That Buttermilk In Your Fridge Isn’t Actually Buttermilk

Take a look through Grandma’s old recipe box, and you might notice that many old-fashioned Southern recipes call for sour milk as well as buttermilk. From the best biscuits to tangy, saucy coleslaw, these terms became one-in-the-same. So then, what’s the “real” thing?

It turns out that the buttermilk in your fridge is actually very different from old-fashioned buttermilk, which was originally the term used for the byproduct of the butter production process. The old version was probably more pleasant for folks to drink back in the day, but my grandma, who remembers drinking the sweet stuff, still crumbles her cornbread into the tangy, sour store-bought buttermilk just the same.

We talked to buttermilk experts (yes, that’s a real thing!) to learn a little more about the types of buttermilk, how different versions are made, and what it all means for cooks today.

Meet Our Expert

• Sarena Shasteen is the culinary content specialist & marketing community engagement strategist at Bob’s Red Mill

• Sam Barton is the Product Development Senior Food Technologist at Organic Valley

• Darin Copeland is the public relations manager with Praire Farms

What’s “Real” Buttermilk?

If someone waxes poetic about the old days and refers to “real” buttermilk, they’re probably talking about old-fashioned, sweet cream buttermilk, which is the byproduct of making butter.

Sweet cream buttermilk comes about by churning or agitating cream, according to Serena Shasteen of Bob’s Red Mill. “The fat solidifies into butter, leaving behind a tangy liquid known as buttermilk,” Shasteen says. You can replicate the flavor of old-fashioned sweet cream buttermilk with dried sweet cream buttermilk powder, but more on that later.

So What’s in My Fridge?

The buttermilk you get at the store and keep in your fridge is “cultured buttermilk,” and it is made from regular milk that has added bacterial cultures. The process is not altogether different from the way that yogurt is formulated at a large scale.

To begin the process of making packaged cultured buttermilk, dairies add cultures of active bacteria (such as lactic acid) to standardized milk before pasteurizing it. “This [lactic acid] is what gives buttermilk its tangy flavor and thicker consistency,” says Sam Barton, Senior Food Technologist at Organic Valley.

Then, the buttermilk is heated. “The heat treatment ensures the buttermilk is safe to drink while the bacterial culture brings down the acidity and helps it form a thicker body,” says Darin Copeland of Prairie Farms. “In the final step, the buttermilk is cooled below 45 degrees Fahrenheit and packaged.”

The result is a thick, tangy sour milk that’s perfect for baking cakes, making wet brines for meat, and more.

What Are The Types of Buttermilk?

There are a few options, and you can’t go wrong:

• Traditional or “sweet cream” buttermilk: A byproduct of butter-making, old-fashioned buttermilk comes about as a result of whipping very heavy cream. If you whip and agitate heavy cream long enough, it turns into whipped cream, but if you keep going, it turns into butter. The liquid that separates from the clumps of butter is old-fashioned sweet cream buttermilk. Because heavy cream that comes from the store is not cultured, making buttermilk this way today doesn’t yield as much tang as it might have in the old days.

• Dry buttermilk powder or “dried buttermilk”: This dehydrated powder is derived from the byproduct of sweet cream butter-making on an industrial scale. The process preserves the flavors and qualities that are pretty close to what old-fashioned “sweet cream” buttermilk used to be. With strict USDA regulations for food safety, its formula is consistent, making it very useful across different recipes. To use it, you’ll stir it into regular milk or water according to package directions.

• Cultured buttermilk: This type of buttermilk is made with regular milk that has added cultures to assist fermentation, This is the type of buttermilk you can find at the store (or make on your own). The kind you get at the grocery store might be slightly richer and “funkier” because it has been cultured for a longer period of time.

Tips

Dried buttermilk powder can be used when you don’t want a lot of added liquid in a recipe, like for seasoning meat or tenderizing a pie crust, but it can also be stirred into milk or water to replicate old-fashioned buttermilk.

Would A Vintage Recipe Work With Store-Bought Buttermilk?

Yes, technically it would, but it might taste and look a little different. Old-fashioned sweet cream buttermilk traditionally would have varied a lot in its levels of acidity, bacterial cultures, and water content depending on the milk. You may notice that the recipe might be creamier, richer, tangier, or rise a little more with store-bought cultured buttermilk.

The good news is that most recipes nowadays are developed and tested for buttermilk that’s found at a conventional grocery store, but it can be swapped one-for-one with a buttermilk mixture made from dried buttermilk powder, which is shelf stable, packed with lots of old-fashioned buttermilk flavor, and available at most conventional grocery stores. Try with both, compare and contrast, and see what you think.

Does It Matter Which Type of Buttermilk I Use?

The short answer is no, it doesn’t matter. Both sweet cream buttermilk and cultured buttermilk have cultures that give them the acidity necessary for helping leaven baked goods.

The main difference is the consistency and predictability, both in creaminess and in level of acidity. It’s tricky to make sweet cream buttermilk today just as it would have been made many years ago—mainly due to how milk is standardized.

If you really want to get creative, you can incorporate dry buttermilk or dried buttermilk powder to replicate sweet cream buttermilk of the past.

“Dry buttermilk is simply buttermilk in powdered form,” says Shasteen, and it can be made from sweet-cream buttermilk (the traditional method) or from cultured buttermilk that you might find at the store.

Does Anybody Make “Real” Buttermilk Anymore?

Yes, some dairies still make sweet cream buttermilk, but you’ll notice that even recipes for sweet cream buttermilk or “real” buttermilk call for a splash of cultured buttermilk from the store. This is because you need a bit of active cultures to get the leavening agents going, and with practical food safety laws, regular milk doesn’t typically have enough to make the buttermilk as acidic as it needs to be for baked goods.

You can make your own buttermilk one of a few ways:

• Make cultured buttermilk: Mix regular milk with white vinegar or lemon juice. Both white vinegar and lemon are acidic liquids, and while they’re not exactly the same as the lactic acid that’s added to store bought buttermilk, it replicates the same chemical reaction and causes the milk to ferment.

• Use dry buttermilk: If you know, you know: this is a baker’s secret weapon. Dried buttermilk, or dehydrated “original” buttermilk, allows you to control the concentration of tangy buttermilkiness. It might seem counterintuitive, but using dry buttermilk is probably the closest you can get to the real thing from the comfort of your own home.

• Make butter and reserve the liquid: If you want to have some fun in the kitchen, you can try your hand at making butter by whipping or “churning” whole milk until it separates into cream and a viscous, serumy liquid “buttermilk”—just note that it might not be as tangy as you’d expect! Due to different laws state-by-state on selling raw or unpasteurized milk, a proper cultured cream might be tricky to find. Look for a “low-pasteurization” milk, which will have the most cultures that are natural, and safe for drinking. (It might need a little boost of cultured buttermilk if you try to use it for baked goods.)

Read the original article on Southern Living