5 ms·

Is the buttermilk made from the leftovers of churning butter or is it milk that they grow cultures in?

vram22 8y ago
Interesting question. Answer: The former. However, there is another product loosely called buttermilk by some, here. It is just curd (Indian term for yoghurt) diluted with water and maybe stirred or whisked a bit to mix up the water well with the curd. If you can't get the former, you can easily make this with curd you have at home. The real buttermilk is usually salted slightly. The one made from curd can be had either salty or sweet by adding sugar.
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 8y ago
  It would be fun to taste. The buttermilk I have tried in USA is bitter and tastes acidic.
  - vram22 8y ago
    Interesting. Could be because it is somewhat stale, maybe. (Was it bought from stores, what you tried?) Same happens in India. Fresh home-made buttermilk tastes good, from just after being made up to say 24 hours or so. After that it does get more acidic, particularly in warmer weather or if not kept in the fridge, although I might call it sour instead. Not found it tasting bitter though, as I remember. Could be you had bad luck and it was quite old stock.
    - apatters 8y ago
      A quick cooking hack when you're out of buttermilk at home is to add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk. So I always assumed the sourness/acidity was the defining feature of buttermilk. It would be interesting if there were types of buttermilk (and recipes requiring them) where this was not the case.
      - vram22 8y ago
        Interesting, must try that out sometime. In India paneer (a sort of Indian cottage cheese) is made that way, by putting lemon juice in hot milk, which makes it curdle. Then the curds are put into a cloth and hung up for a few hours to drain off the whey. What's left is paneer, which can be eaten raw, or used in dishes like palak paneer (spinach with paneer), mutter paneer (green peas with paneer), some Indian sweets, etc.
  - sumedh 8y ago
    You might get this in some Indian stores. http://www.amul.com/products/amul-pouchbuttermilk-info.php http://www.amul.com/products/amul-pouchbuttermilk-info.php or try this https://www.amazon.com/Amul-Masti-Spiced-Buttermilk-1Liter/dp/B00TX90RXO https://www.amazon.com/Amul-Masti-Spiced-Buttermilk-1Liter/d...

Interesting question. Answer: The former. However, there is another product loosely called buttermilk by some, here. It is just curd (Indian term for yoghurt) diluted with water and maybe stirred or whisked a bit to mix up the water well with the curd. If you can't get the former, you can easily make this with curd you have at home. The real buttermilk is usually salted slightly. The one made from curd can be had either salty or sweet by adding sugar.

0xdeadbeefbabe 8y ago
It would be fun to taste. The buttermilk I have tried in USA is bitter and tastes acidic.
- vram22 8y ago
  Interesting. Could be because it is somewhat stale, maybe. (Was it bought from stores, what you tried?) Same happens in India. Fresh home-made buttermilk tastes good, from just after being made up to say 24 hours or so. After that it does get more acidic, particularly in warmer weather or if not kept in the fridge, although I might call it sour instead. Not found it tasting bitter though, as I remember. Could be you had bad luck and it was quite old stock.
  - apatters 8y ago
    A quick cooking hack when you're out of buttermilk at home is to add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk. So I always assumed the sourness/acidity was the defining feature of buttermilk. It would be interesting if there were types of buttermilk (and recipes requiring them) where this was not the case.
    - vram22 8y ago
      Interesting, must try that out sometime. In India paneer (a sort of Indian cottage cheese) is made that way, by putting lemon juice in hot milk, which makes it curdle. Then the curds are put into a cloth and hung up for a few hours to drain off the whey. What's left is paneer, which can be eaten raw, or used in dishes like palak paneer (spinach with paneer), mutter paneer (green peas with paneer), some Indian sweets, etc.
- sumedh 8y ago
  You might get this in some Indian stores. http://www.amul.com/products/amul-pouchbuttermilk-info.php http://www.amul.com/products/amul-pouchbuttermilk-info.php or try this https://www.amazon.com/Amul-Masti-Spiced-Buttermilk-1Liter/dp/B00TX90RXO https://www.amazon.com/Amul-Masti-Spiced-Buttermilk-1Liter/d...