How to make pasteurized milk, cream and clotted cream

If you have fresh local milk or goat's milk at home, you may want to skim for cream to make ice cream, sour cream, butter or whipped cream. Here are some simple steps that make separating milk from cream easy.

Pasteurization is heat treatment to destroy bacteria. You can pasteurize milk by heating it to 63°C (45°F) for 30 minutes (or to 72°C, or 161°F, for 15 seconds) and then quickly cooling it to 4°C (39°F). The latter temperature is best for milk used in cheesemaking.

1. To pasteurize, you will need two large stainless steel containers (one of which is able to sit inside the other), a cake rack, a thermometer and a sink full of chilled water.
2. Part fill the large container with hot water and, on a hotplate, bring it to a temperature of 80°C (176°F).
3. Pour milk into the smaller container, place the cake rack in the bottom of the large container and carefully lower the smaller container into the hot water, letting it come to rest on the rack (using the rack stops the bottom of the container from getting too hot and damaging the milk).
4. Stir continuously to heat the milk evenly until it reaches the required temperature.
5. Hold the temperature for the required time, then transfer the milk container to the sink of chilled water.
6. Continue stirring so that cooling will be even.

The milk is now ready to be bottled and stored in the refrigerator or processed into cheese or yogurt. Another method of pasteurizing milk, suitable for small quantities, is to heat it in a microwave oven. It must be stirred frequently, otherwise the milk in the centre of the container will boil first. Pasteurized milk will keep for up to one week in the refrigerator.

Cream from cow's milk is used in butter and many cheeses.

1. Stand a shallow pan of fresh, chilled milk in a cool place.
2. Cover with cheesecloth or a similar light material to keep out insects and place it away from strong smells, such as that of onions.
3. After 12 to 24 hours, the lighter fat globules will rise to the top.
4. Skim the cream off with a spoon or ladle, leaving the bluish, fat-depleted skim milk.
5. Store cream in the refrigerator in a clean, covered jar.

Cream from goat's milk is very finely emulsified within the milk and takes several days to rise to the surface. During this time the cream may go off due to bacterial growth.

• Although separation can be speeded up by adding cow's milk, the best way to obtain significant quantities of goat's cream is to use a separator, which automatically splits whole milk into skim milk and cream.
• A separator is expensive but worthwhile if you are processing the milk of several animals.
• Make sure it can be adjusted finely enough to work with goat's milk.
• Unlike cow's cream, goat's cream is pure white. It is also lighter, easier to digest and whips to a greater bulk.

A faster way to get cream is by making clotted cream (also called scalded or Devonshire cream).

1. Put fresh, chilled milk in a heatproof pot for 12 to 24 hours, and then gently warm the pot until the milk is just below boiling point — wrinkling on the surface of the milk is an indication of the required temperature.
2. Remove from the heat, allow to cool and skim off the surface.
3. Cream can be refrigerated, well-sealed, for up to two weeks.

It makes a delicious topping for scones, cakes and pies, but it is not suitable for making butter.

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