unpasteurized

Meanings

1. 1adjectivebefore a noun

   Describing a food or drink, especially milk or juice, that has not been briefly heated to kill harmful bacteria.

   Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: unpasteurized milk; the cheese is unpasteurized.

   Patterns

   • unpasteurized milk

   Pregnant women are often advised to avoid unpasteurized cheese.

   The farm shop sells unpasteurized milk straight from the cow.

   This cider is unpasteurized, so it must be kept cold.

2. 2adjectivebefore a noun

   Raw and unprocessed by heat, so that the natural flavor and living cultures are kept.

   Grammar: Often used by makers who stress tradition or flavor.

   Many cheesemakers prefer unpasteurized milk for its flavor.

   The unpasteurized beer has a livelier taste than the bottled kind.

Common combinations

unpasteurized milk

Unpasteurized milk can carry bacteria.

unpasteurized cheese

The label says the cheese is unpasteurized.

unpasteurized juice

The stall sold fresh unpasteurized juice.

raw and unpasteurized

The honey is raw and unpasteurized.

remain unpasteurized

The cheese must remain unpasteurized to be sold under that name.

Synonyms and how they differ

raw

This is wider and means not cooked or processed in any way, while unpasteurized refers to one specific heat treatment.

untreated

This covers any lack of treatment, and sounds less precise than unpasteurized for dairy products.

unprocessed

This suggests nothing has been done to the food at all, but an unpasteurized product may still be filtered or aged.

Opposites

Word family

pasteurize verb

to heat a food to kill bacteria

pasteurized adjective

heated to kill harmful bacteria

pasteurization noun

the heating process itself

Commonly confused: unpasteurized or unsterilized?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “unpasteurized”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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