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MYO Buttermilk




Source of Recipe


http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/BUTTERMILK.HTM


Recipe Introduction


Making your own homemade buttermilk


Recipe Link: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/BUTTERMILK.HTM

List of Ingredients




6-8 ounces active cultured buttermilk
Check the label: it needs to say cultured buttermilk, and is not out of date. (The bacteria die down over time)
3 cups whole milk (store bought works. 2% or skimmed too, but less rich.)
very clean 1 quart container with secure lid (I prefer Mason jars).

Recipe




Add a bacterial starter of 6 to 8 ounces of active fresh cultured buttermilk to a clean quart jar. Use 6 ounces if you are certain of the freshnessof the starter (a ratio of about 1 part starter plus 4 parts milk). When in doubt, use a full cup of buttermilk as starter (a ratio of 1 part starter plus 3 parts milk).
Fill the jar with fresh milk.
Screw on the lid securely and shake to mix thoroughly. Label with the date.
Let sit out in a warm part of the room until clabbered (here next to our wood stove). It should be thickened in 24 hours. If it takes longer than 36 hours, the starter was no longer active (the bacteria had died). The buttermilk may or may not be tasty if it takes longer than 36 hours. (If in doubt, it can still be used for baking.)

24 hours later (at room temperature), the bacteria have fermented the milk, the lactic acid causing the milk proteins to clabber.
When finished, the thickened buttermilk coats the glass. The finished buttermilk should be refrigerated. It keeps easily for weeks. Fresher buttermilk makes better starter for cheese.

I have used this recipe for years to make buttermilk in large quantities. I like to use it for baking as well as drinking. It makes pancakes, waffles, and cakes rise very well. You can make any volume of buttermilk you like, so long as you hold to the proportions of 1 part buttermilk plus 4 parts whole milk. Every year for years, I have prepared a gallon of buttermilk (an ingredient in my cornmeal waffles) for an annual waffle breakfast I serve at Clermont College, serving about 120 people. To make a gallon of buttermilk, I add 1 quart buttermilk to 1 gallon of fresh whole milk in a large container, mix, and pour back into the original containers. The next day, the whole five quarts are nicely thickened.
It works because Streptococcus lactis (or a mixed culture of S. lactis plus Leuconostoc citrovorum) ferments the lactose in milk to lactic acid. The acidic pH causes the protein in milk (most prominently casein, pink in the picture below) to precipitate, thickening the liquid. Because much of the lactose has been broken down to lactic acid, buttermilk should cause less of a problem for those who are lactose intolerant.
It may be that buttermilk could be made with a lower proportion of starter (i.e. 1+6 or 1+8. Anyone have experience with this?) However, the 1+4 ratio has worked so well that I have not wanted to mess with the proportions.

MAKING CULTURED BUTTERMILK FROM SCRATCH
Allow a cup of filtered fresh raw milk to sit covered at room temperature until it has clabbered (usually several days).
Place 1/4 cup of the clabbered milk in a pint mason jar, add a cupof fresh milk (does not have to be raw at this point), cover, shake to mix, allow to sit at room temperature until clabbered.
Repeat this transfer of sub-culturing several more times until the milk dependably clabbers in 24 hours. Taste a small amount to confirm that it is tart, thickened, and has no off flavors. It should taste tart not bitter, for instance.
To then make a quart of buttermilk with this culture, add 6 ounces of the buttermilk to a quart jar, fill with fresh milk, cover, shake to mix, allow to sit at room temperature until clabbered.
Refrigerate.

CULTURED VERSUS OLD FASHIONED BUTTERMILK:
* "Cultured buttermilk," commonly available in US supermarkets, is not the same as "old fashioned buttermilk," about which I get many questions. The latter is the liquid which remains after churned butter is removed. The two buttermilks bear few traits in common. See the following description of churning butter for the differences.

CHURNING BUTTER:
In "olden times," farm families would let freshly milked milk sit for half a day and skim off the cream which had risen. This cream would be set aside in a cool place, around 50-60 F. Each milking's cream would be added until several gallons had accumulated. In the meantime, naturally occurring bacteria in the cream would cause it to slightly sour. This souring increases the efficiency of churning. The accumulated, slightly sour, cream would be churned at the optimum temperature (approximately 58 F) such that the butter was firm enough to separate out, but soft enough to stick together into a mass. The butter was removed, washed in very cold water to remove the remaining milk, and salt worked in to preserve it. The remaining liquid after the butter was removed was called buttermilk. I call it "old fashion buttermilk," which is slightly sour, has the consistency of milk, but is slightly paler. It has flakes of butter floating in it. Commercial manufacturers sometimes add colored "butter flakes" to imitate the old fashioned buttermilk. However, the two products are very different, cultured buttermilk being thick and tart, old fashioned being thin, and slightly acid, depending on how sour the cream got before it was churned.