper temperature are needed all the way to the delivery point. Your milk will stay fresher longer if you never break the cold chain.
Container size and type are important. I have two amber gallon jugs that are optimum for maintaining nutrients and flavor but are heavy to transport. Most choose returnable food-grade plastic gallon jugs, which run about $3.50-$5 each, and label them uniquely on the cap. Bottles or jars larger than a gallon in winter and a 1/2 gallon in summer are not recommended because the large size makes it harder to keep the milk evenly cooled.
Transporting fresh raw milk
For transporting fresh raw milk, a cooler or ice chest is needed in order to keep the milk at a cool 40 degrees F or lower at all times. (It is helpful to have the family name on the inside and outside of the cooler.) When handling milk, hand washing is the most effective way to prevent contamination for all parties; just before filling the milk jugs is important. I recommend Thieves foaming handsoap with essential oils for this and all toxin-free skin disinfecting needs. A rinse with a weak H2O2 solution followed by clear water is good for containers.
How to Freeze Whole Organic Raw Milk
I like to keep a supply of organic whole raw milk in my freezer. I label wide-mouth glass containers like my grandma used for freezing with the words "Whole Milk" and the date. After losing too many quarts of valuable organic milk to burst jars, I now leave plenty of headroom, cap tightly, and lay them on their sides to freeze as quickly as possible, and store them upright after they are frozen. I was surprised to see good quality raw whole milk is yellow when frozen. I think this is because we now see the butter suspended clearly in frozen liquid.
Thawing frozen raw milk. To use frozen low-fat or whole milk, thaw slowly at room temperature. I use a pan of warm water on my wood stove. Don’t be concerned if fast thawing results in slight separation of the butterfat from the milk. These are just luscious lumps of Vitamin A & D-rich cream that can be whisked back in — real delicious superfood. I mainly use defrosted organic raw milk to make smoothies, to make kefir (an ancient cultured milk beverage) and for cooking, but it is perfectly tasty by the glass, too.
If you won’t be freezing the milk, check the temperature of the home refrigerator to find the coldest area for storing the milk. Use the door shelf only for the bottle in current use. During hot weather, place ice in plastic quart-sized bags or re-freezable gel packs in front of or next to the containers that will be stored the longest. It is important to keep the milk COLD, as I’ve said before, at between 35 and 37 degrees F and protected from UV (ultraviolet) light to preserve the Vitamin D in the milk.
About the Vitamin D: consider the clear plastic gallons of Grade A pasteurized Vitamin D enriched milk (pasteurization kills Vitamin D) setting in Quick Stop coolers all over America being bathed in continuous light that blasts the Vitamin D that’s just been added.
Make sure your milk containers are clean. All organic dairymen I know are sticklers about squeaky clean containers; customers get charged for incompletely cleaned containers (when they’ve been capped for awhile, they give a definite odor when opened). Food-grade H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) is uniquely perfect as a cleaner and disinfectant for dairy equipment because its by-product is just plain water.
There’s a lot that I’ve learned since I began regular visits to the organic dairy. Two-quart, wide-mouth canning jars are optimal for ease of cleaning. Use only tempered glass. A good habit to get into is to rinse emptied containers immediately. Use lukewarm water so as not to “set” the milk protein. Then wash in hot, soapy water. Rinse three times with water first to cut suds and then with warm-hot water to speed drying. Drain on a clean dish towel or rack, let air-dry on the counter and then cap. You can also wash in a dishwasher with a non-toxic product.
How long does organic raw milk last?
With care, organic milk that has not been warm since it left the contented pastured cow can be stored 7 to 14 days for drinking as sweet milk, with meals to help digestion or as a healthy satisfying snack. After a couple weeks culturing in cold storage, healthy raw milk develops the subtle tang that advertises that the good lacto-bacillus bacteria are stirring; then it’s a wonderful flavor for cream soups, white sauces, and custards.
On the slim chance there will be any left before fresh milk arrives, this treasure can become the healthy liquid that gives sourdough pancakes, biscuits, and bread their taste appeal. I never waste sour milk down the drain — I feed it to my pets — I pour it on my compost — I dump it on the earth.
At least, I would, if I had any leftover to go sour.
16 Comments for "How to transport and store farm-fresh raw milk"
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Balnath Avhad
Comment posted on 08/13/08 @ 6:27 am
How milk is to be handled at 10 deg.celcius.
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 08/13/08 @ 7:05 am
Hi, Balnath. Welcome to We Want Organic Food.
I’m not sure what you’re asking, however, some manner of refrigeration or cooling is necessary. I did find a Fahrenheit-Celcius Converter, which reports that 40° Fahrenheit is 4.4 Celcius.
Does that help?
Lynn Cameron
Comment posted on 08/13/08 @ 11:27 am
Thanks to the F-C Converter at Diane’s link here, I found that 10Cel = 50*Fah. So, based upon my experience with uncooked 50* milk from contented, grass-fed cows, I’d say the natural culturing process (also called souring) is just barely beginning from the spontaneous culturing process utilized by our ancestors. The milk will still be sweetly palatable for some time, but will “turn” more the longer it stays above 40*=4.4Cel.
The milk I am fortunate enough to use will spontaneously curd-up (curdle) from its natural living bacteria after 15-20 days even in the refrigerator, but it does not ever spoil (rot) like pasteurized product devoid of life force, and it can be used for tasty pancakes, bisquits and wherever sour cream or buttermilk is called for in a recipe - and at supremely increased nutrient-density, B-complex vitamins particularly. In fact, even cooking doesn’t negate its broadly increased food value, and old-time dairy farms always had milk/cream/butter+ in various stages of culturing to the great benefit of both humans and animals living there.
[Kefir can be made]
http://wewantorganicfood.com/2008/03/06/kefir-history-
information-and-a-kefir-recipe/ at warm room temperature while the culturing of yogurt requires some warmer conditions. Even my own farm-fresh milk is heated to scald on the candy thermometer and then cooled when using a culture that needs warmer than room temperatures. This is to allow only the specific strains of innoculant (bacteria) in the product for a mild and standardized taste. You can read in italics on dairy case yogurt cartons the very few LAB that are utilized commercially because these have been the easy and prolific beasties to study and hence, to market .
The vast and diverse symbiotic umbrella of LAB (lacto-bacillus bacteria ), crucial to life on earth, is truly ancient in its sustenance and joy as a food with a bonus for modern times of personal well-being as you experiment and research further its tasty therapy.
Regards,
Lynn
+Consider Little Miss Muffet a healthy maid even if she was afraid of spiders.
Kandace
Comment posted on 09/6/08 @ 7:28 pm
Question - How long does raw goats milk last in the frezzer?
Lynn Cameron
Comment posted on 09/8/08 @ 8:26 pm
Hello Kandace,
I have experience only with freezing raw cows’ milk - it is the most readily available to me here in Northern NY, and I like the taste of it much better. As you probably know, flavors of the foods a lactating mother eats are very much present in their milk, and goats will eat most anything. Cows, on the other hand, choose grass over anything else and are even picky about the species if given the chance.
I don’t even know how long my cows’ milk will last frozen; it’s still been perfect after 12 months. I like to freeze June milk because it has the highest cream content then, and the entire nutrient profile of raw milk is peaking as the cows are grazing the first-growth pasture of Spring.
Raw goats’ milk may freeze differently because its cream content is lower; it’s keeping abilities may be compromised for the same reason. Other than texture and incomplete remix issues at thawing which cows’ milk has sometimes, I have no reason to believe that goats’ milk wouldn’t freeze well for many months. And please remember that, even if its taste is slightly less than fresh, it can always be made into a cultured drink or condiment. Goats’ milk yogurt is deliciously mild as well as easy to digest. I often make batches of white sauce with milk past its ’sweetness’ and freeze it.
I say if you have an abundance of milk from ANY grass-fed ruminant, by all means, freeze it for later use. It’s as good as money in the bank, in my opinion.
Good luck,
Lynn
katie
Comment posted on 10/16/08 @ 4:37 pm
wow- I just bought my first two gallons and this is some very helpful information. Thanks!
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 10/16/08 @ 5:22 pm
Hi Katie. Excellent, and our thanks to Lynn for writing this article! (And welcome to We Want Organic Food.)
Jack
Comment posted on 12/1/08 @ 2:23 pm
Our family has a farm in Northern California, I am interested in transporting some of our raw goat milk to our home in San Diego. Can you recommend an efficient way for us to transport our raw goat milk? We have 12 goats and will probably be transporting 5-10 gallons at a time. (We drive)
Any input would be appriciated.
Thanks
Jack
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 12/1/08 @ 3:20 pm
Hi Jack. I’d say that — beyond having a Star Trek "Beam me up, Scottie" device (which would cover the “efficient” part), your best bet is probably to super-chill the milk (as Lynn says above) during your drive and then get it into the refrigerator ASAP when you arrive.
Dusty
Comment posted on 01/9/09 @ 7:54 am
We have a goat farm in No. CA. and I would like to say that goat milk and cow milk are identical in cream %, the difference is that goat milk has smaller fat globules than cow, thus making it easier to digest for most people. It also has one less prtein, and so some people who are allergic to cow\’s milk may dring goat\’s milk.
Goat diaries are becoming more and more popular, mostly due to the latter above.
Goat\’s fed a corrrect diet will NOT have an off flavor milk. In fact grass fed cow milk and raw goat milk are very similar inflavor. On our farm when we have tours we always do a blind taste test. Over 50% tested say the raw goat milk is better in flavor than raw cow\’s milk.
The reason raw goat milk has a bad reputation is that many people who \"sell\" goat milk do NOT process it properly. It must be strained and chilled with-in minutes of milking. Using plastic \"milk\" buckets will severely affect the flavor.
While the article above is excellent and halpful, there is one more thing I must disagree with. Cream INCREASES in % as the animal\’s lactation continues. The first milk (after colostrum) is usually the mildest in flavor, as amount of milk increase for the first three months, then tappers off and eventually the animal dries off at around 9 months. The animal during the last month as it is drying off is milked less frequesntly, the longer time the milk stays in the udder the more off flavors it collects. Between 6-10 months the % of butterfat is the highest.
dusty
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 01/9/09 @ 8:01 am
Hi, Dusty. Thanks for the information; very helpful! (And welcome to We Want Organic Food.)
Dusty
Comment posted on 01/9/09 @ 9:11 am
Great site. We have a local group of moms who work together, when one spots a great deal on orgainc produce, she passes it on via the internet. It is amazing to me that the family farmer is “held-up” to providing his/her neighbors with the products he produces at the farm.
Another suggestion:
Take a country drive and look around. You may find some family farms that would be willing to sell you some products they can produce on the farm. WE have a local orchard that can not aford employees so the trees are sitting neglected. I suggested she “lease” her trees out. oI suggested our group go out and prune, gather and she gets her other trees gathered and pruned as well.
We have done goat shares in teh past where we “lease” a goat to several families. They pay room and board and we milk for them. they come by once a week to pick up the milk.
Lynn Cameron
Comment posted on 01/9/09 @ 4:40 pm
Hello Dusty,
Thank you for appreciating my article and for your valuable input here. Your hands-on experience is an important addition - actual farming leaves little time or energy for blogging. Ideas like yours coupled with experience are what the current sustainable agriculture movement could use more of. The Obama-Biden govt.sponsored site has quite the heated discussion going on; each email address is allowed 10 votes.
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/legalize_milk
covers both raw goat and raw cow’s milk. It’s mostly focused around the legality issue and the vegan perspective, at present.
It seems to me work must be done without delay to formulate methods whereby farms under a certain size can be regulated with simplified state laws designed to foster produce safety for artisan and local markets. http://fooddemocracynow.org names a Sustainable Dozen qualified persons already in the govt. arena to support for Ag. under-secretary positions.
It has been asserted that the president-elect\’s choice for Secretary of Agriculture so far has engendered more opposition than his choice for any other department. The Organic Consumer’s Association gives the grim reasons and an opportunity to register your opinion.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/vilsack.cfm
Press on, Dusty, and best of good fortune to you and all other farmers. We’re lovin’ you out here!
Ben Cowart
Comment posted on 05/29/09 @ 5:59 am
I grew up drinking raw cow’s milk until the government decided to save us from the terrible effects of consuming the stuff, and outlawed it. Nowadays, my brother, has this herd of goats, and so now we get the raw stuff for free. (We’ve decided he’s the smart one in the family.) The only problem was, it spoiled every 3 days so he was having to deliver it all the time.
I had a lot of experience with a gadget called a Foodsaver. It basically just vacuum seals food in containers and bags. The raw stuff was coming in mason jars, and it just so happens that Foodsaver makes an attatchment for large and small mason jars which works amazingly well. After a little experimenting, I have discovered that raw milk can last much longer in the refrigerator. The current experiment is going on 3 weeks now. I had a glass this morning. It still tastes great. Oh, and my blood pressure is now down to 112 over 82. I can’t wait to tell my doctor/insurance company who were trying to get me to take their pills for what would have been a very short rest of my life.
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 05/29/09 @ 6:11 am
What a wonderful story, Ben — and using the Foodsaver on the mason jars is a great tip.
I’d say at this point that I recognize that some people do (or have had) problems with raw milk. But that could be said about other foods as well. We don’t have a problem with it and, in fact, have felt much better since we’ve gone back to drinking it.
Lynn Cameron
Comment posted on 05/30/09 @ 4:11 pm
Hey Ben, thanks for the post. I, too, use a Food Saver extensively. You’re absolutely right, it is a valuable tool in keeping milk and a lot of other organic food tasty and fresh.
My method with milk is to leave about an inch at the top of a wide mouth canning jar and vacuum seal it with my Food Saver. I then lay the jars on their sides in the freezer until they are frozen; then I stand them up for storage. This keeps the milk so beautifully, and laying on their side while freezing gives the expansion more surface so the jar has way less chance of breaking. I make a special effort to get extra milk during May and June for freezing because that is the time when the cows are first on fresh Spring pasture; the milk is extremely nutritious at this time - see www.realmilk.com for the why/how of this. In the high meadows of European dairy country, the milk from early Spring grazers is all kept for making cheese because it has special qualities.
I’m finishing up my last quarts from June 2008 making yogurt and cream sauces/soups. I have ordered extra milk for the coming month of June, and I’ll be using the Food Saver again. T
Lynn