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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Um, I mean, Hatrack experts

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.

Whatcha think?
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Whole, lowfat, skim?

I'd drink it. I think it will spoil faster than it would normally, but should be ok for a couple days.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
One more question: it was pasteurized, yes? This is not raw milk?
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
I have definately done this, and not at 55 degrees (which is freezing, how do you survive?) and I have survived.

Smell it. If it smells okay, it's probably fine.
 

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Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
 

quote:

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Smell it. If it smells okay, it's probably fine.

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quote:

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(which is freezing, how do you survive?)

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Flannel. *cozy*
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
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.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
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.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
I buy milk two gallons at a time and it rarely lasts until the sell-by date.

It does a body good.
 

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Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
 
*bleck*

It nauseates me.

*bleck*
 

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Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
 
*pat pat Shan*

Whenever something like that happens, I just boil the milk and make lots of oatmeal.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
*shrug* I'm drinking it.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
*watches to see if she dies*
 

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Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
 
I flush it down the toilet so as not to have a nasty milk smell in the drainpipe.

*shudders*
 

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Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
 
No! Wait! Drink that stuff and... Drats, too late.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Still alive, and still in the 21st century, thanks.
 

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Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
 
I like to give my immune system little challenges from time to time.
 

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Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :
 
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.
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
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.
 

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Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
 
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.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Yogurt requires one or more of several specific strains of bacteria; sour cream requires different ones.

*googles*

Table of dairy bacteria
 

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Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
 
rivka, you are the coolest!
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
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 . . .

I love Diane Duane.
 

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Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
 
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.

[ March 09, 2005, 03:21 AM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
 

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Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
 
*shrug* we used to just leave the milk in the heat for a few days to make sour milk.
 

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Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
 
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.
 

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Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
 
I can't have milk anymore.
 

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Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
 
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.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
*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.
 

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Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
 
Eljay, I never even thought of that! How right you are!
 

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Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
 
But then the cows would be violated!
 

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Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
 
So? Who's going to complain?
 

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