Comments on: Sour Milk

By: Hezibah

Hezibah — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:10:36 +0000

Just made 2 c delicious cottage cheese using 2 qts old 2% milk*, 1/8 c white vinegar, bit of salt. Heated milk over low flame 1-2 hours, stirred. Drained curds from whey thru clean nylon covered strainer. Really good. When I lived in India many years ago, I was shown this method to make cheese. Still works!
*not raw, not organic, just ordinary

By: Arlingwoman

Arlingwoman — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:32:59 +0000

Hey, what a great bunch of recipes. The reason you don’t have to use sour milk in recipes with baking powder is that it causes a rise with a different chemical reaction. The soda reacts with the acid in the soured or vinegared (you only need 1/2 teaspoon) milk to create a fluffy biscuit. Lemon would work as well.

Thanks for all the good info–I was checking today as I have some sour milk and was pretty sure I could make biscuits with it…AND for the one questioner, if the milk smells bad (worse than stinky cheese, say) it’s probably past using. After all, yogurt is a fermented food, too, as is cheese….

By: Donna Nunn

Donna Nunn — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:31:56 +0000

Thanks for sharing your wisdom. I don’t know when Americans began to value ignorance so much. Knowing how to utilize all of your resources was a virtue a very short while ago. My friend’s son works in a school cafeteria and hates to see the milk so to waste. These ideas are a godsend.

By: Susannah Thomas

Susannah Thomas — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:23:48 +0000

Great stuff! More recipes please.

By: Amanda Bennett

Amanda Bennett — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 12:44:37 +0000

Interesting article! Here in South Africa most native Africans use sour milk as an accompaniment to cornmeal (grits).

By: Amy

Amy — Sun, 02 May 2010 02:10:58 +0000

I don’t want to “spoil” your fun, but when the old cookbooks talk about using sour milk, they are using *raw* sour milk. There is a huge difference between that and pastuerized milk – the biggest one being pastuerized milk doesn’t sour, it rots. If you are going to use sour milk, you should find yourself a good, clean source of grass-fed raw milk to use. It is so much better!

By: DeputyHeadmistress

DeputyHeadmistress — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 03:37:03 +0000

Hi, Marilyn
If the recipe calls for one cup of sour milk, I put a tablespoon of vinegar (or lemon juice) in the bottom of the measuring cup, and then pour in milk to make one cup.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:03:53 +0000

How much vinegar do you use to sour milk.

By: Jennilyn

Jennilyn — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:54:49 +0000

I’m always wanting to be as frugal as my foremothers, but don’t know how far I can push the envelope. Deputy Headmistress said there were some times she had waited “far too long” to use her sour milk. How do you know when you’ve let it sit too long? Can you use milk that has curdled and still have sourdough and other baked goods turn out nicely?
Is there any health risk to using curdled milk?

By: MaryB

MaryB — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:12:29 +0000

You can use sour milk instead of buttermilk in old-fashioned corn bread (the southern kind without sugar). If the milk is sour enough, the acid in it will interact with baking soda (but if you’re not sure it will rise, then stick to baking powder). You don’t have to worry about bacteria — baking at 350 will take care of them!

The recipe for corn bread is super easy and on the back of most boxes of cornmeal.
1 cup each flour and cornmeal (not self-rising)
1 c. milk or buttermilk or sour milk
4 t. baking powder (to use soda, see the box)
1 egg
1 tsp. salt (scant)
1/4 c. oil or melted butter

Mix it up with a wooden spoon, pour into an 8-inch square baking dish (pre-greased, or sprayed with baking spray). Bake at 350 for about 25-30 min.
If you bake at 400 it will come out with a darker top and softer interior.
You can also bake this the traditional way in a cast-iron skillet, but that would change the baking time.