Over the weekend I started a new experiment – making whey. Prior to the advent of canning people used fermentation as a method to preserve fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy. Whey was something plentiful since it’s a by-product of making cheese and it was even drank as an elixir and ailment cure.
If it’s not been cooked (as it often is in cheesemaking) it still contains beneficial bacteria that can help you establish gut flora (critical to digestion, absorbing nutrients, and a healthy immune system.) Because pasturized milk has had all the bacteria destroyed, however, you cannot use it to make whey like this. I used raw milk, although you could use yogurt or kefir.
I have many experiments planned for my whey. This summer I plan to use it to make low sugar fruit preserves, homemade mustard, ketsup, mayonnaise and salsa that *should* keep very well in the fridge because the whey will continue to guard it from harmful bacteria.
That same bacteria should enable me to preserve winter vegetables using minimal salt. I plan to try the kimchi again (without the fish sauce since the whey will be my lacto-fermentation agent), saurkraut, pickled beets, pickled carrots and orange marmalade (since oranges are in season right now) using only a small amount of honey rather than the huge amounts of white sugar normally used .
I used raw milk to make my whey – and this experiment confirmed my belief that raw milk rocks because to make the whey I simply set out my milk on the counter for 3 days until it separated. Be sure and leave a lot of headroom at the top of your container – it will increase in volume.
Even after 3 days at room temperature the separated milk smelled fresh and clean, not at all what our old milk cartons smelled like only 24 hours after we had not only emptied them but rinsed them clean. DO NOT TRY THIS WITH PASTURIZED MILK! All the beneficial bacteria that allow this to lacto-ferment have been destroyed and it won’t work.
Once your yogurt, kefir, or milk has separated you can lay a clean dish towel, cheesecloth, or butter muslin into a colander over a deep pot.
Tie up your cloth and hang it on your faucet handle over the draining pot, or tie it to a spoon and lay that over your pot to continue draining. Do not squeeze the cloth.
When the curds strop dripping whey you can refrigerate them separately in glass containers. The whey will last for about 6 months and the curds should be eaten within 2 weeks. If you don’t stir the curds they will have the texture of cottage cheese with a pronounced tanginess. Otherwise you could salt them and stir in herbs to eat as a soft spreading cheese.
I plan to use mine in this recipe from Heidi’s terrific blog: 101Cookbooks.com. Much easier than cooking milk for an hour to make cottage cheese!
6 responses so far ↓
1 Lacto-fermented Orange Marmelade // Dec 26, 2009 at 7:28 pm
[...] I used my whey for the first time – to make some traditional style marmalade. The really nice thing about [...]
2 Kerri // Jan 13, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Hi…thanks for this post. Makes more sense now seeing the picture. I’ve had a 1/2 gallon of raw cows milk in a glass jar sitting in a cupboard for 5 days now waiting for it to separate. Not knowing what it was supposed to look like, I tried to strain it today and then realized it hadn’t separated nearly enough. I think my mistake was leaving the lid on. Is the milk no good now? It doesn’t smell so great. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
3 admin // Jan 13, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Hi Kerri,
I would take the lid off and wait another 24 hours. It shouldn’t smell moldy but it won’t smell like roses either. If it smells moldy or putrid I would throw it out and start over. If you have any yogurt or buttermilk on hand and you add 1 T to it that should speed up the process significantly. Hope that helps!
4 Kerri // Jan 14, 2010 at 5:27 pm
thanks, I’ll try this!
5 Angel // Jun 24, 2010 at 10:59 am
Okay I think I made the same mistake as Kerri. I actually attempted to scrape off the “curds” which was actually just cream at this point now that I see the picture. (worth a thousand words) I placed them in the fridge (just read this and took them back out to get them to room temp again) If I add them back in to the “whey” (which is probably just still warm milk) after they have reached room temp will that work? or should I start over? I could also add a couple of tbls of yoghurt. Any thought on this? Ack!
6 admin // Jun 24, 2010 at 11:17 am
Hi Angel,
You don’t need the cream so I wouldn’t add them back in. In fact I usually pour the cream off the top of the milk before doing this so that it doesn’t go to waste. Some people eat the creamy curds, mixing in herbs but I would rather just give the butterfat to my little guy who wouldn’t eat that kind of cheese anyway.
Just be sure you have airflow to what is on the counter so cover with a paper towel and rubber band but no screw type lid.
If you don’t want to eat the curds you can add them to your compost – they are loaded with enzymes, or feed to chickens if you have them.
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