Buttermilk starter culture experiment

[pickles]

After watching a youtube video I decided to make a homemade buttermilk culture.

I took 4 litres (just over 1 US gallon) of raw milk and left it to settle overnight in the fridge.
I then scooped off the cream into a bowl, which I left out for 6 hours at room temperature.
I reserved the milk, keeping it in the fridge to make a cheese later.
Using an electric hand mixer on the cream I beat for some time, until the cream thickened, then continuing for quite a bit longer until the cream separated into buttermilk and butter.
I used the buttermilk from this to make a buttermilk starter as below.

---

Using homemade buttermilk to make a starter:-

Equipment:

pan with lid
measuring jug

thermometer
electric hand beater/whisk
sterile mason jar (1 litre = about 1 quart)
small cloth, elastic band

Ingredients

raw milk (750ml = 3 cups)
bowl of home made buttermilk (120ml = half a cup)

Put the raw milk in a pan and heat to 60°C.(140°F)
Leave, covered, to cool to room temp for 6-7 hours.

Put buttermilk into jug, add cooled raw milk.
Pour mixture into mason jar. Cover with cloth and elastic band.
Leave for 24 hours to set up and gel. (it was slow to gel for me, I left for 36 hours)

Lid and store in fridge [for up to two weeks] or freeze in ice cube tray.
(120ml of this culture can be used to make up more with 750ml sterilised raw milk)

5 ice cubes is amount for starting a cheese. (120-150ml in 4-6 litres milk)

I have made an experimental Edam with this and will eventually post taste notes. (memory cells permitting)

Please dodge those nasty virus bugs and be happy and safe, wherever you are.
.

[mikekchar]

Sounds super interesting.  A cheese for you (thumbs up)!  Definitely interested to hear how it goes.  Did you taste the resultant buttermilk?  If so, how was it?

[pickles]

I'm no buttermilk expert so my assessment is probably not going to be much use, however I can say it did not have any bad or 'off' flavours. I have made a starter from it and used some to make an Edam.

Here are links to the youtube videos I followed:

How to Make Cheese: Part 3: Making Culture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYQ4-PJz-sU

Back to Basics: How to Make Butter!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYQ4-PJz-sU

This youtuber has a large number of videos labelled 'Everything Homemade.'
In her 'How to make cheese' series she covers and demonstrates the process in depth.

I used the culture I made to start an Edam, she gives instructions to make a sort of cheddar.
I found her videos interesting and well produced, especially for me as a beginner.
If you have spare time it is worth exploring her videos.

The Edam I made is ripening. I am waiting and hoping for a positive result. I keep the rest of this starter as ice-cubes in the freezer.

[pickles]

I'm pleased to report that the Edam I made following this method has been opened after ripening for 7 weeks.
I had meant to give it eight weeks but was sorely tempted today and shared some on crackers with my wife.
I'm very pleased with the result and will be making more.
Making a buttermilk starter took a while but it supplied me with enough freezer cubes to make a few cheeses and a few that can be used to remake more starter.

I found it interesting that I could make cheese with just milk and rennet. Cheese made this way can really be called home-made. No commercial cultures needed!

The cheese is typical Edam, mild tasting, slightly 'squidgy'. It also has holes, which must be from something in the flora here that had set up in my buttermilk, I think.




Here's the Edam after brining and when surface dried a few days later:
Incidentally I read recently in a book written around 1900 that at that time a sort of rubber mat used to be supplied to fit under the follower so it got a better fit and avoided 'stepping' at the edge of the cheese. I think I might see if I can give that a go...






...and this is after ripening and sampling seven weeks later:
I make a label written in pencil to avoid ink migration and wrap it in a piece of cling film then put that in the vac pac with the cheese.






If you've time to spare it is an interesting and rewarding experiment which I would recommend.
 

[mikekchar]

A cheese for you! (AC4U)  Looks fantastic :-)  Yeah, I really like using mother cultures.  Freeze them as ice cubes.  Start them out the day before.  Good to go!  It's *much* easier measuring yogurt/butter milk than measuring DVI cultures when you are making a small cheese too.  I think the biggest thing is making sure that people understand how to maintain the cultures over time (need to sanitise your equipment each time).  But it's not really the end of the world if your culture goes a bit squirly -- you can always go back to your source and start again.

[pickles]

I'm very interested in a back to basics approach.
It is pleasing to discover I can make my own culture, which will I suppose be unique to my location. Historically I suppose this would be how things were done.

I've been experimenting at the same time with making a sourdough starter from scratch and as I am a home brewer it would be tempting to believe I could also capture my own home brew yeast.

It would be nice to sit down with a glass of ale and a plate of bread and cheese all provided by the yeasts and bacteria in the air around where I live. I wonder if there would be a marked difference with products made this way in town nd country?

[mikekchar]

I don't really recommend using cultures that didn't originate in milk.  The way it was historically done was that they used the bacteria present in raw milk.