I bought a mason jar of raw, whole milk on 7-29-12. It was fresh from the cow named Trixie at 7:45 that morning. It was not homogenized or pasteurized, and was put into a sterile mason jar. I know it was collected by hand and not by machine, but I do not have any other information about how it was handled (I think I will ask next time I see the folks, and also about any testing done on the milk for bacteria, etc.).
I do know the owner has about a dozen cows, they are pastured and grass fed, and also that the dairy is a certified and licensed raw milk dairy.
Today is 8-16 and that milk has not gone bad. I did not remove the cream from the top and it is kept covered in it’s original mason jar in the fridge.
I’m really surprised that the milk has stayed fresh for over two weeks and I’m wondering why it stayed fresh so long, or conversely, why the other milk sours so fast.
I also got some cream and made butter with it. It was brilliant yellow, and I am to understand the color is from the compounds in grass diet of the cows.
I can only hazard a guess. Milk that comes through regular channels has been out of the cow for a longer period of time (at least a few days, maybe more) before you put it in your fridge. So, for you, is spoils quicker.
I’d bet that time elapsed between end of the teat to spoiling is the same, it’s just that your unpasturized milk spent more of that time with you.
If it was milked by hand, it’s very unlikely to be sterile, although refrigeration certainly slows bacterial growth.
Since my non-organic homogenized mass market milk is regularly Sell-by date stamped two weeks (regular pasteurized) to a month (ultra-pasteurized) after I purchase it, and stays just fine for another week after that date…I think either you’re suffering from confirmation bias (misremembering how long milk from the grocery store lasts) or Long Time First Time is correct and your grocer gets milk that’s already older than the milk my grocer gets, or his turnover is slower and you’re getting old milk.
I’m in Chicago, hub of the food industry, so it’s very possible our stores get milk a day or two from the cow, and people further out don’t get it until the end of the week when the trucks roll into town.
I thought of that but the lactobacillis (the bacteria that spoils the milk) is anerobic. Cream itself does spoil more slowly but IIRC its because it contains less water, not because it contains less air.
And even time out of refrigeration between taking it out of the dairy case and finally getting it into your fridge at home will count against how long it will last.
We drink raw milk almost exclusively, but I cannot attest to how long it will stay fresh because it doesn’t last that long in our house. We do not buy direct from the farm, so I am not sure how long it has been out of the cow when we buy it. The half-gallon we purchased yesterday has a date of Aug 29.
Raw milk won’t ‘spoil’ in the same way as pasteurized milk. Pasteurized milk basically goes rotten. Raw milk clabbers over time (gets a tangy taste and thicker)
"Traditionally, clabbered milk is made by allowing raw milk to stand until it has thickened, a process which takes 24-48 hours. The milk is also typically kept warm, encouraging the growth of beneficial bacteria. As it thickens, the acidity of the milk increases, preventing the growth of harmful bacteria and creating a very distinctive tang which many people greatly enjoy. "
To prevent the process, keep the milk below 40 degrees F. Theoretically, it could last up to 4 weeks, but no milk has lasted 4 weeks in my house, so who knows.
Licensed dairies are routinely tested. The frequency is determined by your state. Typically, that means that they send a sample for testing every x days. If they get a positive test, then they usually need to dump all product, sterilize and determine the source of the bacteria (e.g. it could be coming from an infected cow). A raw dairy near Pittsburgh popped a positive test and the results came back fast enough that no milk from that batch had actually been sold. That didn’t stop it from making the news papers because of the positive test on a RAW MILK DAIRY!!! But the testing turn around is very fast.
Most larger dairy operations also test their milk/cows at each milking in-house so they can keep ahead of any infections.
Kind of a nit pick, but raw milk by definition is not sterile. Not sterile is not the same as contaminated by pathogenic bacteria. Here is testimony about pathogenic bacteria in milk. The general bacteria discussion starts on page 12 ( http://www.realmilk.com/documents/expert-testimony-0508.pdf – pdf file)
I can attest to that. When our milk is starting to ‘go off’, it starts to get a ‘sweet’ taste, to my tongue. At that point, it’s still good for a couple days if we’re going to be cooking with it, as that masks the flavor, but not for drinking straight or pouring over cereal (unless you like the taste, which I don’t).
We also drink raw milk. On the rare occasion it’s been around for more than a couple of weeks, my wife has used it to make whey for marinating corned beef, or made cheese with it.
