Separating cream from milk is a delightful choice for the small farmer and health-conscious consumer. However, cream separation often poses a dilemma: what to do with all that leftover skim milk? Throwing it out is both wasteful and a shame. We listed some of our favorite uses for excess skim milk below:
Sour it
Souring is easy thanks to the naturally occurring microorganisms present in raw milk. Simply let it sit out for 24 to 48 hours, and it will sour naturally. Use sour skim milk in pancakes, biscuits, bread, and other baked goods.
Make fat-free cottage cheese
The main ingredient in cottage cheese is skim milk, making this the perfect use for your excess skim milk. After making your own cottage cheese, you can eat it as-is, use it to make cottage cheese pancakes, or add herbs to it to make your own delectable cheese spread. Why throw skim milk away when you can create a delicious and healthy batch of cottage cheese?
Make yogurt
Though skim milk-based yogurt is thinner and slightly more challenging to make than yogurt made from whole milk, the end result is tasty! Eat the fresh yogurt with fruit, honey, granola, or other add-ins, and enjoy!
Make smoothies
Use skim milk as a base for tasty smoothies. Delicious add-ins include berries, mangoes, dates, peaches, oats, and pineapple. Want to boost your smoothie’s nutrition? Add spinach, kale, or flax seeds to the mix.
Add a little cream back
Can’t bear the thought of drinking skim milk? Simply add a little cream back into it. This is how the dairy industry actually regulates the fat content of its milk products. They first separate cream from skim milk before adding some cream back in at specific percentages. It may take a bit of trial and error to get the mix just right, but it’s a tasty experiment.
Add it to mashed potatoes
Adding skim milk to mashed potatoes is a great way to use up leftover skim milk and enhance your dish at the same time. For a creamier texture, add a dollop of butter or cream.
Make foamy, steamy milk for your coffee
If you enjoy coffee, lattes, and other beverages with milk, try frothing your skim milk. The trick to frothing milk is to heat it up just to the point where it begins to steam before bubbles form. Once your leftover skim milk reaches this point, place a whisk in the milk and twirl it quickly by rolling its handle between the palms of your hands. Skim milk tends to form stiffer foam than whole milk does.
Feed it to your animals
From dogs and cats to pigs and chickens, farmers have long fed leftover skim milk to their animals. Many farmers use skim milk as an aid in fattening their pigs.
Use it in the garden
If you can’t bear to consume leftover skim milk or simply have far too much of it to deal with, consider using it in the garden. Diluted milk acts as a fungicide and is well tolerated by tomatoes and veggies, perennials, and annuals. Use a solution of about nine parts water to one part skim milk in your garden or on your crops. Use it to control powdery mildew on melons and squash. Many people use diluted skim milk when watering their houseplants, too.
These are but a few of the many uses for leftover skim milk. We will soon post detailed instructions on souring your leftover milk, making cottage cheese, and cooking tasty dairy products! How will you put your leftover skim milk to good use?
