Buttermilk

[JSngry]

Good in recipies, etc., but do you actually drink this rancid fluid?

When I was a kid, all the old folks did, so I thought that when I got to be one of them that I'd like it. Nope, not yet. I hope never.

My grandmother used to LOVE to get day old cornbread, pour buttermilk all over it, sprinkle a little sugar on it, and eat that.

Consumption seems to be down. I used to see it in ALL the stores. Now in a lot of places it's more of a "specialty" item. Plus, just yesterday, I saw it being sold in pints for the first time. Useful for recipies, that size is, and you're not left with a bunch of goop to throw out.

Whither goest thou, oh buttermilk? Hast thy nastiness at last been recognized?

[Dan Gould]

I take it this is different from condensed milk, right?

[couw]

I don't know about the US version and fear it compares to the real stuff like that yellow plastic you call "cheese" compares to our dutch wonders, BUT: I love to drink buttermilk. It's very good to quench your thirst, even when it is not cooled. I used to take it on field trips. Rancid is definitely not something I'd associate with buttermilk.

[JSngry]

I take it this is different from condensed milk, right?

Oh GOD yes! (see, the kids of today don't even know what buttermilk is!)

Buttermilk is milk that has been allowed to slightly sour, but is still safe. Originally it was the remnant fluid left from churning butter. Today, it's manufactured under controlled conditions. It's sorta thick, and leaves a residue on the side of your glass.

Sound nasty? It is, but the old folks sure loved it!

[JSngry]

Rancid is definitely not something I'd associate with buttermilk.

Is Dutch buttermilk not sour? Perhaps I would like it!

[couw]

your description matches the stuff I love alright

yes it is slightly sour, that's what makes it so yummy

it's like yoghurt, but less thick

[Peter Johnson]

Funny Jim--I used to like it when I was a kid, but now I only seek it out when I'm making pancakes or similar... When I use it, I always stop and think, "Man, I can't believe I used to DRINK that stuff!

[Upright Bill]

I take it this is different from condensed milk, right?

Oh GOD yes! (see, the kids of today don't even know what buttermilk is!)

Buttermilk is milk that has been allowed to slightly sour, but is still safe. Originally it was the remnant fluid left from churning butter. Today, it's manufactured under controlled conditions. It's sorta thick, and leaves a residue on the side of your glass.

Sound nasty? It is, but the old folks sure loved it!

Harold McGee's "On food And Cooking" describes buttermilk as the fluid remaining after making cheese. I remember my grandfather chewing his milk and thinking that it would gag me. To this day it has never occurred to me to take a drink of it, although I cook with it alot.

[Guest Chaney]

...

Sound nasty? It is, but the old folks sure loved it!

HEY! I like buttermilk and I'm not old!

When I was a kid, my father was the only person in the household who would drink buttermilk. His lone quart would sit in the 'fridge and my father would open the door, reach in and have a few gulps right out of the carton. The rest of the family never tired of razzing him for daring to like something we did not. That, and limburger a/k/a stink cheese. Talk about vile food items!

I developed a liking for buttermilk when I became a vegetarian around 18 years ago. As I was also lactose intolerant, buttermilk proved a very worthy substitute for "real" milk. Beats the hell out of buying products such as Lactaid at $3.89 a half-gallon.

My feeling is that more people would like buttermilk if it were renamed. (Sort of like prunes slowly being renamed dried plums. Prunes are for old people. Dried plums are for youngins'.) People sample this stuff expecting the clean, boring taste of homogenized milk but when they encounter the special character of buttermilk, they're immediately confused.

Is it bad because of its taste or because it's different?

ENOUGH I say with this discrimination against the other milk!

Edited February 16, 2004 by Chaney

[DTMX]

Back in the day when I could eat anything I wanted I'd use buttermilk to make pancakes, cornbread and biscuits. But I couldn't drink it and most would go to waste. Fortunately someone in the dairy industry started selling buttermilk by the pint - enough for cooking or a glass for Grandpa but not enough to end up throwing most of it away if it goes sour(er). If you can stand a spoon up in it - or float a marble on top of it - it's probably expired. Tastes the same though.

[Guest Chaney]

Buttermilk is probably the easiest and most foolproof fermented milk product to make.  All you need is active cultured buttermilk for the starter, and fresh milk for it to act on.  The formation of buttermilk is based on the fermentation by the starter bacteria which turns lactose into lactic acid.  As lactic acid is formed, the pH of the milk drops.  Milk proteins, most notably casein, are no longer as soluble under acid conditions and they precipitate out, causing what we recognize as clabbering.  Thus the two marked characteristics of buttermilk, its tartness and its thickened nature, are both explained by the presence of lactic acid.  Additional byproducts of fermentation give subtle variations in buttermilk flavor.

The acidity of buttermilk also explains its long refrigerator shelf life.  Acid is a natural preservative because it inhibits the growth of pathogenic bacteria.  Thus buttermilk keeps easily for weeks in your refrigerator.  If you keep it longer, it may develop mold on the inner walls of the jar.  This mold belongs to the same group which grow on cheese and is not dangerous.  Remove it and the buttermilk can still be used for baking.  However, because the bacteria may have died in older samples, buttermilk older than three to four weeks may not work as an inoculum to make buttermilk.

MAKING BUTTERMILK

[Alexander]

I remember this stuff being around when I was a kid. I thought it was VILE. Frankly, I'm surprised that it's still around. I don't recall having seen it in a grocery store in several years. I suppose the existence of "buttermilk pancakes" attests to its continued use, but I never really thought about it before.

Anyway, yes I remember it. Yes, I remember old people liking it. I kind of wonder if it's a holdover from the Depression. Perhaps it was cheaper than regular milk? Or perhaps it's a holdover from a period when people did more baking at home. You know, people would drink it so it wouldn't go to waste, and eventually got to like it? People come to like weird things. My grandfather's parents were Polish immigrants who were dirt poor when they came to this country (and, naturally, had six kids). There wasn't much money for food, so my grandfather would be given stale bread dipped in hot water to eat for a snack. Even when he was grown-up and had money, he still regarded stale bread in hot water as a treat! He would make it for himself in the middle of the night and eat it in the kitchen after he got home from a gig (he was a violinist).

Edited February 16, 2004 by Alexander

[JSngry]

You know what else buttermilk is good for? Marinating chicken in overnight before frying it. My grandmother used to do that, and she made the best fried chicken in the history of the world.

[Dr. Rat]

I drink buttermilk on occasion.

I live in what may be the least diverse place in America (no pluralism here, dammit!), but, oddly enough, the grocery down the street from me stocks a whole bunch of eastern european delicacies and staples. One of which appears to be buttermilk.

There's an organic dairy hereabouts that supplies the need. It's good if you like things like yogurt, Belgian beer and interesting cheese.

It's alive and its good! It's also good for you: the bacteria are nutritious and supposedly help balance out your intestinal flora.

On a similar topic: I just tried the big national organic yogurt, Sunnyland Farms or something like. It kicks ass!

It's unhomogonized, and the cream is heavenly--though you really ought to be a good boy/girl and mix it in.

Yogurt makes a good marinate as well, especially for Indian-style recipes.

God I'm hungry.

--eric

[JSngry]

It's funny, I like yogurt (the real stuff as well as the "candy") quite a bit, but buttermilk just doesn't do it for me. Go figure.

[catesta]

Never touch the stuff.

[neveronfriday]

Buttermilk screws up my stomach.

Majorly.

Triple YUCK!

[Dr. Rat]

OK. I can see I'm not going to win many buttermilk converts here, but back to organic yogurt:

The big national brand I tried was Stonyfield Farms, not Sunnyland.

Here's an article from the Atlantic that talks about them a bit: Click here

This is a bit food-snobby, but the basic point about organic yogurt being better than Dannon is right on, I'd say. And at my store the price difference is small enough I can indulge myself.

--eric

[maren]

It's funny, I like yogurt (the real stuff as well as the "candy") quite a bit, but buttermilk just doesn't do it for me. Go figure.

Buttermilk tastes salty to me, and yogurt doesn't. Buttermilk = don't want to drink it out of a glass, but like to substitute it for sour cream in soup/salad dressing kinds of recipes.

fried chicken, pancakes...

[clifford_thornton]

The big national brand I tried was Stonyfield Farms

That is some mighty good yoghurt, I must say. I like the vanilla, personally. Some granola sprinkled on top... Not to stray too much from the subject at hand, of course...

[BERIGAN]

Yuck, Buttermilk! My Grandmother had that in the fridge....she was always kind enough to offer it, and the long expired chocolate milk to me...of course, she would get mad at me for saying the milk had expired and smelled, it was just fine, it didn't smell to her!

[couw]

so that pic you once posted berigan (damn if I could find THAT thread back) of yourself with a milk-moustache... I gather that wasn't butter milk then? Butter milk makes the BEST milk-moustache!

[Quincy]

Harold McGee's On Food And Cooking is a terrific book. If you ever wasted a year or so in a chemistry lab you can pretend that you even understand what he's talking about in the more complicated passages.

And though my Mom loved buttermilk, I just use it for recipes. And yup, I marinate chicken in buttermilk (with extra salt added) for frying. I too was happily surprised in recent years to see it pop up in pint sized containers, cause it seems like any extra you poured down the sink could clog it!

One use for buttermilk hasn't been mentioned yet. Here in the rainy part of Oregon moss will grow on about anything, but sometimes it needs some help. I have a neighbor who has lawn statues (frogs, a Fu dog) who wanted them to grow a mossy coat. He poured buttermilk on them, and lo & behold, within a few weeks the statues started sprouting moss on their backs. Such a trick would probably work on humans too in case your budget gets tight for clothing after spending too much on CDs.

[Big Wheel]

I wonder if the decline in the American taste for buttermilk over the last few generations is the result of a change in Americans' preferences for sweeter and sweeter foods. My grandparents (the children of Russian Jewish immigrants) love sour cream on strawberries, a combination most of my friends find revolting.

[tonym]

Nice on Muesli, lousy on Corn Flakes.