Comments on: make your own buttermilk

By: Mile High Jen

Mile High Jen — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:25:20 +0000

I love your blog. I’ve gone down many a rabbit-hole after reading it. My latest? I bought a share in a herd of cows & get raw milk. I’ve been making fresh dairy, like creme fraiche, sour cream, butter, etc. I made cultured butter last week. OMG, yum. Now I have fresh buttermilk (described in post 6). Can I use this buttermilk in your recipes or do I need to (*gasp*) make my own buttermilk like you suggest here? It would be a shame to waste this stuff that came off the butter, but I’m not sure it’ll work. Does anyone know?

By: jen

jen — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 05:19:01 +0000

am I crazy for wondering if can I just substitute plain yogurt for buttermilk? I figure they’re both cultured dairy, and I pretty much always have yogurt in my fridge, and I can never finish a carton of buttermilk without it going bad.

By: joanna

joanna — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 04:57:22 +0000

… and if you strain it, you have home made ricotta!! Yum!

By: Cyndi Parisu

Cyndi Parisu — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 02:41:38 +0000

Thank you so much! I’m been wanting to-well, actually, I haven’t thought much about it, but yes, merci beaucoup!

By: Mart

Mart — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 08:27:22 +0000

Octel’s link is great!
Growing up in a household where my Mum used to churn butter from the cream layer atop fresh milk we bought at a local farmer’s, I always wondered why commercial “buttermilk” did not taste like butermilk at all..
Problem solved now!
Thanks.

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:29:53 +0000

This may sound silly, but do you use the milk curdles and all?

By: octel

octel — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 21:00:29 +0000

What you’re making here is called acidified buttermilk, which differs from cultured buttermilk. The cultured kind, in my opinion, has a superior taste and is much more suited for baking.

Here’s a page detailing how to make your own culture buttermilk by using the active cultures present in the store bought stuff:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/buttermilk.htm

You can also buy concentrated starters online, both liquid and dry.
BONUS: you can use the starter to make homemade sour cream (and mexican crema)

By: esther

esther — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:39:21 +0000

@7: That is not what is meant by buttermilk. #6 describes quite well what buttermilk is. It is not milk with extra butter, it is soured milk.

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:30:17 +0000

Can buttermilk be achieved by adding extra butter to heavy cream?

By: eva

eva — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:01:59 +0000

Where I live buttermilk is as expensive as gold, really. So I will try using your little trick next time.Thanks! By the way in Germany this is called ‘Dickmilch’ (thick milk) Buttermilk is only what’s left of the milk after churning butter and I think it’s totally fat-free, but still very yummy.