We have this ongoing controversy at our house about raw milk. Vince will not drink it. He will not consider drinking it. He gets aggravated when I drink it. I love it! I’d much rather have raw milk than any storebought milk but raw milk is so hard to get and Vince refuses to get me a cow. There are probably two reasons he won’t get me a cow – first is that when I go visit Chad, Vince would have to deal with milking, feeding, taking care of the cow’s needs and second, he would probably be forced to drink raw milk, or worse . . just look at it in the fridge every day, if we had a cow.
We made a little progress recently. I love to take the milk, put it in the freezer for a while, then add chocolate syrup, stick the immersion blender in there and blend it all up. With just a little of the cream in there, it gets thick as a milk shake. I told Vince . . just taste this and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to finish it. That would have been more for me! 🙂
He loved it. I told him . . you should put real cream in your coffee in the morning and he said “Where would I get that?” That’s a start and a huge improvement over anything he’s ever said about raw milk before. If I could get him hooked, maybe he would want a cow too! That’s probably a big stretch but you never know!
Anyway, I was able to get 3 gallons of milk Friday and Saturday I used about a little over half a gallon to make yogurt. I skimmed some of the cream off a full gallon and made butter.
Cream
I thought about all the times at my grandma’s when she would put cream in a Mason jar, put a lid on it, stick me at the table to shake it til we had butter. She had a churn but she was probably afraid I’d break it and me sitting at the table shaking and rolling that jar around probably took longer and kept me out of her hair longer.
Whipped Cream
it wasn’t long til it was the consistency of whipped cream. I tasted it! It took every bit of self control that I could muster to keep from dumping sugar in there and eating the whole thing with a spoon. That is the creamiest, richest whipped cream ever.
Cream
It was beginning to look more like butter. At this point, I could still have added the sugar and eaten it all . . and then licked the bowl clean! But I didn’t!
Butter
A few more minutes and we had butter! Sweet cream butter! Nothing better on biscuits than homemade sweet cream butter! Notice how white the cream is in the beginning and how it gradually turns to the typical buttery yellow color. Nothing was added to change the color . . it always does that. There’s a whole big scientific explanation here about who and why it happens. Who cares? I wouldn’t care if it was purple or rainbow colored. I love homemade butter! I really want a cow!
Butter
A bit of rinsing and draining and drying and we have about 5 ounces of butter. I’m really thinking if Vince feels raw milk isn’t safe . . then butter from raw milk shouldn’t be safe either and he should just use the storebought stuff and I’ll take care of this hunk of homemade butter!
Not only do I want a cow but I NEED a cow! But, I think I’m probably not ever going to get a cow so I’ll just be happy I’ve found a source for raw milk.
Joyce says
When my father was growing up they had a cow. My father said one of his favorite things was when (as a treat, not every day) my Grandmother would let him put cream on his cereal instead of milk. I would have had a hard time letting the cream turn into butter too. I would have wanted to add sugar and eat it, especially if I had some fresh strawberries sitting there…yum!
Hannah says
Be sure that your source for raw milk has their cow tested regularly for TB. Cows are a major carrier for the disease and TB is on the increase in the US.
JudyL says
Thank you for your concern. I don’t worry a whole lot about it as I think a lot of the “warnings” have more to do with lobbyists for certain industries (dairy??) than fact.
Sharlene B says
I grew up on a dairy farm full of Jersey cows (some of the highest cream content milk) and couldn’t bear to drink even homogenized milk at the time as it seemed so watery. My mom baked with that real milk and skimmed off the cream when needed and her baking very often was the envy of the other moms. If you talk Vince into getting a cow, I’d consider a Jersey for sure.
Jeanne Kramer says
Would getting him to let you get a goat be any easier? Then you only have about a gallon of milk every day vs the ten….a goat makes richer milk too.
JudyL says
No, I’ve tried that already too. Goats need fencing that we don’t have. We have sufficient fencing for cows, though we would have to add a bit more but for goats, it takes massive fences to keep them in.
Dar says
Judy! I googled “miniature Jersey cow” just for fun and guess what? They do exist! Pretty interesting actually and I don’t even want a cow! LOL Check it out, they’re awfully cute and produce less milk. 😉
Dottie N. says
That looks SO good – reminds me of the butter churn and butter molds that my Grandmother had years and years ago – her most recent butter churn (back in the 60’s) was what looked like approximately a “fat” half gallon jar, with a screw top and a handle on the side that turned the paddles to make the butter. Good memories.
Nancy says
I grew up drinking raw milk, my grandparents raise dairy cows. Many times I drank raw milk still warm from the cow. I would first help my grandfather with the milking. He did have a milking machine but he taught me how to wash the udders and do the milking my hand at about the age of 5 or 6. I would then help my grandmother run it thru the separator. We would then put it in the cold room. Not long before the milk truck came we would move it to the side of the road for pick up where it would be taken to the dairy.
Everyday 365 days a year for I have no idea how many years it was clean the cows, milk the cows, clean and sterilize the milking machine. Separate the milk and cream. Clean and Sterilize the separator. Repeat.
Why do farmers and dairymen do it? I am exhausted just remembering all the work involved. When they sold the farm when I was 12 I missed them and the farm activities but now I can understand why they wanted to retire. They were in there 70’s by then.
Trina says
Read this last week and I tried it too—–putting honey in milk helps one to sleep. Not too bad. And I think there is some truth to helping one to sleep.. I know when I was little, we were given goat’s milk. Us kids wouldn’t drink it until my mom put a little bit of sugar and vanilla in it. My daughter and I call it special milk.