Drink Buttermilk
Ingredients
Directions
Add 1 gallon of whole milk to 20 gallons of skim milk immediately after separation.
Add enough starter or clabber to curdle the milk in 6-7 hours at room temperature (about 70°F).
Once curdled, churn the mixture for 30 minutes.
Cool the buttermilk to 50°F immediately to prevent further acid development and whey separation.
Strain the buttermilk through cheesecloth.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Whole milk
- Adds fat and richness, giving the finished buttermilk a fuller body and mouthfeel.
- Skim milk
- Forms the bulk of the liquid, providing protein that the culture acidifies and thickens.
- Starter or clabber
- Supplies bacteria that ferment milk sugar into lactic acid, which sours and thickens the milk.
The step that matters
Cool the buttermilk to 50°F immediately. Cooling halts the culture's activity. If it keeps fermenting, acid builds further and the milk can over-sour and separate into whey.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More buttermilk recipes
You might also like
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipes
Blackberry Cordial129 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.