Pasteurizing Milk

  

Alright, here's a quickie. Have I ever posted about how to pasteurize milk? I know I've meant to before, but not sure if it ever actually made it to the blog. It hasn't at least since we've been in Kenya. So, here goes...

  

1. Buy milk from milk man. I've only actually done this once myself because he generally leaves his station by 9am, and it is virtually impossible for me to get out of the house to get the milk from him. It's about a 5-10 min walk, but add the kid factor, and yeah...not happening. So, okay. Usually our house helper will pick it up on her way in to work. It arrives in this handy 2L coke bottle. And in case you are interested, it costs about $1 for 2L of fresh raw milk. Not a bad deal!

 

2. Strain the milk. This is to remove hairs, ants, dirt, etc that may have gotten in the milk during the milking process. In Bundibugyo ants are always getting in my milk. Bleh. Here, not so much. Nice.

3. Heat milk in Dutch oven on low heat. In Bundi, I generally heat to 160F for 30min. This is a low simmer that can easily turn into a rolling boil (READ: mess) if you are not closely watching it. In Chogoria there is actually a disease that can be contracted from cow's milk called brusolosis. You can google it if you want, but I don't want it. So, here I am leaning toward heating the milk closer to 180F even thoug it supposedly also kills good bacteria/probiotics also. It's a gamble...but I really don't need another African illness like I had in Bundi (not from milk, but still...)

4. Let milk cool. This step requires lots less monitoring, and is actually just letting it sit on the stove for a few hours until the cream has thickened on top enough to be skimmed off the surface. You can then save it for baking needs, etc. This afternoon I am putting it on top my frappucino- yum!

5. Sterilize containers. This can be done while milk is cooling. I sterilize my containers by pouring boiling water in them, letting them sit for a minute, and then allowing them to cool while the milk is cooling.

6. Strain the milk again while funneling into container. I give it one last strain in case stuff floated to the top that I missed the first time. And after this step, you are ready to go!

So, see. Pasteurizing milk is really not a hugely daunting task as one might think. It does require keeping a close eye on things, which is usually easy if I am already in the kitchen. Today I am doing it while trying to also homeschool, so that's a challenge because I keep having to steal away and make sure its not making a mess everywhere (but also making sure it is at the right temp to kill bacteria).

And that's my post for the day! 

Hope you enjoy!