The Cleaner, the Dryer, the Better!
When you deal with raw milk, a living product, filled with millions of good bacteria and enzymes, but also considered a high-risk food by the government, you need to handle it carefully if you want to ensure that it keeps fresh, nutritious and free of any unwanted bacteria and microbes!
This is where we get to the topic on how to keep your milk bottles clean - really clean!!!
There has been many times when one of the Riverside Milk Team will observe customers opening their empty bottles to take a sniff and grimace in response to having just sucked in the vile scent of an improperly cleaned milk bottle. You know the kind of face, right?! You probably can also remember the last time you smelled one of your apparently clean bottles and were less than impressed with what hit you in the face...
Then the said customer will rush to the water tap outside the vending shed to give the bottle a quick rinse out. Now, that is good, but does it really remove all the bacteria that have settled on the walls of your bottle to spread their scents?! Perhaps, but probably not....
The thing is that the best solution to unwanted smells and bacteria, which thrive in moist and warmish environments, is to simply give your bottle a very good clean AND dry before you grab your next lot of Riverside Milk. Assuming, that you have a glass bottle or, even better, a stainless steel can, these are the steps to follow for a perfectly clean milk container and raw milk that keeps fresh for longer.
Tip: It's all about the drying...
'1. Rinse emptied bottles immediately with cool-to-lukewarm water so as not to “set” the milk protein. Hot water will set that protein!
3. Wash in hot, soapy water, using a good bottle brush.
4. Rinse well several times, then give a final rinse with very hot water to speed drying. Drain upside-down tilted on a rack. Drying straight upside-down does not allow the inside bottom to get dry.
NOTES ON DRYING: Make sure air can get back up into the bottle when set upside down to dry! Placing your bottle on a dishtowel flat on the counter will not allow the inside to dry completely: air needs to be able to get back up into the bottle to dry.
Nor will letting it sit right-side-UP on a counter… unless you have a few days drying time (and no humidity), there will always be a drop or two of water in the bottom. Just a drop or two of water in a capped bottle will bring on the swampy (and worse smell).
