Clabber (food)

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Clabber is a food produced by allowing unpasteurized milk to turn sour at the proper humidity and temperature. Over time the milk thickens or curdles into a yoghurt-like substance with a strong, sour flavor. In rural areas of the Southern United States, it is commonly eaten for breakfast with brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, or molasses added.

Unlike many Southern dishes, which can ascribe their roots to African origins, clabber appears to have come from the many Scottish nannies who at one time took care of the children of the Virginia gentry. In fact, clabber is still sometimes referred to as bonny clabber (good clabber).

With the rise of pasteurization the making of clabber virtually stopped, except on farms that had easy access to unprocessed cow's milk.