You can use it in any recipe that uses a raising agent such as baking soda or baking powder- cakes, cupcakes, quickbreads, muffins, scones, batters, you name it. The acidity of the souring milk has a chemical reaction with the rising that gives it extra fizz.

I think today's dairy products are so highly processed that once it goes sour, it's not the sour milk of yesteryear, but is actually rotten. I never use it because it's not pleasantly sour, but foul. If it's not an ultra-pasturized product, it may be okay, but unless I buy local organic milk, it's difficult to find anything that's not ultra-pasturized.

sour vs spoiled milk

It's pasteurized but not ultra pasteurized. That's why it sours. I can't drink the ultra pasteurized because it irritates my mild lactose intolerance. But I did wonder about quality. One source I found online says the unpasteurized stuff can be dangerous too, so I dunno. One source said if it doesn't smell or taste that bad it is OK to use. The stuff doesn't go really foul for a while, but no longer good in coffee or on cereal, which is what we mostly use milk or cream for.

One source I found online says the unpasteurized stuff can be dangerous too, so I dunno.

It certainly can, if the cow is unhealthy, if the udder isn't cleaned properly before milking, and/or if the milk isn't handled properly.

But families who milk cows for their own use have a vested interest in making sure that the cow is as healthy, and the milk as safe, as possible.

Yes, I was just talking about the way milk gets to market these days. Commercial dairies that sell unpasteurized milk are few and far between. I have had unpasteurized milk and love it. We just don't use enough milk for me to seek it out locally, if it is even available. It was at one time, but the place that sold it closed . . .

What I meant by my comment was . . . how bad does the pasteurized stuff go? If all the bacteria are killed, are the ones that sour it all bad? I don't know much about milk bacteria, just enough to get me both interested and in trouble. Not sure there is much good information on that, as far as pasteurized milk, available. Lots on unpasteurized, because as you mention, it's a big management issue, and some prefer the old style milk due to health reasons. I'd use it in a heartbeat if we didn't use such a small amount of milk with just the two of us at home.

As Oly said, it is spoiled. It's not like old-fashioned sour milk. Pour it away.

how bad does the pasteurized stuff go? If all the bacteria are killed, are the ones that sour it all bad?

Not all the bacteria, good and bad are killed, which is why it does spoil eventually and has an expiry date; I would imagine that the amount of each type of bacteria remaining after pasteurization varies from batch to batch. But the difference is that pasteurized milk spoils (ie decays), while raw unpasteurized milk sours (ie ferments). As I wrote above, we can't get our dog or cats

As I also mentioned above, the difference in smell and taste between soured raw milk/cream and spoiled pasteurized milk/cream is considerable -- soured milk smells and tastes, well, sour, much like yogurt and cultured buttermilk, and this mild soured taste and smell dissipates on cooking, in pancakes, waffles, and baked goods. But spoiled milk, to me, smells and tastes spoiled in a "rotten" sense, and I'd be very wary about that taste coming out in anything you make with it. I'd certainly do a test batch first.

If it's a question of having too much half and half, personally I'd sooner freeze it in an ice cube tray and thaw as necessary, than consume it after spoilage has begun.

Milk decays? In both types of milk, there's a battle going on of bacteria. Whether the good guys hold the upper hand or not, well, that is an interesting question. Bacteria fascinate me! I would freeze the half and half, and often freeze milk if we have some and end up going away for the weekend or something, but the quality lessens after it thaws, for cereal and putting in coffee, which is pretty much all we use milk for unless it is the rare occasion where I make a cream sauce or soup.

Milk decays?

Yes, pasteurized milk does.

In both types of milk, there's a battle going on of bacteria.

Exactly. It's the difference in the battles -- uncontrolled (pasteurized milk, where the "battle" leads to decay/decomposition/spoilage) vs. controlled (unpasteurized raw milk, where the "battle" leads to fermentation) -- that affects the outcome.

Whether the good guys hold the upper hand or not, well, that is an interesting question.

With pasteurized milk, the battle is uncontrolled. With raw, unpasteurized milk, the battle is controlled. Food either decays/rots (or "spoils") in an uncontrolled fashion as it decomposes, or it ferments, which is a controlled process where under the proper conditions, enough beneficial bacteria or fungi (inc yeast) convert the sugars and starches into acids (like lactic acid) or alcohols to discourage the growth of harmful bacteria, which allows the food to be preserved and consumed beyond the usual lifespan or shelf date; fermentation can make some food taste better and/or more digestible. That said, it can be a pretty thin line between rotting and fermentation, and fermentation is just one stop on the way to rotting. But at least it's an edible and tasty stop : ) .

Yeah it's the "controlling" that interests me. One can "control" pasteurized milk too, because you can make yogurt from it by introducing the bacteria from some other yogurt into the milk. BTW, I teach biology and we do an independent research project using yeast (I know, not the soured milk bacteria) but the beer makers in the class always love the project and do really neat things. I've yet to have a bread baker in the class . . .

With my fridge and kitchen counter half and half, I would hazard a guess that the bacteria aren't the friendliest. Although just last week I was listening to a guy on NPR talk about how you are never alone and in modern homes, the bacteria are almost entirely related to food. I don't use many anti-bacterial products, but I just can't imagine I have too many good ones. I don't ferment much . . .

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/11/12/666933600/counting-the-bugs-and-bacteria-youre-never-home-alone-and-thats-ok

If I could, I would do a PhD on soil bacteria . . . I gotta get that book!

Here's a great quote from the book:

"On whether one day there might be a probiotic-type product to bring good microbes into our homes

It's not there now, but I look forward to a time when we can
essentially garden our homes — fill them with species that benefit us
and push out the species that don't. The closest I think we come to that
is in the context of making fermented foods. We study sourdough bread a
lot. When you make a sourdough starter, that starter has a bunch of
microbes that produce lactic acid, and that lactic acid is key to the
starter, but it also kills off any other bacteria. And so it's kind of a
garden that weeds itself. And for me, that's a metaphor for what we'd
like to have in our homes."

Seriously, it’s OK to use when it’s just on the turn. When it smells really bad and is more solid, toss it. But I’ve used turned milk for decades and not made anyone ill.

Yes, it's been very interesting noting the differences in dough raising and sauerkraut fermentation etc. from our old house on the farm to the new one, plus the very different insect life inside each house -- and they're only a kilometer apart.

I'll have to check to see if Dunn has written other books. I remember something similar but about the human body; it's a great book -- I used it with my kids for home schooling for high school human biology/anatomy. A nice reminder of how everything is connected : ) .

L, whether you can buy raw milk depends on the State. Here in Michigan it is against the law to sell raw milk but you can sell a "cow share", so you could buy a share, like 1/10th of the daily milk from that cow, or whatever the percentage is that you want/need. There are 11 states that allow the retail sale of raw milk, from California to Pennsylvania. Oregon allows the sale of raw sheeps or goats milk, but not cow's milk, for whatever reason.

I agree that today's pasteurized milk is not like yesterday's raw milk, Grandma used to make everything from pancakes to bread with sour milk. Now, however, I think I'd use it for pancakes or something if it was a little "off", but when it gets really foul, then I'd toss it.

Annie

lpink, I told everyone I know about that Fresh Air episode when it aired. SO fascinating!! Really, really worth a listening to!

Yeah I'm not sure how that place got away with selling the raw milk. It's closed anyway . . . Not worth it to get a cow share any more than we could handle a CSA share now. Even the batch of peppers I grew this summer rotted . . . too much going on for me to be doing much homesteading right now. I did have a place in PA where I could get unpasteurized milk at the farm market. I didn't usually get it though, because they only sold it in quarts and we just didn't use that much milk fast enough. Not even the fermented stuff . . . Food is just not moving out of my kitchen these days. And I'm gaining weight like crazy and can't seem to get a handle on my eating and appetite.