There’s a handful of foods that I only ever hear old people talk about. Things like salt water taffy, black licorice, and buttermilk are always mentioned during stories about “back in my day.” It may mean that I’m now an old guy, but I am now on the buttermilk bandwagon and will defend it to the death! But what is buttermilk? How do you make buttermilk? Can you freeze buttermilk? Is buttermilk supposed to be chunky? Let’s dive into buttermilk!
What is buttermilk?
Buttermilk is fermented milk. That’s why you get that little acidic tang when you open a fresh carton of buttermilk. It doesn’t exactly smell sour. It’s more like a strong yogurt smell. I used to have that smell too, but then I saw a doctor. Buttermilk is a little thicker than regular milk and it has natural little lumps in it. So, yes, buttermilk is supposed to be a little chunky, just like me. If it’s supposed to be chunky and it smells a little sour, how can you tell if buttermilk is bad? If it’s super thick and smells super sour, that’s not good. If there’s big old thick chunks in it and it smells rotten, then throw that sucker away.
How do you make buttermilk?
Technically, that question actually has two answers: an old one and a new one. Back in the day, you made buttermilk by making butter. Buttermilk was a byproduct of butter making. To make butter, you churn heavy cream until the fat turns into butter. The leftover stuff was water, milk proteins, milk sugars, and a little bit of fat. That liquid was left out overnight to ferment and thicken overnight. It was a popular drink and recipe ingredient because it could keep for a lot longer than plain old milk. These days, buttermilk is made by adding live cultures, like the ones in yogurt, to milk and letting it ferment in a stable, sterile environment.
What’s cultured buttermilk?
Cultured buttermilk is what you call buttermilk that is made in that modern way we just talked about. It’s regular milk, with live active bacteria cultures added. The culture makes it a little thicker and gives the flavor that tang. This is the stuff you see at most stores. Those live cultures can be added to any type of milk, from low-fat to whole milk.
What do you do with buttermilk?
The first thing you can do with buttermilk is drink it. Buttermilk has an acidic, tangy taste. That tang goes well in salad dressings, mashed potatoes, and other recipes. Buttermilk is also used in a lot of baking. The acidity in the buttermilk activates baking soda to produce gas that can make dough and batter rise. Buttermilk makes pancakes fluffier, biscuits flakier, and brownies better.
How long does buttermilk last? Can you freeze buttermilk?
Buttermilk lasts quite a while. Opened buttermilk can stay good for around 14 days in the fridge. You can also freeze buttermilk. You can keep that buttermilk container in your freezer for about three months.
What can I substitute for buttermilk?
If you are making a recipe that is supposed to include buttermilk and you don’t have any, you can substitute by adding lemon juice or white vinegar to regular milk. If you don’t have any lemon, white vinegar, or regular milk, then make a different recipe.
So get out your butter churners. Pour yourself a big glass of sour milk. Crank up the stereo and blast the “flies in the buttermilk, shoo fly shoo” section from “Skip to My Lou” while you make some pancakes. And let’s be thankful that some weirdo figured out bacteria milk was useful.
