Rex Trulove
If you like drinking and using milk but don’t use it fast enough, you might have noticed that it isn’t uncommon for milk to go sour after a time, even in the refrigerator. I don’t know about anyone else, but there aren’t a lot of things that are more repulsive to me than to take a healthy swig of milk, only to find out that once it is in your mouth that it has spoiled. There is a simple way to make the milk stay tasting good and fresh for a long time, though.
To be totally fair, it isn’t the milk that goes bad, it is the milkfat in the milk that goes bad. That probably doesn’t make a great deal of difference to most people, though. They probably wouldn’t want to consume rancid fat of any sort.
Are you ready for the simple secret to making the milk last longer when it is stored in the refrigerator? Long-time cooks may already know this cooking hack. Just at a little salt to the milk when you bring it home. Not enough salt is added to change the flavor of the milk, yet the salt binds with the milkfat to make the milk last much longer; sometimes nearly double the amount of time it normally lasts.
Of course, if you go through a gallon in a few days, this probably isn’t much of an issue. However, if you get more milk than you know that you will drink or use in a few days, add a small sprinkle of salt to the milk. It is a great way to save some money on replacements and it is a whole lot more pleasant than taking a drink of sour milk.
Never heard this one, seems like it might change the taste. I will remember this.
It really doesn’t because so little salt is used. Then again, if you ever have the chance, try salted butter and unsalted butter. To me, they taste the same. I usually buy the salted variety.
You are right about the butter, I have tried both. I prefer the salted.
Thank for the awesome tip. Never knew this. Back in Latvia for a while, we took milk from a woman who came twice a week straight from the farm. With that milk, we had to wait for the cream to rise and then scooped it off the top to have cream for use and not to make the milk go sour too soon. But we stopped taking milk from her and began buying it at the market or at the supermarket when very often after just a day or two the milk would become bitter.
I remember buckets of milk that would come in from the milking barn, still steaming in the cool of the morning. We had to wait for it to cool down before we could even pour it into a jug and put it in the refrigerator. One of our cows gave exceptionally rich milk and we’d get about a quart of cream for every gallon of milk. I ate cereal, both cold and cooked, with cream on it. We also made our own butter and ice cream. Fond memories.
The problem with milk from the store is that you never know how old it is by the time it is put on the shelf, even if it has an expiration date. It can go sour very fast.
I have never heard that before, though the milk is usually consumed quickly in my home, it’s good to learn a new secret. Thanks for sharing!
This is one of those tricks that long-time cooks might pass down to the next generation, but seldom even think about telling other people because it simply slips their minds.