Keyword dairy from scratch, farm milk, fresh milk, skimming cream
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Total Time 15 minutesminutes
How to skim the cream from fresh non-homogenized milk with a ladle, a turkey baster, a spigot jar or a separator.
Ingredients
Non-homogenized fresh milk (only this will form a creamline)
Old-fashioned ladle
Separate jar for the cream
Optional: turkey baster (for a smaller creamline)
Optional: glass ice tea/lemonade dispenser with spigot, in both one and two gallon sizes
Optional: cream separator
Directions
Ladle method
If the milk is very fresh, leave it for at least 24 hours so the cream can rise.
Look at the sides of the jar to find the creamline.
Dip the ladle gently into the cream layer and let it fill, without going too deep into the milk (cream is thick and yellowish-white; milk is thinner, sometimes bluish).
Pour each ladleful into the separate jar. Keep going until most of the cream is gone, leaving about an inch.
Use the leftover milk for drinking or cooking, and the cream for butter, sour cream, whipped cream, or ice cream.
Dispenser method
Pour the fresh milk into the dispenser.
Leave it for at least 24 hours.
Open the spigot and let the skimmed milk drain out, so the creamline stays floating at the top.
When almost all the milk is gone, catch the cream in a separate container.
Notes
Safety: keep the milk refrigerated while the cream rises (no temperature given). Non-homogenized farm milk is often raw; raw milk carries a risk of harmful bacteria.