There is a lot of debate and discussion about whether or not it is a good idea for humans to consume dairy. There are strong opinions on both sides of the argument, but these arguments tend to put all dairy into the same bucket (pun intended) as they are arguing for or against it. When you consider all dairy “good” or “bad” you are going to get inconsistent results and confusing data. It’s better to look a little deeper at dairy, and understand it more. Then you will be able to make the best decision for your body about what types (and forms) of dairy you could (and should) be eating!
Why push for eating dairy at all? Because dairy is a beautiful, nutrient dense food! And cultured dairy can give you important and helpful microbes. When finding a dairy type you can tolerate, we look at: which animal it comes from, what part of the milk it is, and how it’s treated (pasteurization and culturing).
Dairy comes from different animals:
- Cow
- The most common is A1 milk (from black and white cows), which has a larger molecule and can be difficult to digest. Some people can better tolerate A2/A2 milk (from brown cows). Also the most likely culprit if someone has developed an allergy to the milk protein.
- Goat
- Almost as available as cow milk in many places. It has a different-looking molecule which is easier to break down. It’s also not as commonly consumed, which means someone is less likely to have already developed an allergy to that protein.
- Sheep
- Often less available than goat milk, but also has an easier molecule to digest.
- Camel
- Surprisingly available, especially in frozen form. Its milk protein is often well tolerated, and is very healing. Many people with autism, type 1 diabetes, or other diagnosis find it to be healing, especially consuming the colostrum, or kefir.
- Buffalo and others
- Again, the molecule is different from cow milk. Milk from any healthy animal can be consumed, and you want to look around to see what might be available to you in your area.
The Parts of Dairy:
- Colostrum
- The first milk a mother gives. It is produced for a short period of time immediately after the baby is born. The nutrition in it is more concentrated, and it usually has a higher fat to protein ratio. It is incredibly healing, and provides food and support to the immune system
- Milk fat
- We also call this cream. It consists almost completely of milk fats, and contains very little protein. From it we make products like cream, butter, soured cream, or cultured cream (also known as creme fraiche or sour cream). We can also clarify the butter (which removes 100% of the milk proteins) to get ghee, which is tolerated almost universally.
- Milk sugar
- The rest of the milk is protein and sugar. The sugar is called lactose. Lactose is a complicated sugar, and can be difficult for the body to break down. We call this lactose intolerance. Culturing dairy can help to break down the lactose, and a 24 hour culture will remove almost 100% of the lactose from the food.
- Milk protein
- The primary proteins in milk are casein and whey. Casein is also often a problem when people are not tolerating milk, and therefore we have people following a gf/cf diet (gluten free casein free). The good news is that culturing your dairy will help to break down these proteins before you eat them. Whey (the other protein in milk) is rarely an issue for most people.
- Whey
- Because we now have powdered whey products, let’s clarify what I mean by this. Whey is the thin liquid that appears after a dairy product is cultured. It is usually pale yellow or almost clear in color, and is see-through. If you have ever eaten half your yogurt, then come back to it the next day to see the watery part in it… that “water” is whey. We can separate the whey why dripping it through cloth (which we will discuss later in this post). Powdered whey is a dead, processed food and should not be consumed.
- Dairy products from milk
- When we culture milk (whole or skim) to get a product, we are getting a product high in protein. Think about a jar of non-homogenized milk, where the cream rises to the top. If you make something from that (aka full fat yogurt), you are getting those same ratios of cream (fat) and milk (protein and sugar). Of course you should eat full-fat dairy products, but just because it’s full fat doesn’t mean it is a fat. Common products in this category are yogurt, milk kefir, cottage cheese, cream cheese, and cheese.
How It’s Treated
- Raw vs Pasteurization
- Pasteurization is the process of heating milk to sterilize it. The practice started just before 1900, but most retail milk sold was still raw until the 1950s and beyond. The major disease that contaminated milk was tuberculosis, which is more likely found in cows living in poor, undernourished, and crowded conditions. Cows on pasture are very unlikely to have tuberculosis. To pasteurize, the milk needs to be heated above 162 degrees F for at least 15 seconds. This kills all live microbes naturally present in the milk, as well as any potential pathogenic microbes, and the enzymes present in the milk (which help you to digest casein and lactose). However, because large batches are done all together, the milk is often heated longer and higher, to ensure the center gets up to temperature. Pasteurized milk can still be cultured, and adding good microbes back helps to increase the absorption of the nutrition that remains, and can improve the digestibility, as we will discuss later.
- If you are using pasteurized milk to make your dairy cultures, in almost all cases you need to briefly re-pasteurize it before adding your culture. When the good microbes were killed during initial pasteurization, it left the milk vulnerable to an overgrowth of pathogenic microbes. If this milk is left out, it will putrefy, and the added good microbes may not be able to replicate fast enough to overcome the growth of any pathogenic microbe contamination that may have happened previously. Heating it again makes it safe to leave on the counter to culture. So if you are using pasteurized milk, follow the directions in the recipes.
- Ultra-pasteurized milk is heated to a minimum of 280 degrees F. This is so damaging to the food that you are unable to culture it… nothing will grow. It’s best to completely avoid ultra-pasteurized milk. There is no nutritional value to it at all.
- Raw milk from healthy cows is very safe. The beneficial microbes keep the milk from putrefying, and raw milk is technically a probiotic food, even without adding additional cultures such as yogurt or kefir. If you are using raw milk to culture, there is no need to pasteurize it before leaving it out to culture. There are many studies published proving the safety of raw milk, and more people die each year from drinking pasteurized milk rather than raw milk. For a great resource to learn more, and to find a source of raw milk near you, go to realmilk.com.
- Homogenized vs Non-Homogenized
- Homogenized milk will not separate into milk and cream. That is because it has undergone a high-pressure process to break up and disperse the fat molecules throughout the milk. Most commercial milk is homogenized. This process further damages the molecules of the milk. Raw milk is not homogenized, and it is possible to get milk that is pasteurized and non-homogenized. It is best to consume foods with as little processing as possible, so if that is your best option, I recommend you (in the least) buy non-homogenized milk.
- Uncultured vs Cultured
- Uncultured dairy simply refers to milk. Cultured dairy is what we call when we add beneficial microbes to create a
- Before we dive into culturing dairy, a quick note on definitions! While the processes of fermenting and culturing are more or less the same, we use the word culturing when we are talking about milk products and fermenting when talking about vegetables (or anything else). And this goes for all animal milks… you can culture sheep or camel milk products in the same way that you culture cow’s milk, and this is a great option for some people who really can’t tolerate the structure of cow’s milk.
Okay, now that we are all on the same page in understanding the names and definitions of all things dairy, let’s get into culturing! There are several important reasons to culture milk products:
First, often milk protein molecules are too complex to be easily broken down and absorbed by an unhealthy digestive tract (aka leaky gut or GAPS syndrome). When we culture the milk (add in beneficial microbes), they do much of the breakdown for us, reducing the workload on our digestive system and turning that difficult-to-digest food into a nutrient-dense food! Not all humans make the enzymes to digest milk proteins. But that’s not a problem when the microbes do it for us!
Second, culturing dairy removes a good part of the sugar (or lactose) in the milk. Milk is actually very sweet, and when we have an overgrowth of pathogenic microbes, milk feeds these unwanted residents. This happens even more often with poor digestion, because when our own gut is unable to break down the lactose molecule, that molecule sits in the gut and becomes food for our microbes instead of us! There are even bacteria that convert lactose to lacto-morphines, which work on the opiate-receptors in our bodies. This is fine in small amounts (it’s okay if eating food makes you happy!), but can alter moods and cause cravings and withdrawal symptoms if the levels get too high.
You can culture with:
- Culture Packets *
- Whey
- A little leftover from a previous batch
- Probiotic Powder
* There are many options for culture packets, but two I use are Body Ecology and Cultures for Health.
Types of Cultured Dairy
Yogurt:
Definition: Yogurt is usually a family favorite. It’s best to use raw milk, but you can use pasteurized milk if that is all you have access to. It will need to be whole milk, preferably organic, and grass fed, and it cannot be UHT (or ultra-high temperature) pasteurized. You’ll treat it a little differently than raw milk, so pay attention to the directions. You can also use numerous types of starters – whey, creme fraiche, another yogurt – if you have any of these on hand, you can make yogurt! Like the milk, if you are using yogurt as a starter, you can use one that you previously made, or you can use yogurt from the store. Just make sure it is whole milk, organic, plain, with no other ingredients added beside the milk and the probiotic strains.
As far as cultured dairy products go, yogurt is high in protein versus fat. For this reason, we usually recommend it to people who are more prone to diarrhea or soft stools instead of people who are constipated (for whom we would recommend a higher fat content dairy like sour cream or creme fraiche).
Kefir:
Definition: Milk kefir is a fermented drink made from kefir grains. It’s a bit like a thin yogurt, and has great health benefits! The most important benefit of kefir is the microbes. Kefir is unique to most dairy products, as most of the beneficial microbes are actually beneficial yeast strains. This makes it a very powerful food, especially if a person has an overgrowth of yeast, such as candida. Candida can cause many symptoms, including eczema, brain fog, yeast infections, sugar cravings, and more.
The great news is, like many fermented drinks, kefir is very easy to make on your own! This is a product that is best to have homemade. Store-bought kefir can be a great place to start, but even if you get the sugar-free kinds, it is not cultured long enough to be as therapeutic. This is a very powerful culture, make sure to start with a tiny amount (1 tsp or less) and work up slowly!
Kefir is very sensitive to metal, so it’s best if you use little to no metal when you’re preparing this recipe.
Cultured Cream (also called Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche):
Definition: Cultured cream is not only delicious, but is full of probiotics and high quality fat (so it’s very helpful for anyone dealing with constipation). A lot of the “sour cream” sold commercially in the United States is technically crème fraiche, but when you make it at home it is so much better (of course), and it is actually very easy to make!
Although we don’t have a specific recipe, you can make Kefir cream in the same way. Kefir cream gives you the benefits of the kefir microbe profile, but with the addition of all the benefits of being made in fat! Just like kefir, it is a strong probiotic, so start slow!
Whey:
Definition: Whey is the other main protein in milk aside from casein. You’re only able to separate it after the milk product has been cultured. It’s also a live, probiotic food. This liquid is teeming with good lactic acid producing bacteria (LABs.) Whey is a basic to keep on hand because it can be used to ferment flours, seeds, nuts, vegetables, meats, or as a starter to culture other dairy. However, when you culture dairy with whey, you are going to get a runnier product.
You can use homemade or store-bought yogurt, kefir, etc. to make your own whey. Make sure you get a full-fat, grass-fed yogurt that only contains milk and cultures. It’s ok if it’s from pasteurized milk as the culturing process adds life back to this food! Greek yogurt will not work to make whey, as there is very little whey in that strain of yogurt. If you are sensitive to lactose or casein, you should leave your store bought yogurt out on the counter, unopened, for an additional 12 – 24 hours to finish culturing the yogurt before you strain the whey. (Essentially making it lactose free.)
Farmer’s Cheese / GAPS Cream Cheese
Definition: Farmer’s cheese, also known as GAPS cream cheese, is basically the leftover milk solids after you strain out all the whey. You can add herbs and salt to this, making a delicious “herbal cream cheese” spread, or use it in recipes such as Liver Jallopeño poppers or Game meat 3 ways.
We could go on, but hopefully this article has given you a good foundation for culturing dairy. And remember, practice makes perfect! Don’t be discouraged if your products don’t turn out the first time, or if you have problems with consistency. Keep trying, keep researching, keep learning! This is a basic guide, but there are many more resources out there. One of the most comprehensive resources is The Complete Cooking Techniques of the GAPS Diet (either the whole book, or the Culturing Dairy PDF) by Chef Monica Corrado, available from Selene River Press, or Monica’s website.