Is my raw milk frozen?

[dariorpl]

When I get it it has all these solid cream globules that won't dissolve easily. Shaking or stirring doesn't dissolve them, blending does. Or I dissolve them using my togue and palate/teeth.

I've set two one-quart glass jars to let the cream rise to the top, they've been in my fridge for a couple days, but all I get is this solid cream on top (which seems to be super heavy cream), and there is no visible difference in the liquid part where I can identify the cream and the skim milk. Could it take longer to separate? Or is it just that my milk has been pre-frozen and that makes the cream stay solid like that after thawing?

[Raw Matt18]

I've never had this happen so I can't speak on it, why not just ask the farmer?

[dariorpl]

Yeah it seems it was. I asked him and he said he puts it in the freezer for a little while to keep it fresh, but not enough for it to freeze. The last time I bought from him, I think he did not put it in there, because the milk was a little sour, and this did not happen. Or it happened only 1% as much as before.

Or it might just be that the sourness dissolved the cream globules. I know they dissolve when I make cheese.

[Raw Matt18]

If its frozen I wouldn't buy it, but he puts his in glass which is a plus

[dariorpl]

AV said it was ok to freeze cream as in making icecream, as long as you consumed it within 24hs. I don't know if that means that the cream should be frozen for less than 24hs, or if it means that once it's frozen, within 24hs it will lose a lot of nutrients. I also don't know if he meant the same was ok for milk as a whole.

[dariorpl]

So this last batch of milk I got today has what appears to be milk skin, which is caused by boiling. Could something like that be formed from cream naturally and without heat?

[cherimoya_kid]

So this last batch of milk I got today has what appears to be milk skin, which is caused by boiling. Could something like that be formed from cream naturally and without heat?

When raw milk sits for a couple days it can develop a "skin" on top, at the top of the cream layer.

[dariorpl]

Yeah, I've been doing that to extract the cream, but can this layer stick together like a thin sheet, like the one you get from boiling milk, which is made of denatured proteins and not fat?

[dariorpl]

I think it was raw after all, because I tried to make rennet cheese from it, which is not supposed to work well with raw milk, and it came out fine.

Also, I had one quart that got pretty sour on it's own in the fridge and then I tried leaving it at room temperature for a few days, like you suggested in the other thread, and it came out really good.

Maybe I'll do an experiment and try both methods with pasteurized milk to see what happens. If it doesn't curdle as well, then I'll know that's a way to test if it's raw or not. I know that people that have consumed raw dairy their entire lives can tell just by taste if milk is raw or not, but I don't have the ability to do that yet, so at the first sign that something is different I kind of freak out.