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The facts regarding buffalo milk
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Published: February 5, 2012
Q: Is it true that buffalo milk is better for us than cow's milk? I'm especially interested in the sugar, since some in my family can't drink cow's milk because of the milk sugar. I read that buffalo milk doesn't have milk sugar.
A: Milk sugar is called lactose. People who don't have the right enzymes to break down lactose into smaller pieces can have a hard time drinking milk. Too much lactose can give them gas or diarrhea. The condition is called lactose intolerance. Avoiding milk or only drinking it as part of a meal is the way to avoid feeling bad.
Buffalo milk is used around the world as a beverage and to make cheese. It's definitely a healthy product, but there's little evidence that it's that much healthier than cow's milk. It does have more protein and minerals than cow's milk. But it also has more lactose per cup than cow's milk does. Sheep's milk has the most lactose, then goat milk, then buffalo milk. Cow's milk has the least, but the differences are very small. So drinking buffalo milk won't help you avoid the indigestion if it is being caused by lactose.
The extra protein and minerals in buffalo milk make it taste thicker and creamier. And that protein makes wonderful cheese, too. But if you have a hard time digesting the milk proteins, or are allergic to milk protein, then you'll still have a problem. So even though buffalo milk is healthy, there's no evidence that it will be any better or worse for you or your family members than cow's milk.
Q: What is clabber? I remember my mother making stuff she called clabber by letting milk or cream sit out overnight. It would get sort of thick but soft. We'd put honey or cane syrup over it and eat it with a spoon.
A: Clabber was basically just soured milk or cream. What you remember was made with unpasteurized milk and took advantage of whatever bacteria happened to be floating past in the air the day she decided to make it. Most of those wild bacteria won't make us sick, but there are some that will.
It was the wild or untamed version of what we get now in products from yogurt to cottage cheese to sour cream. There are two big differences between those products and clabber. One is that we now use pasteurized milk to prevent a lot of illness. The other is that we use different, specific kinds of bacteria to make products that are the same time after time. They make good flavors, and we know they won't make us sick.
There are a lot of wild bacteria that would love to land on a pan of warm milk. But each would produce a slightly different flavor or texture as it grew. You never knew exactly what the clabber would taste like each time, and your mother probably had to feed a few pans to the pigs when it came out too sour or tasting really bad.
Today, if you want to make yogurt, you can buy yogurt starter. If you want to make cottage cheese, you use a different starter, a different kind of bacteria. A lot of people choose to add a little fresh yogurt to warm milk to make their own yogurt. That will thicken the milk, but it won't taste exactly the same as the yogurt they started with because it won't have all the original kinds of bacteria. Plain yogurt is probably the closest you'll get to finding clabber today.
Mary A. Keith, a licensed dietitian and health agent at Hillsborough County Extension, can be reached at mkeith@ufl.edu.
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