Eating dairy products can be so problematic. First most dairy comes from animals who are tortured and abused, second they are made with things that are not good for us, such as hymogenized milk, non-fat milk powder, dyes, and preservatives.
So the option, as I see it, for those wishing to still include dairy in their diet is to make your own dairy products from either fresh farm milk or a company you can trust like Struass creamery. Here are some of my favorite recipes:
Custard
4 cups milk
6 large eggs
2/3 cup agave nectur
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
Directions
1. Heat the milk until hot.
2. Whisk the eggs until smooth. Combine the eggs and the milk.
3. Add the agave, salt, and vanilla and stir until dissolved.
4. For a smoother custard, pour the mixture through a strainer. Stir again.
5. Pour the custard into custard dishes, a casserole dish, or a pie shell.
6. Bake at 325 until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. In individual servings, that should be about 30 minutes. In a single dish, about 60 minutes.
7. Cool before serving.
Traditionally, custards are served with caramel sauce. Sliced strawberries or fresh blueberries also work well with custard.
Condensed Sweetened Milk
6 cups whole milk
1 cup sucanot
Heat milk and sucanot in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. When the sucanot is dissolved, raise the heat to medium-high and hold between a simmer and a boil, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour. Be sure the milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. The milk will thicken, turn beige, and darken to light tan. Strain into a bowl and cool. The "condensed" milk will have reduced to 4 1/2 cups. It will keep several weeks, covered, in the refrigerator.
Sour Cream
I N G R E D I E N T S
1 cup cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
I N S T R U C T I O N S
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl over warm water. Raise the temperature of the mixture to (68 degrees to 70 degrees F) and let it stand for 12 to 24 hours or until it is sufficiently sour and thick enough to cling firmly to a spoon. Keep in the refrigerator until you want to use it. For a richer heavier sour cream combine 2 cups of pasteurized heavy cream with 5 tablespoons of cultured buttermilk and incubate as before. For better texture refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.
