# Buttermilk



## cave76 (Jun 25, 2014)

I found this on the Internet today:

Buttermilk

It discusses the way to make buttermilk and tells the difference between cultured buttermilk and 'old fashion' buttermilk.

I love buttermilk in any form but I especially remember the way I first had buttermilk on a relatives' farm where they milked their own cows and made their own butter. 

The leftover from making butter is great! 

"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."

Sure wish I could find some.


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## GLC (Jun 26, 2014)

I guess if you're in Maine:







Kate's Homemade Butter: Fresh Real Buttermilk

Can't discover which stores might have it.


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## bakechef (Jun 26, 2014)

I miss dairy from Maine


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## Addie (Jun 26, 2014)

bakechef said:


> I miss dairy from Maine



My second husband (being from the South) loved, loved, buttermilk. I would buy a quart and as soon as I walked in the door with it, he would grab it, dump a couple of tsps. of black pepper in it and drink it right down. I couldn't stand to even watch him.


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## bakechef (Jun 26, 2014)

Addie said:


> My second husband (being from the South) loved, loved, buttermilk. I would buy a quart and as soon as I walked in the door with it, he would grab it, dump a couple of tsps. of black pepper in it and drink it right down. I couldn't stand to even watch him.



Both my dad and nana loved to drink buttermilk.


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## Addie (Jun 26, 2014)

GLC said:


> I guess if you're in Maine:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Well they are located in Old Orchard, ME. Southern part of Maine. So I would assume it would be in stores around that area.


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## Dawgluver (Jun 26, 2014)

My grampa loved buttermilk.  He also loved blood sausage.  I preferred buttermilk, though I now prefer it for cooking, not so much for drinking.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 26, 2014)

Shrek goes through a half gallon every two days...


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## Roll_Bones (Jun 27, 2014)

Addie said:


> My second husband (being from the South) loved, loved, buttermilk. I would buy a quart and as soon as I walked in the door with it, he would grab it, dump a couple of tsps. of black pepper in it and drink it right down. I couldn't stand to even watch him.



My drinking buddy opened a bottle in the grocery store after an evening of fun and started drinking it in the store before we got to the register.

I told him I hated it and he convinced me to take a swallow. I hate it even more now!  Its sickening. 
Something wrong with lumpy drink.

I like it to use in recipes, but not straight up.


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## taxlady (Jun 28, 2014)

I remember drinking old fashioned buttermilk, the summer I spent in Denmark when I was nine. I didn't much like it. I was just glad we got regular milk most of the time.


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## CWS4322 (Jun 28, 2014)

Addie said:


> My second husband (being from the South) loved, loved, buttermilk. I would buy a quart and as soon as I walked in the door with it, he would grab it, dump a couple of tsps. of black pepper in it and drink it right down. I couldn't stand to even watch him.


That's how I like it but I add some grated lime zest to it....yum!


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