Making buttermilk

[birdsongmilkmaid]

I'm wanting to start making buttermilk, and I'm wondering if I should buy a powdered buttermilk culture or if it is okay to use store-bought buttermilk to culture a new batch. If I can use store-bought buttermilk for my culture, any suggestions on the best way to culture a new batch? And if I should be buying a buttermilk culture, are there any suggestions on which culture(s) I should be looking at? (I want something that I can keep reculturing.)

Naomi

[linuxboy]

Powdered buttermilk is dead. There's no such thing as powdered buttermilk culture. It's dehydrated buttermilk solids with no living bacteria.

Buy the live, liquid stuff.

[darius]

I thought buttermilk was the watery milky stuff left from churning butter from raw milk?

[linuxboy]

that's traditional buttermilk. When butter is cultured, that works, too. Otherwise, cultured buttermilk works well.

[MrsKK]

A friend's hubby loves the flavor of buttermilk, so she buys whole milk and cultures it (she mostly uses buttermilk culture, but occasionally uses storebought cultured buttermilk).  She warms the milk to 90 degrees first, cultures the milk, then keeps it in the oven overnight with the light on.  Rather like culturing yogurt.  I hope this helps.

[dthelmers]

Naomi,
I've made a lot of buttermilk, as I use it for drinking and for cooking. If there's a store-bought buttermilk that you like, use that as your starter and then re-culture from batch to batch. I've got two local brands, but I don't know what cultures they use except that one makes a thinner and more acidic buttermilk and the other makes a thicker and less acidic buttermilk. They both re-culture well. I culture my butter with MM100 or Flora Danica, and the buttermilk that comes from that is very very good, but seems to separate easily and is grainy. I've tried re-culturing it and those tendencies become more pronounced. I've also used sour cream as a starter for buttermilk, which seems to have L. lactis and L. cremoris, and that works well and re-cultures well. I try to keep it at around 76f or a bit warmer to culture - warmer than that it seems to get an uneven texture. By the way, when I use MM100 or FD for sour cream, the texture is excellent and doesn't separate or go grainy.
Dave in CT

[Juggler]

I read and tried something recently with Buttermilk. I think though it more of a 'if you get caught short, without some' mix 1 cup of plain milk with 1 tbs of white wine vinegar, stir and let sit for 10 mins.  I made Buttermilk pancakes with this and they tasted great, the milk thicked and it even took on a buttermilk-ish smell.

[MrsKK]

Juggler - that works for baking, but does not work as a culture for cheesemaking...