I just went downstairs to make dinner, and found that I'd left the milk out this morning. So it's been sitting on the counter for 9 - 10 hours. But...
1) I keep my house at 55 degrees.
2) It's very fresh milk, I buy at the co-op from a local creamery that delivers several times a week, and I just bought it Sunday.
3) It was well sealed... it's in a glass bottle with a snap on plastic lid, so it's not like a carton that never shuts completely after you open it.
It doesn't smell like it went bad, and it's not lumpy (except for the normal flecks of cream, as it is non-homogenized.) If I drink it within the next couple of days, as long as it doesn't smell like it's turned, is it okay? In other words, I tried a little, it tasted fine, and I stuck it back in the fridge. I know that milk was kept in pump-houses and stuff before refrigeration, and 55 is pretty cool. And I go through milk rather fast.
I'd drink it. I think it will spoil faster than it would normally, but should be ok for a couple days.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Smell it. If it smells okay, it's probably fine.
Quoted for truth. I think this is probably a good rule of thumb to apply in all walks of life -- food, relationships, whatever.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Googling, I find a lot of support for what I'd understood to be true -- milk kept at temperatures above 40 degrees F will not keep the usual 10-14 days, but will not spoil immediately either. So it should be fine.
If it does go sour before you use it up, I can recommend some recipes. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
No worries, then. I couldn't tell you the last time a bottle of milk lasted 10 days at my house. But if it does end up a little whiff before I finish it, I'll ask about the recipes. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Even if it does go bad, doesn't it sort of turn into yogurt? I dunno. There is a form of food poisoning that grows best from 40-60 degrees. But I don't think milk is a common medium.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Me, too. That's also why I don't freak out when my daughter picks up a piece of paper from the floor, with cat hairs clinging to it, and sticks it in her mouth. As long as she's not in danger of choking, I don't freak about most things that go in her mouth.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Yoghurt requires a specific type of bacteria, as far as I know. Otherwise, I could just put milk on the counter without having to add the proper culture. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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The reason why I remember that yogurt and sour cream have different bacterial cultures is a scene from The Wounded Sky. The onion dip at the meet-and-greet has run out, leading to a conversation between the AI (can't remember her name) and the rec director (Harb Tanzer) regarding how to make more. Seems they don't have any more of the bacteria for sour cream in stock, just for yogurt.
So they take a sample from the dribs left in the dip bowl and have it cloned . . .
posted
Yep, and the friendly yogurt/etc cultures introduced to pasteurized milk outcompetes the miniscule amount of harmful bacteria which might get in while the milk is exposed, keeping the milk product safe.
The problem is with milk contaminated by a low level of mostly harmful bacteria. Without competion from the friendlies, harmful bacteria can reproduce extremely rapidly under warm conditions; enough to overwhelm the immune system of the person ingesting the milk product and cause food poisoning.
posted
Ugh. We use so little milk that even the single-serving containers go bad before we finish them. So we bought a big box of dehydrated milk and make it a quarter cup at a time for mac 'n cheese and pancakes and such. Yay, modern technology!
We also have a canister of dehydrated eggs that work fine, but I think that may go bad before we finish it.
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I can have yoghurt, but that's it for the dairy family. Oh, and cheese. Sometimes.
We don't use milk much at all, so we go with powdered. But then, even if we did a lot of milk, we'd probably still do powdered - because that's the most readily available form of milk hre. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
*pours nice, fresh, non-chewy milk in coffee*
Still alive!
quids, with all of those cows in the street you could just go out and get yourself some free-range milk. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Eljay, I never even thought of that! How right you are! 
