How Do I Pasteurize Raw Milk at Home?

Reader Contribution | 5/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

By Tabitha Alterman

Tags: pasteurize, raw milk, cheesemaking, cheese,

How do I pasteurize raw milk at home?

Ashok Ambekar
Mumbai, India

It’s actually very easy to pasteurize your own

milk on the stovetop. An added bonus is that
your milk won’t need to stand up to long
distance shipping and prolonged storage, so
you can pasteurize it safely using lower heat
and less time than many industrial milk
producers use. All you need is a stainless steel
pot and a simple kitchen thermometer. Just
follow these simple steps for home
pasteurization:

1. Pour the raw milk into the stainless steel

pot. If you have a double boiler, that will
work even better to keep the milk from
scalding. If you don’t have a double boiler,
you can put one stainless steel pot inside
a larger pot with a few inches of water at
the bottom. If you can’t achieve this setup,
then you’ll just need to be careful to heat
the milk gently.
2. Slowly heat the milk to 145 degrees
Fahrenheit, stirring occasionally. If you are
not using a double boiler, stir frequently to
avoid scalding the milk.
3. Hold the temperature at 145 F for exactly
30 minutes. You may need to increase
and decrease the heat to keep the
temperature constant.
4. Remove the pot of milk from the heat and
place it in a sink or large bowl filled with
ice water. Stir constantly until the
temperature drops to 40 F.
5. Store pasteurized milk in the refrigerator.
NOTE: This information is in accordance with
numerous respected cookbooks, including the
timeless Joy of Cooking (Simon & Schuster,
2007) and the cheesemaker’s trusty
resource, Home Cheese Making (Storey, 2002).