My Journey Into Raw Milk

I have had an interest in “raw milk” for several years but in all of the states I’ve lived in {6} the sale of raw milk is illegal so I always ran into road blocks…and being a rule follower, I wasn’t going to go and try and buy it illegally. {I should say, that I really had no idea what raw milk was until I lived in North Carolina…fast forward to living in the land of dairy in rural Wisconsin, my interest has really been peaked!}

I set a personal goal for 2025; learn and try something new, often! Insert raw milk. Yep, you read that right. Raw milk. Milk that has not been pasteurized (heated) or homogenized (mixed).

Creamery Class

In November 2024, I paid to attend a class called “Culturing Milk and Making Cheese”. Our very small, but amazing community offers courses all throughout the year covering every topic under the sun. Experts come in and teach the class and you walk away with so much knowledge and hands-on experience.

I was like a kid in a candy shop learning. I asked so many questions (I’m sure the other people in the class were annoyed with me!). I wrote down pages of notes of everything we made and I tasted and even brought home everything that was available to be taken home. I had a blast learning something that I had absolutely no experience or knowledge of.

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The amount of things you can make from raw milk is insane! I had no idea! …or I should say, I just hadn’t ever really thought about it before. In the class I attended, from 2 gallons of raw milk we made:

1. Butter
2. Buttermilk
3. Paneer cheese
4. Kefir
5. Yogurt
6. Cream cheese
7. Ricotta cheese
8. Whey
9. and obviously, milk and half & half/ cream!

That’s insane! Honestly, my brain was just spinning with excitement the entire time because I couldn’t believe that 1. I didn’t realize this is what you can do with raw milk 2. that using raw milk is such a lost “art”!

**NOTE: I 100% understand and support the claims that raw milk MAY be harmful to consume. However, I do believe that if you source your raw milk from healthy cows, in safe and sanitary practices, you are at a lower risk of problems. **CONSUME RAW MILK AT YOUR OWN RISK…I feel like I need to say that because just from my family alone, I’ve received lots of backlash. Make your own informed decisions and do what you feel is best for you.

Making Butter

The process of making butter is SO simple, in fact, it’s FUN! When making butter the old fashion way; shaking, shaking, shaking, always use a jar with an air-tight lid that is double the size of the amount of liquid you are using. You need room in the jar for the solids to form and slosh around being covered with the buttermilk that will form.

How To Make Butter:
-skim the cream off of the top of the milk (not pictured)
-pour some of the cream into a mason jar and shake, shake, shake! Butter globules will begin to form
-continue shaking and the butter will become a nice solid ball of butter
-drain off the white buttermilk that was released from the butter. Rinse the butter in cold water to remove all excess buttermilk
-spread onto a piece of bread and enjoy! Season with a sprinkle of salt if desired

Buttermilk

The buttermilk that is strained off of the butter can then be either drunk just as is, or cultured to be used like traditional buttermilk like in baking.

How To Make Buttermilk:
-after making butter, strain off the white liquid that is extracted from butter
-this type of buttermilk is not cultured, do some extra research on how to culture buttermilk if you would like

Kefir Cultures

Kefir is similar to yogurt and is created by introducing a variety of bacteria to the milk. The bacteria that is added to the kefir create a low curd tension – meaning, there’s more fluid than in yogurt. Kefir tends to have a sour-bubbly taste.

Kefir has yeast and bacteria in it so it does have some alcohol.

How To Make Kefir:
-place kefir culture in a jar
-pour milk over culture
-let sit at room temperature for 24-28 hours
-strain grains and enjoy the remaining liquid
-either place more milk on the unused grains or place in the refrigerator

Yogurt

How To Make Yogurt:
-heat milk slowly to 115°F in a large stock pot
-measure 1 cup of starter and add 1/2- 3/4 cup warm milk to the starter. Mix thoroughly
-pour mixture in portions into the pot, stirring thoroughly each time
-the goal is for the milk to be 110°F when all the milk has been added
-*at 110°F the mixture will incubate to form yogurt
-place the lid on the pot, wrap the pot with a towel and place in a warm spot (around 120°F) for 24 hours and let rest
-refrigerate after resting period

Cream Cheese

We made a batch of cream cheese by straining off the yogurt. The excess watery-moisture in the yogurt was removed and then we were left with cream cheese!

Paneer Cheese

Paneer is a fresh, non-aged, and unaged cheese commonly used in Indian cuisine and other South Asian dishes. Paneer is made by curdling milk with an acidic agent, such as lemon juice, vinegar, or yogurt, and then draining the whey, leaving behind soft cheese curds that are pressed into a block.

Before paneer is pressed, it is called Chenna, a dessert type cheese. After the it’s pressed, it’s called Paneer.

Our instructor chopped up a bunch of various fresh green herbs and mixed it into the Paneer.

Whey Ricotta Cheese

The super cool thing about using raw milk to make things, is you don’t let anything go to waste. We made whey ricotta cheese which was from the whey we had strained off from some of the other items we made.

How To Make Whey Ricotta Cheese:
-heat the cheese whey to boiling (210°F). By the time is has reached boiling, tiny white particles will be floating in the whey
-the heat and acid from the ripe whey precipitate the protein to create ricotta
-you can add either vinegar or lemon juice at this point if you find it necessary
-line a colander with a very fine cheesecloth and drain the whey ricotta into another large pot **be careful, it is hot! *save the drained off whey to use for other recipes or for your garden or farm animals to enjoy
-drain the whey ricotta cheese for a couple of hours
-when it’s drained, place the ricotta in a bowl and season with salt and pepper
-refrigerate to store

Overall, the class was so much fun! I learned so much. I took so many pictures and wrote down so many notes! I felt like I was in school again…but for a subject I was super interested in! 😂

Local Raw Milk Farm

During the class, I learned of a farm located 85 miles from me that is legally able to sell raw milk produced from their A2A2 Jersey herd. As soon as I got home that night, I looked up their website and placed an order for 1 gallon of organic raw milk. To my dismay, the next day I received an email saying that their milk membership wasn’t open to new customers at this time, but that they would be happy to put me on a waiting list for when a mama cow had a baby and started producing excess milk that could be sold.

Obviously I jumped on the opportunity to be added to their waitlist, and although I was selfishly disappointed that I couldn’t order just then, my heart strings were tugged knowing that the milk produced at this farm was not being overproduced and would be available to me based off of how nature intended milk to be produced…after having a baby! {as someone who nursed their kids for 100 years (aka, way long than the modern norm) I was overly smitten!}

A few days before 2025, I received an email saying that this particular farm’s milk membership had opened up again and that I was able to join and purchase milk. It was like a new year’s gift to myself! In this video, I pick up my first pick up of milk!! It was super exciting!

Find A Farm That Legally Sells Raw Milk Near You!

This website Listed Farms, has a listing of the farms who are able to sell raw milk throughout the country using certain regulations. Check them out to learn more!