Save your Sour Milk

Two weeks ago, my aunt picked me up on the way to pick my young cousin up from karate practice and presented me with gifts: a jar of wild forest honey, harvested by a friend, and a 2 liter Coca Cola bottle of fresh, raw milk from a friends cow. The honey is of course gone. However, I only got through about half of the two liters of milk before it spoiled - an event my grandmother has been anticipating impatiently. Every morning, as I poured milk into my coffee, she would stand over me and watch. The day the milk finally churned in the cup, her eyes lit up like fireflies and she grabbed the bottle from my hands. For some, the magic only begins when the milk has turned sour.

Pouring the milk into a jar (that had been waiting on the counter for days in preparation), my grandmother shuffled into the other room. In a few days, we'll be sitting at the table sipping on fresh prostakvasha, living the good life. Prostakvasha, or clabbered milk, is a wild fermented food similar to kefir or yogurt. It is easy to make and can be eaten straight (many people add sugar), used in recipes, or used cosmetically.

Clabber is a great source of vitamins, amino acids, and essential fatty acids; it is very easily and rapidly absorbed by the body and has numerous health benefits. The lactic acid in clabber helps restore microflora in the body; in addition, clabber can be useful in treating colitis, enteritis, constipation, and other gastrointestinal problems. It can also help cure other ailments, including respiratory disorders: a compress of clabber and oil applied to the neck will help alleviate cold symptoms. Clabber is also said to promote healthy hair, nails and skin: it contains anti-aging and anti-cellulite properties and can be applied topically in the form of hair and skin masks, or used as a cleanser.

Clabber is produced by letting sour, unpasteurized milk sit out at room temperature until it curdles, turning into a delicious, chunky, fermented food similar to kefir or yogurt.  To make: pour unpasteurized milk that has gone sour (or is beginning to) into a jar and close it loosely with the lid or just cover tightly with a cheesecloth. After a few days sitting at room temperature, the milk should curdle and the texture should become chunkier - if left out too long, it will separate, in which case you can shake it up or remove the whey from the top. The most important thing to remember is that the milk must be unpasteurized.  Luckily, if you live in Massachusetts, that's not a problem!

Here's the NOFA link to a list of farms that sell raw milk:

 http://www.nofamass.org/content/information-about-raw-milk-consumers#.VCXIS5Ws3ww

Clabber and Raspberries