You’re going to hate me because this is so easy.
If you’re new to non-homogenized milk, you may wonder why this is even an issue. Take a close look at the gallon of raw milk above. Notice anything?
It’s a cream line, a little less than a third of the way down.
When non-homogenized milk sits for a while, the cream settles at the top.
If you’re like me, you prefer to keep that cream in your milk. You just shake it up before you pour it and enjoy that whole raw milk goodness.
But sometimes you want cream for butter, sour cream, coffee, or a delightful whipped dessert. If that’s the case, how do you get your cream off the top?
Now, you could just try to pour off the cream and hope you don’t get milk in your cream and cream in your milk. That’s how many people do it, and it works okay.
Back in 1935, Modern Mechanix magazine featured this ad:
Now they were on to something.
In fact, they were on to the exact something I’m going to show you. Here’s how you can easily separate cream from milk.
Are you ready?
I present the spigot jar, available for anywhere from $2 (at your local resale thrift store) to $7 (at your supermarket or Amazon.com) to $20+ (if you want a higher quality jar without a leaky spigot).
Pour your non-homogenized milk into this container. Let the cream settle to the top. Pour your milk out of the spigot. Eventually, the layer of cream will be all that’s left.
This was a Skribit question. I know it wasn’t voted to the top or anything, but the answer was so easy I actually screamed aloud when I saw the new suggestion come in.
I couldn’t leave those of you dying to know the answer to this question in the dark for a single moment longer. You absolutely must enjoy your homemade butter from pastured cows! You must enjoy the aromatic bliss that is coffee with real cream. And you really must not be deprived of the buttery-soft goodness that is real whipped cream.
So, now you know. Go enjoy!
(milk photo by attilaagoston)
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What a beautiful photo! I found your site via Blissfully Delish. I am so glad I did!
Joie at Canned Laughter
Joie — Well, I’m glad you found the site, too! Thanks for commenting.
Wow!!!! I have not heard of this easy method! I have heard of people that put their milk in a shallow pan and let it sit for many hours and then use a skimmer to skim off the cream.
My dairy, fortunately, sells us cream by the pint separately. Which is great, because I like my milk whole, too.
Shannon
Shannon — My dairy also sells cream by the quart separately, so I don’t actually do this either. I drink my milk whole and fat and buy cream on the side. There are a few months of the year when cream is not available because milk production slows WAY DOWN. That’s when I have to resort to this method if I want to use the cream separately.
Huh. I buy pasteurized milk from a local dairy at the grocery store. The label doesn’t say that it’s homogenized. Do you think it will separate? I buy my cream from them too, but it’s expensive.
Amber — If it’s not homogenized, the cream line will probably be obvious just from it sitting on the refrigerator shelf at the grocery store. Cream will always want to settle on top, and will always do so within hours of being mixed in to the milk. So, if it’s been in your fridge for a few hours and there’s no visible cream line, then it means the milk IS homogenized.
Thanks so much for answering this question! I’ve been skimming the cream off the top after pouring the milk in a 5 cup measuring cup. Not the easiest method – I knew there had to be better way! Thanks again!
I’m 37 and I purchased my first bottle of raw, whole milk 2 days ago. Imagine my surprise when I opened the glass bottle and found some sort of “plug” on the top! I had a bit of an “a-ha” moment when I realized that it was cream that had risen to the top. I stuck my finger in, took a little taste…mmmmm! Heaven!
Hello, I stumbled across your website reading up on cultured dairy products. I wanted add to this with my own improvised method of separating cream from milk. I buy local non-homogenised, grass-fed whole milk and wanted to use the cream to make homemade clotted cream. I mix the cream in the milk in the bottle, then pour the whole amount (it’s a quart size bottle) into a quart-volume gravy/fat separater! The spout opens to the bottom of the container, so you can easily pour off the milk, leaving the cream behind. Here is the one I use:
http://www.amazon.com/Oxo-Good-Grips-Separator-4-Cup/dp/B0002YTGIQ
The plug for the spout is very handy, too.
Thanks for pointing this out to me (like ages ago, just found it today-sorry!). I don’t have the just you recommended (it looks very nice!) but even if I leave goat’s milk in the fridge, undisturbed for a few days in 1/2 gallon or gallon jars, only some of the cream will collect at the top, due to the natural homogenization of goat’s milk
I read at Mother Earth News that you can put your goat milk in shallow pans in the fridge, increasing the surface area where the cream gathers at the top – but I have not the fridge space for that!
Or… have you heard of this working for goat milk? Because maybe I’m wrong!
Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS
Great website and awesome idea! I just bought a spigot jar and am looking forward to trying this out!
I had a quick question though. I am about to start purchasing raw milk (and have no previous experience with it) and was curious about how much cream I could expect to get per gallon. I know the amount probably varies, but a ballpark idea would be great.
Lara — Unfortunately the amount of cream will vary greatly depending on the breed of cattle, the season of year, and their diet. Expect it to be significantly creamier than so-called “whole milk” at the grocery store. That has had the fat removed and then added back in at a consistent 4% fat. Raw milk, straight from the cow, can have upwards of 20% fat.
Wardeh — Wish I knew more about goat’s milk. Hopefully within the year the ranchers from whom I get my eggs will be opening up a raw goats milk dairy. Then I’ll know more!
Kristen – I’ve searched and searched and can’t find a way to facilitate the cream separating from goat’s milk without shallow pans and extra fridge space – except via a cream separator. I received a large payment for craft items recently so I ordered a cream separator. They are a spendy, but I can’t find any other way to make use of the high fat content of our goat’s milk. We have Nubians and the milk is very creamy, it just doesn’t separate! I’ll let you know how it goes. Goat’s milk cream, here I come!
Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS
Just had to remark – 20% cream?!? Wow!!!
WOW! I’ve been trying to figure out an easy way to separate cream from a gallon of fresh milk, and had hit upon trying to get one of those antique separator jars. But after seeing your idea, I’m heading for Amazon. Thanks!
I was wondering how to skim the cream off of the raw milk. I was determined to make my own butter today so I went out and got a stainless-steel turkey baster (to keep separate from the real turkey baster) to “skim” the cream. Very easy.
The $30 spigot jar I bought did not work so well because the spigot is a good two inches above the bottom of the jar, leaving 2+ inches of milk on the bottom with the cream still on top of the milk. I ended up scooping the cream off the top with a spoon.
MB — Mine is also about an inch and a half from the bottom, but that doesn’t pose any problems. I just angle the jar towards the spigot until all the milk is out and cream is all that’s left.
Thank you – your cream line is more than double mine! I also tried the spigot with turning it to help allow the cream to come out – 2 person job – but I still didn’t get what I wanted – I have a small Jersey and the pasture isn’t good yet. Anyway, I’m going to go get turkey basters to try yet another way to get it off easy without buying another expensive thing – I tried the tea jars and haven’t tried the fat separators – and I have lots of goats. In my opinion by the time the cream separates on goat’s milk, it’s already getting strong, but the cream separator I had was wonderful. To replace it would be over $2,000 for the 30 year old kind I had – bummer! Lots of experience with goat milk/cream though – even made butter with it. MW