Well, my cow finally gave up and gave in. We get four gallons of milk a day now, or close to it. One gallon goes to the calf by way of a bottle, but the other three are all for us. We only drink one. That means I spend all my free time trying to come up with new and useful ways to use those other two gallons before they sour in the fridge. It’s so bad that I gave up on our Lenten dessert fast and made pudding. There is a cheesecake in our very near future.
But friends, there are problems with trying to use up all this milk as anything other than milk. For instance: I made a kind of french cream cheese last night called fromage blanc. I haven’t tasted it yet, but it smells wonderful, like regular cream cheese, but sweeter and tangier all at the same time. Luckily, it’s not made out of cream, either; I have no trouble using cream. Fromage blanc is made out of whole milk. A whole gallon of it. (Yes!) The problem with making cheese, though, is that when it’s all done, I have a lot of whey to use up, too. Sometimes, I just give it to the chickens. Sometimes, I pretend I’m going to use it for a couple of days and THEN I give it to the chickens. The whey from this fromage blanc was so delicious, though, it went into the breakfast pancakes and the lunch pizza and tomorrow’s bread. Then I made bagels to eat the cheese on. Hard cheese is even worse, as it takes a whole day of attention, too.
My point is, I spend a lot of time using up milk or using the whey left over from using up milk or scouring recipe books for new ways to use milk. I was down to three gallons for a minute this morning, but now there are five. I’m getting desperate.
It takes half a gallon to make yogurt and a whole gallon to make soft cheese. Pudding only takes four cups. Do you have any other ideas for using milk? Any great recipes featuring soft cheeses?
If this keeps up for much longer, I’ll just start bathing in it. I hear it’s really good for the skin.
I imagine if you could you would have already been selling it, right?
You could always gift some to the neighbors who gift the hay to you! Unless, that is, they have a surplus issue themselves!
I’m not legally permitted to sell it or even give it away in Kentucky.
I’ve frozen supermarket milk before. Can you do that?
Yes, but the cream and the milk never go back together again, and that’s really a lot of freezer space to tie up in a commodity that keeps replenishing itself everyday.
My mom has suggested custard or ice cream… if you are still not giving up desserts.
My Dad is outraged that you are not permitted to give it away to help out! But he said get a pig and feed that. Hahahha… I say lots of frozen pancakes. The ones my Hubbie makes uses lots of milk.
What are the laws concerning products you make with the cheese? Yogurt, cheese, ice cream…
Take a little of that tax refund if you have not already spent it on on blue berry bushes, cows etc and buy a VERY large freezer – now hold on… I’m not going to tell you to freeze it. Buy a couple of piglets and FEED THEM the excess you absolutely can’t use… then FREEZE them in about 6 months…. Then sit back and enjoy all the cash you are not spending on pork, ham, bacon… And you might be able to sell a little of the excess of the pork or at least exchange it with the butcher for free butchering. As I mentioned when we visited in January that’s what we did back in Canada! YUM!
So what do you need to do to be able to legally sell it in KY?
Can you partner in with a dairy farm and get THEM to process it as needed to sell?
Otherwise, you may have to open your own cheese shop. We’d stop on our way through Kentucky! That is, assuming you can sell the processed versions- cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc? If you can only sell cooked versions of things, you could start selling your cheesecakes.
Jennie,
I’m with the others. Maybe instead of trying to see the direct milk or whey, use it to make foods such as the cheesecake, cheese, pancakes and other delicious good eats and open your own bakery or restaurant that specifically only makes dessert items made from your cow’s milk.
I can certainly understand why the state of Kentucky has the laws that they do (from an ethical standpoint). But I do think you can make some money from the desserts. Are there local restaurants (Mom and Pop operations) that would buy the food from you to serve on their menu? This would definitely help bring in some extra cash for your family that you could spend on things you need or put it in savings for a rainy day or emergency or whatever. Being an entrepreneur is always an option especially if you can find some financial backing from friends and other community members to open your own place in town. Though of course with the kids, that may not be viable at this point, but, for now you could sell your yummy foods. I, like you, hate to see perfectly good food items go to waste. It’s akin to throwing perfectly good money in the toilet.
I look forward to seeing what you decide to do.
Good luck and our thoughts and prayers are with you. God Bless!
Dani
Me! Give it to me! I’m so jealous!
It’s too bad you can’t even give it away. We have similar rules here I think, but I think people have gotten away with selling it for “pet feed”,,,even though it’s probably not for pet feed,,,,lol.
Hmm. I’d suggest Tres Leches cake, but it also requires condensed milk and whatnot, plus it’s not a taste everyone would necessarily enjoy. And how many times a week do you really want to make that cake?! There’s dulce de leche, but you can only use so much of that, too.
I think that the making and selling desserts might work, but it would be very time-consuming. I think the pigs idea might be your best bet. I’ll keep percolating, though.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Home-Made-Farmers-Cheese/Detail.aspx
My grandmother used to make wonderful pierogi with farmer’s cheese and green onions (and some other things like eggs, salt and pepper). Pierogi can be time-consuming, so maybe you don’t want to make them, but what about looking for recipes that use farmer’s cheese? Unless that’s the soft cheese you already made?
Also, while this ricotta recipe calls for hard cheese whey, there might be options for soft; and she has some good ideas for using up whey: http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/ricotta.html
Aaaand, this biology prof’s recipes are based primarily on his experience with goat’s milk, but you might find some treasures: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/cheese.html
Happy milk-using!!!
Oh, and a web site I saw suggested:
Soup/Chowder/Bisque
Quiche
Scalloped/Au Gratin Potatoes
Macaroni And Cheese
Creamed Corn
Ice Cream
Ice cream maybe not so much – though I think sherbet uses milk, doesn’t it?
And then, there’s always the pig idea…
I was just thinking, like mel said, that you could give it to neighbors who have animals as “pet food”, because I’m pretty sure that’s allowed in most states. Or sell it as pet food. But if you just want to be neighborly…
Oh, I wish I could take some off your hands! Just out of curiosity, is one gallon all the cow needs to drink in a day? I think giving it away as “pet food” sounds good. Where do your neighbors get their milk? Do they have a dairy cow as well?
On that note, since I have never had raw milk…how does it taste in comparison to store bought milk? What is the texture like? I am aware of all the health advantages to drinking it if you can get your hands on some but how does it taste? I have found a lady close to where we live…a bit of a drive but I really wish I could taste it before I make the drive!
She’s old enough to wean off the milk, our Daisy-girl, so I’m comfortable giving her just the one gallon to encourage her to eat more solid foods. She was already nibbling at her mother’s guidance. Otherwise, I’d give her an extra bottle in the afternoon for a total of a gallon and a half.
As for the milk: it’s worth it! It tastes… real. Alive. Wholesome. Rich. Like something that actually DOES sustain life. Jersey milk is creamier than store bought, but you can skim off as much as you want. We don’t like it with all that cream ourselves; makes our lips feel too greasy.
The others who mentioned giving it away “for pet use” are on the right track. In my home state, it’s illegal to sell or give away goat’s milk for human consumption, so everyone who has dairy goats (which I did for years) sells it with the stipulation that it is for animal consumption only. What people do with it once they get it home is their business. We didn’t ask, they didn’t say, but I’m 100% sure that most people do not pay $5 a gallon (in the late 1990′s) for something to feed to animals.
Now, if you are actually allowed to sell it for animal use, some people will buy it for that, usually those with very expensive breeding programs of whatever type (horses, beef cattle, llamas, etc) to give to orphans. If it is legal to sell for animal use, maybe you can put up an ad at the feed store so that people can come buy milk from you for that. Real milk trumps milk replacer any day of the week.
You are making butter, too, right? I realize that only uses the cream…
I like the idea of selling the milk for “animal consumption.”
Have you made dulche de leche? I’m thinking that something like that could be jarred for storage. Or sold. I think homemade cheesecakes can be frozen. Or sold. I think the key is finding recipes that can be shelf-stable (or at least non-perishable) so you can store them or send them to friends who live in Georgia. Do you need my new address?
I shall look around my recipe books for cookies and other desserts that use lots of milk.
I make milk bread in my machine (it uses only 1 1/4 cup per loaf though).
And alfredo sauce? have you tried that? Some recipes use cream and some use milk. You can jar that. And I have a ziti recipe that uses alfredo sauce, so it’s not just for fettucine. My kids don’t prefer alfredo sauce, so if yours don’t either and you have more than you need, you can sell it. Or mail it to GA.
Buy a little bull calf and feed it up to butcher. Calves will drink milk for a long time. We have calves that are still nursing their mommas and are bred with their first calf.
I wish I lived next door to you. I would gladly buy some for the “animals” around here.