How to Skim Heavy Cream from Raw Milk

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I want to share how I skim the heavy cream from raw milk without using special equipment. Do you have a dairy cow or buy raw milk from a local farm? There’s no need for fancy or expensive milk and cream separators to get cream from your raw milk.

Woman scooping heavy cream from a gallon glass jar of raw milk.

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Raw cream is such a delicious treat here on our farm. And it’s a necessary ingredient for making butter, which I use a lot of throughout the year.

Woman pointing to the delineation of cream and milk in a gallon glass mason jar of raw milk. The cream has risen to the top four inches of the jar.

Cream is the thick butterfat portion of milk that rises to the top of unhomogenized milk. You can see a distinct cream line on jars of unhomogenized raw milk (also known as “cream line milk”).

Homogenization is the process of emulsifying the butterfat throughout the milk so that it cannot separate. To do this, the fat particles are forced through tiny pores under heavy pressure to make the fat particles so small that they cannot separate from the milk particles.

Raw milk properties vary from cow to cow and among different cow breeds. It also changes throughout the seasons for the same dairy cow depending on what she’s eating and if she’s nursing a calf or not.

When our dairy cow Belle is nursing her calf, we get less cream in our milk jars. However, when we separate Belle from her calf, we naturally get more cream (and milk).

Why should you skim cream from raw milk by hand?

One reason for skimming cream from raw milk by hand and not using a cream separator is so that you can control the amount of butterfat left in your milk.

Even though you’re skimming some of the cream, you shouldn’t be skimming all of the cream. Leave some of it behind for the health benefits.

Another reason to skim cream by hand is to save money and storage space. Let’s face it. Those cream separators are expensive and then you need to find somewhere to store it when it’s not in use.

Process to Skim Cream From Raw Milk

A gallon glass mason jar of raw milk with a separate empty glass quart jar, silver ladle, and silver teaspoon on a kitchen counter.

What tools do you need to skim cream from raw milk?

All you really need to skim cream from raw milk is a ladle (large or small) plus another spoon to keep your cream from dripping. You’ll also need a separate container and lid for storing your cream.

I prefer to use glass mason jars because they’re easy to sanitize but use what you have on hand. I also use a black permanent marker for labeling all my dairy jars. A date will help ensure you use the oldest dairy first. Black Sharpie works great on glass and it only needs a bit of soap and a washrag to wipe it clean!

If you have more than one dairy cow or a large operation, you may be storing your raw milk in food grade plastic buckets or stainless steel storage tanks. If this is the case, use an extra-large ladle and funnel to skim your cream.

How do you skim cream from raw milk?

For the best cream, make sure you filter your raw milk properly after you milk your cow. I wrote a post on how to milk a cow that includes instructions on filtering raw milk. Filtering can make or break your raw dairy products. You don’t want any off-flavors if you can help it!

To skim the cream, you first need to let the milk sit undisturbed in your refrigerator for at least 1 day. That gives the time needed for the cream to rise to the top of the jar.

The longer your milk sits, the more concentrated and thick the cream will be. But you’ll want to skim the cream within the first few days while the cream is still very sweet.

Side note: If you don’t skim the cream from your raw milk for…say 10 days (ahem), the beneficial microorganisms will eventually eat through your cream. But as long as you filtered your milk properly and poured it into clean jars, it should still be pleasant to drink even though it won’t be as sweet as it would have been if used within the first week.

Be careful not to shake or jostle the jar of milk when you’re ready to skim the cream off. If you do, you’ll disturb the cream.

Woman holding a silver ladle next to a gallon glass mason jar of raw milk where the cream has risen to the top.

To skim your raw cream, get your ladle, extra spoon, and a separate glass jar ready.

Woman scooping cream out of a glass mason jar of raw milk using a silver ladle.

Carefully dip your ladle into the cream to scoop the heaviest cream out. The cream will stick to a dry ladle at first, but the second spoon you have handy will help you scrape off the cream into your cream jar.

Some people like to dip their ladle into clean water first to help prevent the cream from sticking to their spoons but I don’t like to do that.

Even though it’s a minute amount of water, 1) I don’t know how clean even filtered water is, and 2) I don’t want to dilute the purity of the cream or risk mold.

If you find that your cream is sticking to your ladle more than you prefer, try dipping your ladle into some other raw milk before you begin.

Woman pouring cream from a ladle into a glass mason jar.

I find that the cream is thickest at the top of the jar and around the glass jar wall. So that’s where I start skimming and scooping the cream.

As I work my way down the cream, skimming as I go, the cream gets thinner. Be careful not to stir up the milk as you’re skimming.

A gallon and quart size glass mason jar filled with raw milk and heavy cream sitting on a kitchen counter.

I often will tilt the milk jar when I get to the cream line on the milk jar. Then I’ll put the ladle on the top of the cream and slowly dip one end of the ladle under the cream line so that the cream fills up the ladle by itself.

Keep skimming your cream off until you start to see a blue swirl which is the milk. Avoid adding milk to your cream if you can help it.

Woman skimming cream from raw milk in a glass mason jar using a silver ladle.

Once you start to see the blue swirls of the milk coming through, use your personal preference and judgment for when you stop skimming the cream.

I like to keep some of the cream inside the milk jars for the added health benefits. How much cream you leave behind is ultimately up to you, though.

Woman skimming cream from raw milk in a glass mason jar using a silver ladle.

The last thing I’ll do to the milk jar when skimming cream is to stir the remaining cream into the milk and scrape the glass walls of the jar.

Sometimes I’ll add a note to the outside of the jar to indicate that it has been skimmed. That way the kids won’t question whether they can pour themselves a cold glass of milk!

Woman showcasing thick, heavy cream in a quart glass mason jar by letting cream drip off her silver ladle.

To finish off your cream jar, add your lid and put a date on the outside of the jar.

You can use your raw cream just like you would any other dairy cream. But raw cream will be much healthier than store-bought cream. It’ll also taste so much better, too!

I hope this post encourages you to try raw dairy from a trusted source, or seek out purchasing your own dairy animal! (If your family eats and drinks dairy products.) You’ll never regret being more self-reliant!

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    9 Comments

    1. This is informative, thank you! I’ve recently begun skimming some of the raw milk we buy so that I have a couple options for fat percentages.

    2. Look at that cream line! Great tips here for skimming heavy cream off fresh milk! I buy fresh raw milk from the Withers dairy and definitely will be using this!

    3. Can you use the skimmed milk just the same as you would use any other milk? Should you always skim the cream off of your milk? Just got my first few gallons and I’m trying to figure out everything to do with it! I for sure want to use the cream in my coffee and to make ice cream!

      1. Congratulations on your first few gallons! Yes, you can use the skimmed milk just like any other milk. I like to leave some of the cream on my milk because it makes it taste good and sweet. Yes, definitely save your cream for your coffee and to make ice cream!

        You don’t have to always skim the cream off of your milk. Raw milk changes with the seasons and whether or not your cow is nursing a calf, so sometimes you might have lots of cream and sometimes you might not have much. Also, different cow breeds produce different amounts of cream. I would suggest that you try different amounts of cream in your milk and skim the cream to your liking. If you find that you’re drowning in milk at some point, then I would definitely skim all the cream that you can off of your milk so that you can turn it into butter (which keeps well in a freezer). Since I don’t have a cream separator, it’s nearly impossible to get all the cream. So I turn the rest of the skimmed milk into mozzarella cheese, yogurt, and various other dairy products.

        Welcome to the world of home dairying! I’m excited and happy for you!!