(no subject)

[arethinn]

Partly pursuant to a recent thread on elven-realities, I purchased some raw milk tonight to use in an offering to Brighid. This time I'll try drinking some of it (last time a lot of it got used washing the trunk of a tree), although I hate to do so without having yet got my sense of smell (and thus taste) back, because I want to really see if it tastes any different, besides whatever energetic difference there may be. But of course, being raw, it seems it would be likely to spoil faster than pasteurized milk (although something that has always confused me is that Horizon brand organic milk has very, very long expiration dates, and seems to really keep good almost that long - what are they doing that conventional dairies aren't? yes, I know organic != raw - I was noticing this tonight at the store, that the organic milk was pasteurized, while the raw milk was not organic! but this was just a tangent). Anyway, the point of that was to see and see if anything untoward occurs; I don't think I should be very suceptible to whatever "bad" bacteria may be in it, but even "good" bacteria can cause upset if you are not used to them, so. (I mind me of the first time I ate sashimi about three years ago, and my stomach didn't seem to know what to do with it and was a little queasy. I adapted pretty fast, and now I loves me some raw fishies, but the first few times took a little patience.)

Somewhat connected: does anyone know to exactly what dairy product the phrase "fermented milk" or "rich fermented milk", referred to in some Celtic sources, actually means? I am not sure how one would ferment milk, so I always thought it wasn't an alcoholic beverage but rather what we would today call "cultured", thus perhaps some type of sour cream or yogurt (maybe "kefir", a thin cultured yogurt-like product), but I have never managed to figure it out. Anyone?

Comments

[treewitch.livejournal.com]

I don't think you can even buy raw milk over here, though when Rowan was a baby I remember reading in a book that if I got raw milk I was to boil it to make it "safe" for him. I would be tempted to taste it though in it's raw form, though only a little bit.

I am now wondering how one would ferment milk too.:)

[tiggrrl.livejournal.com]

I might vote with kefir for an easily-obtainable substitute, but my guess is that it was probably actually something more like Kumiss.

[m0usegrrl.livejournal.com]

My first reaction was

kumiss

as well; the Wikipedia article is pretty darn thorough and coincides with what I know about the stuff and how it's made.

I have a recipe for "Jiffy Kumiss", handed down to me by members of the Great Dark Horde of the SCA, that involves vodka, Seven-Up and plain yogurt... ^___^

[rialian.livejournal.com]

===Raw milk behaves differently than pasturized...it sours due to the lactobacili in it, rather than go putrid as pasturized does. (Horizon and a few others ultra-pasturize their milks...which means that they actually do not need to be refrigerated...but are due to how folks reacted to the idea of unrefrigerated milk when the process first came out.) (Pasturization sterilizes...which kills everything off, but makes a really good medium for stuff to grow, as there is no competition. The lactobacili create an environment that is not friendly to most rotting organisims....same thing happens with making sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, etc...,which are a lacto-ferments (or are supposed to be...some of the "modern" variants are made with vinegar, and are nothing like the real thing).)

===Kefir can be up to 2% alcohol, if memory serves. There are a LOT of regional ferments that it could be.

[lothie.livejournal.com]

Fermented mares' milk was the alcoholic bev of choice for Scythians, mm (which is probably how it came into the Celtic tradition). I've never tried it myself but I'd like to (my spouse hates it, but then he doesn't like dugh (ayran, lassi)) either, which is one of my favorite (non-alcoholic) drinks, so what does he know.

It's basically milk so curdled it's started to become alcohol. It sounds nasty but I will bet that if one has a certain genetic predisposition, it's actually quite tasty. Now where can I find a mare to milk...

[ahril.livejournal.com]

Raw milk often contains Listeria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listeria) and can make one rather ill if ingested. It is because of this bacterium that pregnant women are heartily warned away from consuming unpasteurized dairy products (which was my situation at the time I first heard of this particular germ).

Do be careful.

[rialian.livejournal.com]

==I mixed up irradiated milk and ultra-pasturized.

===Irradiated (which is also called "cold-pasturized") does not need any refrigeration, and lasts a very long time. Ultra-pasturized needs to be refrigerated, but lasts about 14 days or so.

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

Mmm, lassi. Although I am a chump who only likes sweet fruit lassi, and not the type which is salty (that's always seemed odd to me).

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

That's what confuses me about Horizon - the dates on their cartons are often a month or even more after the sale date, and they really do keep almost that long. (I'm one of those people who can really tell when milk starts to go off - my mother says "it's good for a week after the date" and apparently can't tell the difference, but I can. Uck.)