How to make raw, enzyme and probiotic-rich liquid whey to use as a starter culture for all your home fermentation needs.
Do you know how to make whey from yogurt, kefir or raw milk?
A by-product of this simple technique is healthy homemade cream cheese that is loaded with enzymes and probiotics.
The recipe below describes how with visual instructions via video demonstration!
Making homemade baby formula? I recommend using this โquick wheyโ no straining method as the fastest and easiest approach.
How to Make Whey the REAL Way
Making real, liquid, nutrient rich, unadulterated whey in your own kitchen is a MUST step for any traditional cook to learn.
Without whey in its whole, liquid form, many other traditional recipes cannot even be attempted. ย You cannot buy whey from the store except in a denatured, unhealthy, powdered whey form. It is worth your time to learn what I show you in the video below.
Other video lessons on this blog show you how to use this whole food form of whey to make many delicious, healthful recipes for your family. ย Whey as made in the video demo below will keep up to 6 months in the refrigerator in a sealed mason jar.
If you absolutely have no access to farm fresh milk to make whole, unadulterated, enzyme rich whey, then you can use plain, organic yogurt brand from the store instead. Here are tips on how to spot the best yogurt brands.
The process is basically exactly the same thing as shown in the video.
You wonโt get nearly as much whey using yogurt as clabbered, farm fresh milk, but at least you can get enough to get you started.
Wonderful Whey and REAL Cream Cheese
The raw, enzyme-rich cream cheese I make in the recipe video below is fantastic on a sprouted or sourdough bagel for breakfast. Donโt buy the Ezekiel sprouted muffins as they contain soy. This low-carb bagel recipe is another great one to try.
If you prefer to buy, these sourdough bagels are available for shipping freshly made to your door.
To make, just take your cream cheese left over from making liquid whey and add a few strawberries and a dash of dark maple syrup to taste. Mix together by pulsing a few times in your food processor. This wonderful, fresh, REAL strawberry cream cheese will last one to two weeks in the refrigerator. ย Another wonderful use for this healthy raw cheese is to make an easyย no bake cheesecake.
No access to raw milk where you live? No problem. Check out this recipe plus video on how to separate whey from yogurtย purchased from the store.
Cloudy Whey vs Clear Whey
No matter whether your whey turns out cloudy or clear, it is safe and fine to use in all your favorite recipes. This article explains why sometimesย whey is cloudy compared to its usual golden color.
Raw Whey Recipe
How to separate raw, liquid whey from clabbered milk. The process also creates probiotic rich cream cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 quart raw milk preferably grassfed
- 1 large glass bowl
- 1 large rubber band
- 1 white dishtowel
Instructions
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Allow the raw milk to sit on the counter for 1-3 days at room temperature.ย
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When the milk separates into curds and whey (transforms into clabbered milk) you are ready to proceed. Note that the fresher the raw milk and the colder the temperature of your house, the longer it will take the raw milk to clabber.
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Line a clean, large glass bowl with a clean, white dishtowel that isnโt too thick. Cheesecloth will also work, but the holes in the mesh must be very small, else the milk curds will pass through.
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Gently pour the clabbered milk into the middle of the dish towel. Gather up the ends and fasten with a rubber band. Attach to a knob on an upper cabinet in your kitchen as shown in the picture.
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Let the raw whey drip into the bowl underneath. This process will continue for an hour or two.
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After the dripping stops, gently take down the hanging bag and place it into a clean bowl. Scrape out the raw cream cheese that is inside the bag, put in a container with a lid and refrigerate.
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Pour the liquid whey from the dripping bowl into a glass mason jar, afix the lid and refrigerate.ย
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Refrigerated, raw cream cheese will be good to eat for about a week. Raw whey will last several months refrigerated.
Recipe Video
How to Useย Whey in Recipes
How to Make Ricottaย Three Ways (plus Video How-to)
Perfect Probiotic Cottage Cheese
Cheese Making: ย Common Problems and Solutions
Oh hi Sarah,
I am just seeing that someone posted a very similar question a few below mine. Just wondering if I can leave it back on the counter or since I strained it, do I just nee to use it as is. Thank you!! And sorry for the mostly repeat question.
Once you’ve strained it, you should refrigerate and use as it is.
Hi Sarah! Gosh I love your stuff. I feel like my baby’s bowel movements are so much better after I started making the dairy free baby formula! thank you! I made our own whey the quick way with yogurt for our first couple batches of formula and and am in the middle of making whey from raw milk. I let it sit out in a bowl instead of the milk container (maybe a mistake?) and it seems like this thick layer on top developed (fat and partial clabbering?). I let is sit for 48 hours but when I poured it into my milk bag it wasn’t even chunky under that first layer; it’s still mostly white like milk and not that yellowy color of the whey. Should I, can I, leave it out on the counter longer? I am so new to this and am just getting used to leaving milk on a counter and am still getting comfortable. Thanks again Sarah!
I’m trying to follow Weston’s dairy-free milk recipe which calls for liquid whey. Is there an alternative to this as my son’s cannot have it? Also is there an alternate source with the same nutritional content for goat lactose?
Thank you!!
There is no substitute for the liquid whey that would taste good. Sauerkraut juice is fine (from properly fermented cabbage …not canned or jarred cabbage shelf shelf at the store), but it wouldn’t be a tasty alternative!
There is no alternative source for goat lactose either. You can use organic dextrose or sucrose, but they are not the same unfortunately but as close as you can get.
Do you have to use a glass bowl? I don’t have any cupboards with handles or pulls so I was thinking of suspending the cloth with the curds in a tall pitcher but I don’t have a glass one. Could use plastic instead?
Do not use plastic. Whey is slightly acidic and could cause leaching of toxins into the whey.
I learned that the sharp (awful) taste was specific to my milk, because everything I made had a funky taste. I know milk has a lot of variables that contribute to the taste of it, such as the cow’s diet. I changed raw milk suppliers and now everything tastes wonderful!
Hi Sarah…. I’m trying to make whey from raw milk. I’ve had it on my counter for 48 hrs. It seemed thickened and had some separation but I think I’ve jumped the gun. I started draining it but there is a lot more liquid then I expected. Can I put it all back in the container and wait a day longer? It smells great. The whey is a very milky light yellowish green. What can I do to save it? It’s difficult to get this raw milk in my area of Florida. Thank you and hope to hear from very very soon. Lol. Love your recipes , they’ve changed my life!!!!
If you’ve already started separating, just finish up … you really can’t go back at this point. You will get a lot of whey from clabbered milk. It’s very difficult if not impossible for me to troubleshoot via the comment section though without actually seeing it.
Is it normal for the cream cheese to have a bitter/sour aftertaste?
Bitterness is not normal, sour definitely is as it is fermented like yogurt.
I should add, it was very fresh milk. Does this mean it can take longer than 24 hours? Mine wasnโt really clumpy until several days after beginning. The cream cheese isnโt edible, too sour, but is the whey ok to use?
Yes, if the milk was very fresh, it could take longer. Also, if your kitchen is cooler than about 75F, then it will take longer as well.
Is it possible to let it sit too long? I came down in the morning and the jug was bulging and I took the lid off and it spat a little and smelled extremely sour. Do I need to throw it all out and start over? This was my first attempt.
It sounds fine … the container does sometimes bulge from escaping gases as the probiotics multiply. Clabbered milk will smell quite sour.
Approximately how much whey do you get from 1 quart of raw milk? Iโm trying to determine how much raw milk I would need weekly for the baby formula recipes.
It depends on how much cream is in the milk and this will vary considerably based on the breed of cow the milk comes from.