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Freezing fresh milk


NormanH

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After many years of suffering UHT milk (especially a while back when you didn't even see fresh in Supermarkets here) I have now a supply of lovely fresh cow's and sheep's milk.

The problem is that being fresh it goes off quickly and even more so in the recent thundery conditions, and it is supplied in 1 litre bottles which is more than I get through in a day.

Is it OK to freeze it, and does it spoil the flavour?

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I freeze raw milk from a local farmer and it's fine on thawing. But, as Kathy says, make sure there's room for expansion as it freezes. Also, as the fat content of our raw milk is higher than that of ordinary full-fat pasteurised / semi-skimmed, I make sure we use it within 2 - 3 weeks so that the fat doesn't deteriorate.

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Took me some time to get used to fresh milk, and I still really like UHT, I always liked it and I always have some in.

I get my Dad to freeze fresh milk, and it defrosts well, as was said, needs expansion room in the freezer.......... bit like when someone brings a bottle of white and it gets banged in the freezer to chill and then forgotten, and pops the cork as there is no expansion room.

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I have often frozen semi-skimmed fresh milk, both new and already-open bottles. I reckon the plastic must expand a bit, as i have never had any trouble with sealed bottles bursting. When I thaw it out, I give the bottle a good shake before opening, as the milk can separate a bit into watery and not so watery.

I have never noticed any adverse effect on the taste.

Angela
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By fresh, I assume you mean pasteurised milk. It always intrigues me that the French don't buy the product that their greatest medical scientist developed. Or do you mean straight from the animal, untreated?

I buy pasteurised milk and put the bottles straight into the freezer and have never had any mishap. The frozen milk is yellow but returns to its normal colour on thawing. With freezers being almost universal, I find it hard to understand why anyone would want to buy UHT milk.

The problem is that being fresh it goes off quickly and even more so in the recent thundery conditions, and it is supplied in 1 litre bottles which is more than I get through in a day.

Not in my experience. An advantage of pasteurised milk is that once opened, and kept in the fridge, it stays useable for twice as long as UHT milk.

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Another positive here, Norman; I've frozen whole and semi-skimmed milk from way back and had no problems. I give it a good shake after defrosting too. I don't find that pasteurised milk stays fresh-tasting for long at all. I hate UHT milk, and was so pleased to find 'proper' milk a few years back, so I'm glad to hear about your find.

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There is still an issue with the possibility of contracting brucellosis from unpasteurised milk although the risk is a lot less than it used to be. I would avoid it, but that is a personal choice. If you google "lait cru" there is a load of info out there.

As to freezing. When we were kids living in the frozen wastelands of Newcatle our milk at school and on the doorstep was often frozen and expanded an inch above the top of the bottle, the silver foil cap having already been removed by birds after the cream.

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Neither Mr. Nectarine nor I drink milk (just got out of the habit, really) and often find ourselves caught short when friends visit wanting milk in their tea. We tend to buy small bottles of milk and freeze them in ice cube trays so you can pop a couple out in advance, without wasting a bottle of milk for just a few spoonfuls.
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I always liked UHT, and for all what I consider fussy UK guests, who would pull their noses up at it in tea, they always loved it in coffee.

What is it that they use in Holland, the coffeemilk, some sort of evaportated milk???

I always buy full milk. Every child that used to come to our house in France would drink whole milk saying that it wasn't so nice at 'home', which I know would be semi skimmed or [:-))] skimmed!

I mainly use fresh milk now, but have never bought unpasturised. It will be OK as long as there are no illnesses in the herd, but let's face it in France, there was apparently no mad cow disease, and yet there was.

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There was a discussion about raw milk on Radio4 recently, some farmers are selling it direct to the public, because in England and Wales it's illegal to sell it retail.

Hope this link comes out:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/festival-sets-out-stall-sale-1809066
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We regularly freeze fresh milk - 11km to the nearest supermarket and sometimes they stock out.

Normally this is pasteurised but sometimes also cru.  Again usually semi skimmed but sometimes full fat for ice cream.

 

Just found a year old full fat cru at the bottom of the freezer - and it is fine.

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[quote user="Clarkkent"]

[quote user="NormanH"]I actually meant 'cru' which I take to mean non pasteurized. Is there an issue with that nowadays?

Thanks for all your replies

[/quote]

I think that the issue is that bottles containing pasteurised milk are labelled "frais".

[/quote]I checked on my milk in the UK.  It was labelled "Fresh Pasteurised Milk"

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[quote user="Rabbie"][quote user="Clarkkent"]

[quote user="NormanH"]I actually meant 'cru' which I take to mean non pasteurized. Is there an issue with that nowadays?
Thanks for all your replies
[/quote]

I think that the issue is that bottles containing pasteurised milk are labelled "frais".

[/quote]I checked on my milk in the UK.  It was labelled "Fresh Pasteurised Milk"
[/quote]

Hi Rabbie

I'm looking at a bottle of Candia Grandlait Frais. You have to search the label for any statement that the milk is pasteurised. It is there but on the back close to the nutrition information. A casual observer may interpret "frais" as meaning untreated.

On another tack:

I am intrigued by the preference for semi-skimmed milk shown by so many people. In the UK, full-fat milk has a fat content of 4% amounting to about 2.5 grams in a pint. By buying semi-skimmed they are reducing their fat intake by about 1.5 grams. The same people will eat a "healthy" salad containing a 25 gram lump of cheddar. The contribution of fat in milk to the overall daily fat intake is quite small.

It strikes me that the reason for skimmed milk on supermarket shelves is because the dairy companies have found a market for the milk left over from cheese, butter and cream manufacture. The dairy companies promote the "healthy" properties of an otherwise surplus product which is sold for the same price as the unadulterated product. A nice little earner (like water in bottles). Or am I just being cynical?

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I cannot say that I have not bought skimmed or semi skimmed milk in France, I have, but I like 'milk', and that means full milk.

My french was so iffy when I first moved to France, that I made a right gaff. I had driven to my nearest hyper marché, and decided to buy enough milk for the month, it being UHT. And I looked at all the boxes and opted for the creamy one, which I was sure would be full milk. And I had bought 30 litres of lait ecreme. I still remember pouring more and more milk into my tea and the colour hardly changing with the watery offering that I was putting in it.

We drank it all....... but what a way to learn.

I have to say that I do not like goat's milk or sheeps milk, or the yoghurts or cheese from said beasties. I know that they are supposed to be more digestable, but I cannot get over the taste.

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Lait ecremé, been there done that [:'(]

I guess we all make the same sort of errors, I still find myself picking it up now.

I too much prefer UHT milk now, trouble is its quite expensive in the UK compared to 4.4 pints of homogenised pasteurised milk for a quid at Lidl.

Milk has changed subtly since we have been buying it in the main in plastic bottles from the supermarket, remember what most of us call proper milk in a bottle from the milkman (pasteurised)?

Remember how the cream would gradually settle out at the top of the bottle and it would become a little thicker and congealed and generally become unappetising long before it went off? Usually only good for about 36 hours although safe for a couple of days. Remember how the milk that you thought was still OK would curdle when poured in a cup of tea?

Compare that to todays milk that "appears" to keep for a week in the fridge, whose appearance does not change one iota even when it has actually gone off you cannot see it or smell it, only taste that it has gone off, you can pour it into tea without any curdling and then have to spit out the first sip of the cuppa.

I know the difference, do you?

I also suspect that the milk delivered in bottles from a milkman is also the same nowadays but havnt seen a milkman in years, do they still exist?

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[quote user="NormanH"][quote user="andyh4"]Not glass bottles I hope.  They are likely to shatter during the defrosting process.[/quote]
OOOOPSSSS [:$]
[/quote]

Might not be a problem, as long as you didn't fill the bottles up to the top.

Andy, I often freeze sauces, etc in glass jars and bottles but I only 3-quarter fill them at most and I haven't (yet) had a mishap.

I love using glass containers because you don't get any residual "smell", no staining (unlike plastic) and the glass jars and bottles are free (unlike freezer bags).

I do label everything so that the freezer doesn't look as though there are shelves of jam in there[:D]  Might confuse OH, amongst others, who are looking for things to eat!

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Yes, Chancer, I have noticed the difference. When we first moved back we had our milk delivered, because it seemed the right thing to do, but I am so used to having a stock of milk in that I ended up buying my milk from the supermarket.

I always have long life milk in, and in winter, I have quite a lot in, I lived far too long nulle part to not be well stocked up with basics, for the habit to have left me.

I sometimes buy a 4.4l of milk and let it go off and make cream cheese, takes ages to turn, so what they do with it these days I don't know........... radiation???? they do it with so much food these days.

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