The Benefits Of Fermented Raw Dairy Products

Cultured dairy products such as cheese, yogurt, kefir and clabbered milk have been part of the human diet since before recorded time. These are all forms of cultured, soured or fermented milk. At no point in 5,000 years of recorded history was there ever a time when milk and its products were not a significant part of the human diet. This is what Sally Fallon in her book “Nourishing Traditions” calls ‘one of those highly nourishing foods that has gotten the human race through history to this point in time’. Since fresh raw milk is loaded with numerous beneficial bacteria that when left to their own devices for more than a few hours at room temperature will begin the process of fermentation, its probably safe to extrapolate that early shepherds discovered that souring not only acts as a means of preservation, but also improves its digestibility and nutrient availability.
80% of our bodies are bacteria. In other words, we are mostly not ourselves. Fortunately most of these bacteria are symbiotic, working on our behalf. Many of them we received from our mothers when we nursed as babies and played a vital role in developing our immune systems. Our immune systems are subject to much wear and tear, especially in todays modern world with its pollution and – worst of all – antibiotics that all too often show up in commercial dairy products (see “energy” under “Why Free Range Goats”). It’s a profoundly disturbing aspect of our modern food system that the very food that should be enhancing our immune system is now responsible for damaging it. The overuse of antibiotics has led to resistant strains of unfriendly bacteria that are now wrecking havoc around the world. Many doctors now recommend taking antibiotics as a last resort and also recommend against the daily use of hand soap with antibiotics in it. Avoiding antibiotics should be a touchstone in any family health program and the best way to lessen the need for antibiotics is to use the tried and true preventative approach of our ancestors – daily consumption of fermented foods.
Research shows that where friendly bacteria are prevalent in foods, unfriendly bacteria cannot gain a foot hold. One of the most graphic ways to illustrate this is an experiment that compares commercial milk to fresh raw milk. I’ve done this several times and it always amazes my friends. Buy a quart of commercial pasteurized milk and dump it into a quart jar and set it on your kitchen counter next to a quart of fresh raw milk. To make this a fair comparison, the commercial milk needs to be exposed to the same bacteria in your kitchen environment that your raw milk has been exposed to, thus the need to pour them both into jars subjected to the same washing technique – preferably along with a batch of other dishes washed in the kitchen sink. Don’t sterilize either jar. Leave about 2 inches of room from the top of the milk to the top of the jar and don’t screw the lids down tight. Cover them with a dark towel and leave them for several days or more. Because the commercial milk has been pasteurized and has no friendly bacteria in it, at some point it will become so putrid that it will stink up the house and you’ll have to throw it out. Meanwhile, the natural culture in your raw milk will begin to multiply causing it to ferment very nicely, protecting it from going putrid. Depending on the ambient temperature, it will begin to clabber (separate into curds and whey) within several days. I have left milk in this clabbered form setting on the floor in a dark corner of my kitchen for up to several weeks at a time with the result being that the friendly bacteria continue to multiply further souring (fermenting) the milk. Again, the friendly bacteria elbow out any unfriendly bacteria and act as a living preservative. For this same reason I don’t immediately refrigerate yogurt or kefir, the idea being that I want to consume as many of those good bacteria per serving as possible and since refrigeration greatly slows the fermentation process, I don’t put it in the fridge until it gets to my preferred level of sourness.
The reason why the raw milk doesn’t go bad is the same reason that daily consumption of fermented milk products protects you from illness. When this near perfect food is turned into fermented products, they are not only a naturally preserved live food, they also provide us with a full complement of enzymes and friendly bacteria that aid in digestion and enhance our immune systems – all wrapped up in one package. In his book “The Untold Story of Milk”, Ron Schmid ND tells of his successes using fermented milk products to treat numerous chronic diseases (see “The Milk Cure Diet”).
An additional note for those who have trouble digesting the milk sugar lactose and the milk protein casein: Due to a smaller fat globule goat milk is easier to digest than cows milk and cultured dairy goat products are even easier to digest since fermentation partially breaks down lactose and casein.