How to Make Homemade Buttermilk
Learn how easy it is to make your own homemade buttermilk!
Whether you milk your own cows or have another source of good, fresh, high-quality milk, there are lots of healthy ways to use fresh milk in your homestead kitchen. Making your own homemade buttermilk is one simple, delicious, and healthful approach. This isn’t your bland, storebought stuff either – nor is it the buttermilk substitute you can make with vinegar or lemon juice. This is real, fresh, homemade buttermilk, and it’s the best way to make your own light, fluffy, and delicious homemade biscuits, pancakes, and other baked goods.
You can also use your homemade buttermilk to make certain kinds of cheeses or other dishes as well (including as a substitute for yogurt or sour cream), and it helps preserve your fresh milk to make it last longer. Buttermilk may also extend the shelf-life of your baked goods because it contains natural emulsifiers.
As a fermented food, cultured buttermilk is good for your gut health – and making it is so easy, you’ll never want to buy buttermilk at the store again!
Now that you know some of the many reasons to make your own homemade buttermilk, here’s how to do it:
How to make real, cultured, homemade buttermilk:
- Take just under two cups of milk and pour it into a clean pint-size jar.
- Add 2 tablespoons of cultured buttermilk* (use 1 tbsp per cup of milk).
- Stir well to combine.
- Place a lid onto the jar and only screw it down one turn so it’s not air-tight, but enough to keep any bugs out.
- Leave at room temperature for 8-12 hours. You should begin to see bubbles on the sides of the jar and it will thicken up. If you like it tangier, leave it out until the desired taste is achieved.
- Transfer buttermilk to the refrigerator for 6 hours.
- It’s now ready to use! (Use within 2-3 weeks.)
* You’ll need buttermilk culture to inoculate your first batch. You can use buttermilk from the store – just make sure to look for one that contains only milk and “live cultures” – with no added ingredients. You can also purchase dehydrated buttermilk cultures online.
If you’re not making another batch right away, you can also freeze some of your fresh buttermilk to culture future batches.
Once you’ve seen how easy it is to make your own homemade buttermilk, you’ll never buy the stuff from the store again!
Recipe Source: MelissaKNorris.com
