Did you know there are two types of buttermilk?
The liquid leftover from making butter is known as traditional buttermilk. Traditional buttermilk is very low in fat (since most of the fat went to making the butter). It can be consumed as a beverage (try it with fresh ground pepper) or added to recipes in place of water for a nutritional boost.
Cultured buttermilk is generally what is called for in recipes. It is also the type of buttermilk you find in the store or you can make your own using a Cultured Buttermilk Starter. Cultured buttermilk is very similar toyogurt in the sense that it is cultured using live beneficial bacteria. Cultured buttermilk can be consumed as a thick and creamy beverage or used in cooking (pancakes anyone?).
2 Response to Traditional Buttermilk vs. Cultured Buttermilk
Julie says:
Technically mixing a yogurt culture with cream is still yogurt both from a bacteria-profile and taste perspective. Cream just makes thicker yogurt than would regular milk. However, yogurt (or yogurt cream) makes a good substitute for buttermilk in most recipes as does milk kefir. The only thing I'd watch out for is if you are using a cream-based product, it's going to be quite a bit thicker than buttermilk (commercial varieties, which most recipes are assuming you'll be using, are often made with low fat milk which is quite thin). If the buttermilk makes up a significant portion of the recipe, you may need to adjust your liquid amounts just a bit adding maybe a liitle water or milk to get the dough to the right consistency.
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Leigh says:
I have heard that buttermilk can also be made by mixing a yogurt culture in with your cream and allowing it to thicken before making butter out of it. Would this be considered a third type of buttermilk?
Posted on July 20, 2011 at 6:17 pm