This entire buzz around milk being a deadly poison is a bit disturbing for me. I love milk and have never experienced the slightest sign of the intolerance. The old fashioned, common sense part of me says that milk is a good thing, full of protein, vitamins etc.
However, hoards of people who cured themselves of severe allergies and other afflictions simply by restraining from diary cannot be ignored, can they?
I know that there are millions of factors which make milk evil, but the good news is that FERMENTED milk products:
- contain no or very little of that nasty lactose and
- casein is partially broken down
So, they are not that bad, I dare to say.
The range of these products is huge and includes everyday stuff like cheese, sour cream or yoghurt as well as exotics like calpis or lassi.
The simplest of them is SOUR MILK and basically this is what you get when you leave raw milk in a warm place. Lactococcus lactis, which lives naturally in milk, converts lactose to lactic acid, which in turns makes milk to curd.
Of course, there is no Lactococcus lactis in pasteurised milk, which means all milk available to buy officially in Ireland. So, the only way to get completely natural sour milk is to smuggle raw milk from a farm. Then you can use it to inoculate pasteurised milk and keep your Lactococcus lactis alive forever without the need of smuggling anymore.
Alternatively, you can buy sour milk in an Eastern European shop and use it for an inoculation. Look for Zsiadłe Mleko, Rūgpienis or Kislo Mleko. However, read the label carefully. If you see that the product contains ACETIC ACID, do not buy it. It is not fermented but the ACIDIFIED milk and it doesn’t have the health benefits of lacto-fermented food.
Also, if you want to produce sour milk at home by simply adding lemon juice or vinegar to the milk, remember it is not the same as fermented sour milk.
To read more about raw milk, go here.
See my recipe for Polish sour milk soup.
See you.
Fermented Food Freak 
Very interesting, Thanks.
LikeLike
I am happy you like
it. Thanks for reading.
LikeLike
Anna, I live in America and have taken hours to find out how to make sour tangy buttermilk the way folks did many years ago. But… alas… I can not find any recipe on how to make sour tangy real true butter milk. Is your sour milk referring to buttermilk? If so – would you give me the recipe?
I enjoyed your writing very much. Have a great day.
LikeLike
Hi, thanks for the comment! I explained the difference between sour milk and buttermilk in my other post: https://fermentedfoodfreak.com/2016/03/13/buttermilk-the-irish-treasure. I think it would be hard to make REAL buttermilk at home; you would have to have a butter churner (well, maybe you already have it). On the other hand, making sour milk is extremally easy – you just leave milk in a warm place and it turns sour. But, both buttermilk and sour milk require using very high-quality unpasteurized milk, the kind folks in old times had access to.
Personally, I am a big fan of milk KEFIR that you make using special ‘grains’. I use store-bought pasteurized milk and it turns out delicious each time. To get your hands on grains, I would recommend you to join one of the many Facebook groups, e.g. https://www.facebook.com/groups/WlidFermentation/ (yes, you have to use the address with the typo)
Or you can just google ‘milk kefir grains’ and you will find online places where you can buy them.
More info about kefir https://fermentedfoodfreak.com/2015/09/04/how-to-make-milk-kefir/
Happy fermenting!!
LikeLike
Thanks Anna for the great info. I will be doing that. Your Ireland, I have always heard is a beautiful friendly place. Have always wanted to visit there, and maybe someday I can. keep up the good writing, very interesting. looking forward to trying the Kefir.
Have a great week
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes, a visit to Ireland is worth adding to your bucket list! Thank you very much for the kind words about my blog. The best of luck with your kefir!
LikeLike