# Can whey go bad?



## cooking_guy (Mar 21, 2008)

Hello,

i made some cottage cheese using vinegar, two days back. i have got a lot of whey left over, and i am thinking about making some stock out of this whey.

i had left the whey in an open container in the fridge. 

do you guys think they whey can go bad in the last 2 days (actually 36 hours) in the fridge?


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## bethzaring (Mar 21, 2008)

I think it will be fine.  How high a temperature did you heat the milk?  Have you tasted the whey?  I believe the vinegar would have stayed in the whey, not the curds.  Good luck with your stock!


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## cooking_guy (Mar 21, 2008)

thanks for the reply bethzaring,

i dont know how high was the temperature when i heated the milk, for most of the milk i just got it to boil, the rest of the milk was warm. does it make a difference?
the whey tastes neutral, creamy with a slight sweet cheesy taste.

i am planning to reduce the whey by heating to a pastey consistency and add some mushroom soup and some mushrooms to make a mushroom gravy, what do you think of the plan?


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## bethzaring (Mar 21, 2008)

The reason I asked about the temperature was to see if the milk exceeded 160*F and I see that it did.  That would have effectively pasteurized the milk and would prolong the life of the whey.
It looks like a good plan for your soup stock!


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## cooking_guy (Mar 21, 2008)

thanks for the reply,

i have reduced the whey from about 4 litres to about half 750 ml, do you think i can store the reduced whey in the fridge. 

once i make the soup out of it, can i drink the soup over say a week.

if i make sauce out of it, can i store it for a say a month? 

or do i need to freeze the reduced whey, any oup or sauce made from the reduced whey?


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## buckytom (Mar 21, 2008)

i guess there's bad, and there's whey bad!!!


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## bethzaring (Mar 21, 2008)

cooking_guy said:


> thanks for the reply,
> 
> i have reduced the whey from about 4 litres to about half 750 ml, do you think i can store the reduced whey in the fridge.
> 
> ...


 
bucky,....you ARE whey baaaaaaaaad

I would treat the whey and resulting products just like any other food. Personally, I eat out of a soup for up to one week, but not any longer.  I would not keep a sauce for over one week.  Freeze any whey and products if you will not be using within one week.


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## cooking_guy (Mar 21, 2008)

thanks for the tip,

so that is the golden rule. 

use for a week. 

what are the preservatives used to preserve it for more than a week?


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## auntdot (Mar 21, 2008)

Whoa, CookingGuy, if there is a seven day rule I have not heard about it.

Stocks, which I love to make, and soups are wonderful breeding grounds for bacteria.

The safety of the food depends upon many variables, including the way it was made and cooled, and the temp it was stored at.

The golden rule is you have to learn to keep food properly, and to that end there is no absolute answer.

And as far as adding preservatives, unless you are a food chemist would feign from doing adding anything.

You can look at the labels on jars and find many chemicals they add.  Those folks have years of research before them.

I am not saying I endorse all of those additives, but at least the companies they work for have spent many millions, if not billions, of bucks trying to make their product not decay too fast.

In cooking there is not usually a quick fix.

Am usally the person on this forum saying use the stuff, am now saying go carefully.


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## bethzaring (Mar 22, 2008)

cooking_guy said:


> thanks for the tip,
> 
> so that is the golden rule.
> 
> ...


 
LOL, actually the golden rule is, you would not keep it over three days in the refrigerator.  But if you are starting with a product that has been simmered as long as the whey has, the bacteria is minimal. And you seem to know how to properly store the stock.  

My answer to the preservation question is to freeze or can the product.  I am not into adding chemicals to my foods and know nothing about that.


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