Make Your Own Buttermilk
There are a lot of reasons to learn how to make buttermilk.
Fluffy whole wheat pancakes. Grandma’s flaky biscuits. Ranch dressing.
Need I say more?
This hero of cultured dairy products makes grains more digestible, salads more tempting, and white sauces more tasty.
It’s a shame that it’s darn near impossible to buy.
A trip into the dairy section of just about any local grocery store will leave the real food lover disappointed. Most buttermilk is fake!
Take a look at this store-bought buttermilk label and see if you can’t spot what’s wrong:
What's wrong with this picture?
Or, better yet, answer this — what’s right about it?
If you want good, old-fashioned cultured buttermilk, you’ve either got to go to a health food store or make it yourself.
So, here’s how you can do it.
First, the EASY way.
The Players
- 1 cup of cultured buttermilk
- 3 cups of whole milk
- 1 lidded glass jar
The How-To
Pour the buttermilk into the jar.
Add the milk.
Shake it up, then let it sit on your counter or another relatively warm place for 24 hours. When cultured, the thickened new batch of buttermilk will coat your glass. Now, pop it in the fridge, and it will last for weeks. Easy!
Please Note:
1) Quantities don’t matter as much as proportion. Stick to the 1 to 3 ratio, and your buttermilk will always turn out well (as long as your starting culture is alive) whether you’re making 1 cup, 4 cups, or a gallon.
2) If you use raw or non-homogenized milk, your cream is likely to separate and culture on its own as well. That layer of cultured cream is creme fraiche (European sour cream). Enjoy!
Next, the (slightly) harder way, which involves making your own buttermilk culture from raw milk.
- 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.
If you’re looking for a good starter culture for Buttermilk (or any other fermented foods like Kombucha, sourdough, yogurt, etc.), check out the listings on my resources page.
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It’s crazy the junk they mix in with such a simple food. Real buttermilk is phenomenal for cooking and baking. It lends this very, very soft crumb to whole or sprouted grain baked goods. It’s an integral part of our kitchen. Good post.
Jenny
I was actually inspired by your “Name That Food” series of posts. I mean, seriously, if I had posted the ingredients on that label, would *anyone* have realized it was buttermilk?
Thanks for that! Quick question: will it hurt if I use storebought buttermilk for my initial batch? I can’t get anything else around here, and I figure the amount of crap will diminish as I make more batches.
Hi Semi Crunchy!
Thanks for posting.
If you have to use store-bought, then at least try to find some without Modified Food Starch in it. But, if it is your only option, I say go for it! Making your own will still be more wholesome than buying the crap. And, you’re right, the bad stuff will diminish as you make more batches.
Ah, HEB. I once wrote to them on their website about the partially-hydrogenated fats in their flour tortillas. Not a word back from them. Too bad they’re practically a monopoly in San Antonio!
HEB isn’t all bad. Ours has a reasonable bulk foods section, and anytime I’ve asked a department head for something special (uncured bacon or sausage, grass-fed beef, rennet, you name it), they’ve generally started stocking it. That said, MOST of the so-called food in that store is just like any other grocery store — fake!
I’ll have to use method #1 because, in Canada, acquiring raw milk is a near impossible endeavour due to the eagerness to prosecute the suppliers (it is illegal to sell raw milk). Geez…the law is easier on marijuana possession.
This is a great and really informative post. Thank you so much!
HoneyB
Fluffy — That’s a bum deal!
Honey B — Thanks for the kudos.
hmmm…..very useful… i will surely try this .. i found a buttermilk marinated chicken recipe once… now i can do it with my own homemade buttermilk..
lovely!
mizdi
*comes out of lurkom*
Love your blog, but i have a question on this post. I have some….really old raw buttermilk in my fridge from last year’s thanksgiving that I haven’t used. Can I use that to make some fresh buttermilk?
Thanks!
Tamara,
Thanks for your comment! To answer your question, I don’t think it will work as well. If your buttermilk’s that old, the live cultures in it are probably mostly dead. It may still be totally safe to consume and use, but it probably won’t be strong enough to help start a new culture.
If you really want to use it, perhaps you could try using it along the lines of method #2, which concentrates relatively weak cultures until they’re strong enough to clabber the milk within 24 hours.
As always, it’s your call.
Cheers,
KristenM
I’ve been lurking for a while, and now I have a reason to comment!
So I wasn’t even looking for buttermilk today, but I remembered this post when I was at the grocery store. I was in the baking aisle, and came across a product called Saco Cultured Buttermilk Blend for Cooking and Baking. (Say that 3 times fast!) Basically, it’s powdered buttermilk. I was skeptical, but I checked the ingredients:
A cultured blend of sweet cream churned buttermilk, sweet dairy whey, and lactic acid.
I went ahead and picked some up, because the price wasn’t bad, and I love using buttermilk, but it always goes bad on us before we use it all, and to me, this is easier than making your own. It actually requires refrigeration after opening, but says it’s good until October 2012. I don’t know if that date is before or after opening, but I’m guessing it should last a while.
Thoughts?
April — Thanks for your comment!
You may not like what I’m going to say, but I would avoid it for the same reasons I’d avoid powdered milk. First, the drying process pasteurizes and completely kills any of the benefits of the buttermilk culture (enzymes, probiotics, etc.). It’s also likely to create free glutamates (another name for MSG).
You’d be substituting a living, health-promoting food for a dead, harmful food.
In my book, it’s just not worth it.
Hmm…I should look into the milk-drying process and learn more about that. I am fairly new to the world of real food, and trying to make the best choices I can, but there’s a lot to learn!
Here’s some information from their website:
http://www.sacofoods.com/culteredbuttermilkblend2.html
If what they’re saying is correct, which would be the lesser of two evils in your opinion–the Saco powder, or the conventional liquid buttermilk found at most stores? Like I said, I went ahead and picked some up, and I just used it for the first time (I have some muffins getting ready to go into the oven). I’m going to do some more research, and see how it goes. If nothing else, I may be able to use it to start my own buttermilk culture.
Thanks for the input! I’ve really been enjoying your blog!
April — SACO’s website is highlighting the difference between old-fashioned and cultured buttermilk. Old-fashioned buttermilk is what I get when I make butter. It’s thin, tart and acidic and good for soaking grains. Cultured buttermilk is what most recipes call for — particularly recipes that call for buttermilk in bechamel sauces and dressings. It’s also tart and acidic, but thick. SACO is wrong in implying that this cultured buttermilk not a traditional food. It is! Culturing milk in all its forms is as old as milking cows & goats.
Because the SACO buttermilk is dried, it contains no live cultures and will not be a good buttermilk starter culture.
Choose between two evils? I’d say don’t use either, unless you’re addicted to buttermilk baked goods or ranch dressing. Or, I’d say buy some good culture online (a lot of cheese-making suppliers will sell the stuff), then use that to start your own batch of buttermilk.
KristenM
Nice post Kristen,
I’ve been a label reader for over 30 years, but never thought to look at the buttermilk label. This junk will no longer be in my kitchen, and I’ll be making my own very soon.
Thanks!
Rod Newbound, RN
Labels are so scary, really! I love the simple directions, in the beginning of the post. I think that is how our grandparents cooked, you adapt for the ingredients that you have or have not. Culinary experts they were!
Heidi / Savory Tv
Ok – so I looked at the label again and again. True that there is a lot of stuff in there that doesn’t belong there, but I still have to ask: What (apart from that) is wrong with it? It seems to me that this label actually indicates, that the product is simply low-fat milk thickened with starch. Not buttermilk at all. Am I right? (Please comment!)
On another note…
I was born in Germany and buttermilk was (and is) a standard drink at home. If I try to introduce that to people here in the US, they think that I’m totally crazy and should have my taste- buds looked after. I’m not kidding! – Finally I convinced my wife at least to try it: buttermilk and orange juice 1:1. It’s so refreshing and delicious. Now sh loves it!
Thank you for your post!
Dante — It’s not just that there’s stuff there that doesn’t belong. It’s the KIND of wrong stuff that is worrisome. Let’s start with the first ingredient: cultured low fat milk. Why low fat? From the get-go, this isn’t a whole food made from real milk. Then the next ingredients: non-fat dry milk and modified food starch. They add this to make it creamer, but both are known harbingers of processed free glutamic acids (AKA: MSG — Did you know MSG can go by more than 40 different names in the US and only one is legally obligated to be called MSG on product labels?). And that’s just the first three ingredients.
To be real buttermilk, the label should just say “cultured milk.” The end.
Now I will have to try buttermilk orange juice! It’d be great to find yet another use for this delicious cultured dairy product.
In the US where can I find raw milk?
Hi Steven –
Check out http://www.realmilk.com and search by your state for local farms selling raw milk. Even if the farm is quite a distance away (say 100 miles), you might find it’s worth calling them to find out about any drive-shares in your area (a group of people from your area that sends a designated driver to the farm once a week or once every couple of weeks to pick up everybody’s order en masse). In many states, raw milk farmers can deliver to your door or to convenient co-op or buying club drop points. In other states, you may be required to pick it up at the farm. Anyhow, that site is full of info!
Good luck!
KristenM
I have been making my own butter for a few weeks since joining a raw milk share coop, but I didn’t realize there were two kinds of buttermilk. Can I use the buttermilk from my butter to make cultured buttermilk? Can I use it interchangeably in recipes? How about to make creme freiche to make cultured butter? I’ve been putting a Tbs of buttermilk (from the butter) in a pint of cream and leaving it on the counter for 20-24 hours before I whip it up into butter. I didn’t think it was getting thick enough! Help!
Katie
Katie — Yes, you can. And, yes and no. You can sub between them, but just be aware of the type of recipe and how the subbing is likely to affect things. The difference will be in the creaminess/thickness level. Old-fashioned buttermilk (what’s left over after making butter) is very low-fat, so the cultured buttermilk you’d make from it will be far less thick. As to making butter out of creme fraiche or sour cream — go for it! I think it’s far tastier than sweet cream butter. If your creme fraiche isn’t turning out thick, it means your enzyme activity in your buttermilk starter is too low. Try increasing it using the same method you use to build up enzyme activity in the “slightly-harder” recipe above. When it clabbers to the desired consistency in 24 hours, then you’ve done it right!
One day I will try this… I swear.
You mention laking ranch dressing with homemade buttermilk, would you share a recipe for that?
I went to my wild by nature health store and the only buttermilk i could find at all was organic valley cultured lowfat buttermilk. Is it possible to use that to make buttermilk? i also bought a small unhomogenized milk from ronybrook farms, but it doesnt say if its pastaureized, but i suspect it is. I’m in new york on long island and have trouble finding anything raw….
Brandon — I am perfecting my recipe even now. One day soon, I promise I will share it!
Jessica — Organic Valley cultured buttermilk will do fine. It’s a heckuvalot better than the other stuff you can buy at the store! It’s great that you can find unhomogenized milk. Even if it’s not raw, unhomogenized is second best, particularly if it comes from grass-fed cows!
How long can you keep homemade buttermilk until you use what’s left to make more? A week? A month?
It may not be ideal, but my store bought buttermilk ingredient list says “Cultured Reduced Fat Milk and Salt”. It is pasteurized as well. I do have a source for raw milk, but I want my 14 month old son to be able to drink what I am able to purchase. In the interest of saving the raw milk required to concentrate the cultures, I’m thinking of using the store bought buttermilk to start a raw milk culture. Like SemiCrunchyMom, I hope the bad stuff will diminish with each new batch using raw milk. What do you think?
BTW, I recently found your blog, and I love it!
As in Canada, here in Australia the sale of raw and non-homogenised milk is illegal. Supermarkets don’t sell any kind of buttermilk. Will pasteurised milk make proper buttermilk? A lot of people seem to use milk soured with vinegar or lemon juice as buttermilk. Does this have the same nutritional and chemical properties as a cultured buttermilk? Can you use it to make your own buttermilk? Finally, is goat’s milk as good as cow’s milk for making buttermilk?
Elinor Entity — Pastuerized milk WILL make proper buttermilk. Just follow the first recipe rather than the second. As for the buttermilk substitutes, they work for FLAVOR, but not for the nutritional benefit. (They’re not probiotics.) I’ve never had goat’s milk buttermilk, but I don’t see why you couldn’t try it!
Help! I got a buttermilk starter from a friend who makes it with unhomogenized, but pasteurized milk, and I made a batch with raw milk, then a batch with store milk, then raw milk. That batch went bad – I mean smell invading my nose bad – in a week. ?? I thought cultured products were supposed to last longer? Any trouble-shooting for what I might have done wrong? Thank you!!!
Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship
What does he mean by “filtered” raw milk? I have access to whole raw milk. What do I need to do?
Kristen,
We buy raw milk all the time. I want to try the raw recipe, but I have always been careful with it because of what else can be found in the raw milk. We count on the refrigeration keeping the bad bacteria at a minimum. We also know that the milk is tested all the time. Everything I would use buttermilk for, grains, breads etc would be cooked so I’m not worried about using the raw buttermilk for those. My family loves ranch dressing and it is always better make with buttermilk. Is there any way to ensure that we don’t have an explosion of bad bacteria? Can it be pasteurized after culturing just for the ranch dressing? My wife is a real stickler on the milk.
Thanks for your post, it will come in handy as we strive to make the dollar stretch at our house by learning how to make things the way they should be made.
Sean — You could pasteurize the milk BEFORE culturing it, the way you would do so for making yogurt. But I wouldn’t do it afterward, as that would negate all the benefits of it being a cultured, probiotic food.
I haven’t had buttermilk since I left Los Angeles 35 years ago. I still miss it. Some recipes tell me to put a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice into milk. Others say, use raw milk which I cannot buy. Here in Japan, milk is sold in various thicknesses. From skim to low fat to 3.2 to 4.4 % fat. I’m not sure which to choose. Also, can I use yogurt to start off the bacteria in buttermilk? Any help will do. Jack
Jack — You can purchase a buttermilk starter online. Click on my Resources page for listings.
What all do you do with the buttermilk left after making butter? I’m thinking about making cultured buttermilk but it feels so weird to do that when I have the buttermilk left over from the butter in the fridge just sitting there. We use only raw milk in our house if that makes a difference in your answer.
Also, I trying to find a good resource for how to use my raw milk. I want to make things like whipped cream, half and half, etc. If you have a blog or website that has great basics for using raw milk to it’s full potential that would be wonderful!
Thanks for the advise!
.-= Mrs. Not the Jet Set
Hi Mrs. Not The Jet Set — You can use the buttermilk remaining after making butter to make the cultured buttermilk. That’s what people originally did. You’d just add the buttermilk culture to it and follow instructions. It will be a little less thick, but just as useful and tasty in salad dressings & other recipes.
If you want to use raw milk to make whipped cream, half and half, etc., you’ll need to separate the cream from the milk. I’ve got a post that tells you how to do that on this site. Once you’ve got the cream, you can use it the way you would heavy whipping cream from the store: whip it to make whipped cream, whip it even more to make butter, add milk to it to turn it into half and half (but why not just use full fat cream? YUM).
Hope that helps!
~KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
Thanks for the info! that was very helpful.
.-= Mrs. Not the Jet Set
I forgot where I read it but one of the Weston A. Price folks pointed out that nonfat milk solids are full of oxidized cholesterol! The bad kind of cholesterol. Yes, one more reason to make one’s own butter milk! Thanks for this
Lisa Sargese´s last blog ..better to struggle
Hi
I live in Canada and the buttermilk I have in my fridge right now is from a mainstream big industrial company, so it is certainly pasterized. But, I am wondering about the ingriedients. The only ingriedients it lists are: Milk, Salt, Bacteria Culture.
Is this closer to “real” buttermilk, or still not as good because of the assumed processing? Not to mention the unhealthly cows the milk probably comes from.
Can anybody elaborate on the below step to make your own B-Milk culture. I am not sure how to “repeat the process”. Do you add more of the clabbered milk to the pint? Any help would be great.
# 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.
Darrell,
I’m pretty sure by saying “repeat the process” she means that each time your milk clabbers, you take 1/4 cup of that clabbered milk, and add a fresh cup of milk (in a new jar). You do this over and over, until it only takes 24 hours to clabber. Then you have buttermilk. Basically you’re building the culture up so that it clabbers in one day, instead of several days.
I’ve been making old-fashioned buttermilk (along with my butter) and I leave it sit out on the counter to “culture”. Sometimes I don’t get to it for days and by then it gets quite thick. Is it okay to leave it out that long? Is there something I should look for in case it goes bad? Once it looked like the butterfat (some falls in when I separate them) was turning a slight shade of orange, not a bad drastic color change, and there was no “off” order. I scooped it off (it was only on the top) just in case, but is this a bad sign?
I’ve done this twice now and we love it! I ran out of raw milk and really needed the rest of my buttermilk, so I used it all up, and hoped I’d have as much luckwith my 2nd try and making buttermilk. and I was! Thanks so much. I’ve passed this on to a number of people and they have loved it as well.
I keep mine in a half gallon glass jar, and when it gets down to one cup, I just fill it back up with raw milk, shake it up and let it sit out for a day until it’s nice and thick. It’s so easy to manage, and makes baking and marinating meat so easy and yummy!
Someday I hope to get us all to drink it straight up-but we’re not ready for that quite yet.
Thanks again!!
Sarah
Sarah´s last blog post …Tuesday Twister in My Kitchen
I’m very happy to have found your website. Please tell me, the second recipe is Cultured Buttermilk? Not regular buttermilk? I really need to make some Cultured Buttermilk and have found myself confused on that matter.
Thanks,
Jenn
Jennifer´s last blog post …A Fresh Start