Buttermilk

[vortexforest]

I really like the simplicity of making buttermilk. I don't have any access to raw milk or fancy cultures. So I just get milk from the store, pour about a quart of it into a pitcher, and add 1/4 cup of store bought cultured buttermilk to it and sit it out and wait for it to separate.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to make this a long term ferment, so that I don't have to keep buying more buttermilk?

[robertt]

I live in the scrub, so powdered milk is to hand. I shake up maybe 350gm of powdered skim, and maybe 50gm powdered coconut milk, in a 3 litre container filled with water. A half cup of the old buttermilk is shaken up with the new mix, as a starter. Without any temperature control, or any work at all, I have 3 litres of buttermilk ready for the fridge within the day. Really, I wish all fermenting was this simple. (I'm thinking of using all coconut one day, but I find the present recipe too delicious to tamper with.)

Hope this helps.

[Raymondo]

How do you make cultured buttermilk without a starter? If I put some fresh, raw milk on the counter, would it naturally ferment into cultured buttermilk?
Edit: Found an answer on a wiki page somewhere. Apparently if you start with fresh raw milk you can make cultured buttermilk and keep it going. I'm going to give this a try. I love the sour taste of yoghurt. I'm hoping cultured buttermilk will be just as sour.

[Raymondo]

I've been trying to create some cultured buttermilk for about 10 days or so using raw milk. I started by leaving a cup of milk until it clabbered, which took about three days. Then I added a quarter cup of this to a cup of fresh milk and repeated this process every day. The milk doesn't go bad but various web sites describe it as thick whereas what I'm getting is thin, with a few small lumps, and not much of a difference in flavour. Any ideas? Do I have to continue to wait until the milk clabbers each time?

[robertt]

Raymondo, I've been having a bit of trouble with my buttermilk since the weather cooled. As described by me above, it's been a no-work, no-worry affair through the warm weather. I now suspect that the mesophilic culture from ordinary supermarket buttermilk may need a summer room-temp. A slow ferment seems to let in other competing bugs, giving all kinds of uneven results. Next batch will go in the oven with just the light turned on, which should give a smidgin of warmth. Or I may leave the batch in the sun.

A good result should be nice and sour, a bit clotted but not lumpy or grainy or fizzy. When it's right, I can't stop drinking it. I'd certainly try a batch of raw milk without heating but with high-side room-temp warmth and plenty of starter. I'm getting the impression that a fast aggressive ferment is best, though I'm far from experienced at this stage.