Freezing whole milk

[hairygrape]

No-one seems to recommend the freezing of whole milk. Why is this? What happens to the milk after its frozen that's so detrimental? Can't the constituents be homogenised again simply by shaking the milk? Does the taste change?

Lots of questions I know! Sorry!

Thanks

[BBWCHATT]

I freeze it - you just have to put it in a container that allows it room to expand and closes tightly. It may change the taste a TINY bit - I can't really tell that it does - but works fine for me. Just experiment with a small amount and see how you like it:)

[warpig2]

I freeze milk all the time, as BBW say it may change it slightly but not enough to notice, there may be some scientific reason for not doing it but if it is just for general consumption ie tea, coffee, then I dont see the problem. Try it with a small carton and see what you think.

[Buenchico]

Here's what one of the world's largest food producers (Nestl�) has to say about this:
http://www.nestle.com/Interest_Areas/Cooking/A sk_Expert/All_Ask_Expert/Cooking_Tips/Freezing +Milk.htm

Chris

[heathfield]

In winter, village people in Siberia buy their milk in frozen blocks.
The water and fats tend to separate, but after thawing, shaking it will mix them back together again. Haven't tried it with homogenised milk, but it shouldn't make any difference.

[Gef]

Why not just buy it when you need it?

[mischief121]

Sainsburys used to have a sign up saying something like did you know you can freeze milk.I have frozen milk and its fine.like anything you freeze and defrost your supposed to defrost in a refrigerator.hope this helps.

[bookermel]

I use to keep a carton of milk in the freezer in case I ran out. Generally it was fine but if it isn't very fresh it can curdle when defrosted. So freeze when fresh!

[hairygrape]

Thank you all very much. The link was especially useful Chris.

The reason I asked was that I've got a number of so-called freezer handbooks which say not to freeze whole milk. They don't go into an explanation as to why, but they do say that semi-skimmed and skimmed milk may be frozen.

The other thing is that my fridge sometimes ices-up at the back and I've pulled out the odd 2 litre plastic container with frozen whole milk inside ( I place the containers horizontally on the bottem shelf of the fridge as I buy too many to put in the door). The milk does taste different on thawing and shaking but I can't quite put my finger on what's different about the taste.

Thanks again.