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The Easiest Way to Make Buttermilk

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It’s great fun to make buttermilk! Wait until you see how easy it is!

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See, this is one of those things you can tell people that will thoroughly impress them, “Oh yes. I make buttermilk. No big deal.” The people will be shocked and amazed, but then you’ll have to admit, “Ok, fine. My two year old actually made the buttermilk. It really is that easy. Still please be impressed.”

Why would you want to make buttermilk?

Well, many recipes call for buttermilk, but as for me, I mostly keep it on hand so I can make this Simple Ranch Dressing. We go through gallons of this dressing as it is our family’s favorite. Seeing as we try to eat salad every day, we must have the ranch dressing in the fridge at all times. Buttermilk is a key, delicious ingredient in this dressing. And since buttermilk is a cultured dairy product, this makes our salad dressing even more nutritious!

The main reason I make buttermilk instead of buying it is because I want to use my farm fresh, raw milk. Raw milk contains nutrients and digestive enzymes that help us break down and absorb those nutrients. So this in and of itself is a win! Then when you add culture to this raw milk, it creates probiotic bacteria that is even more fabulous for our gut health!

So homemade raw cultured buttermilk? This is absolutely filled with great nourishment and digestive benefits!

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I guess it goes without saying, then, that when I use this Homemade Buttermilk in our Homemade Ranch Dressing, then we pour this wonderful dressing all over our mixed greens, we’ve got ourselves an incredibly nourishing side dish (or main dish, if we add more substance to our salad!).

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I used to buy packaged culture to start a batch of buttermilk. (Here’s an idea of what that looks like.) That’s a more pure way to start a batch, so yay for that! But it’s quite a bit more expensive. Plus it takes a couple extra steps.

So at this point in my blessed, full-scheduled life, I have chosen the easier route. (Simple specifics below.)

The Best News about Making Buttermilk

Once you have made one batch, you can save the last cup to start a new batch. Then you can continue making batches of buttermilk from your previous batch, over and over again. Isn’t that cool?

The Easiest Way to Make Buttermilk

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The Easiest Way to Make Buttermilk
 
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Serves: ½ gallon
Ingredients
  • Just under ½ gallon of milk
  • 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
  1. Add buttermilk to regular milk.
  2. Shake well.
  3. Allow milk/buttermilk mixture to sit on the kitchen countertop for 12-36 hours or until the milk has become cultured.
  4. You will be able to see that the new batch has turned into buttermilk by tilting the jar. If the contents of the jar have thickened and "plop" over when you tilt the jar, your buttermilk has formed! If the mixture is still runny like milk, continue to let the jar sit on the countertop.
  5. Once the buttermilk has formed, transfer the jar to the fridge, using as needed.
  6. Save one cup of buttermilk to use in subsequent batches, following the directions above for additional jars of buttermilk.

The Easiest Way to Make Buttermilk

Do not be afraid to leave this at room temperature for several hours! This is how the milk naturally ferments and cultures. Not only is this practice safe, I am quite confident that the probiotic bacteria formed during this process makes for an even safer-to-consume dairy product!

Can you make buttermilk with store-bought, pasteurized milk?

Yes. While I’ve not tried this, research tells me that this method works with pasteurized milk also. Though apparently, using ultra-pasteurized milk will produce inconsistent results. If you’ve had experience with making buttermilk with store-bought milk, I’d love to hear how it has worked for you!

Recipes that use Buttermilk

Here are the recipes I’ve shared here that call for buttermilk:

Seems our family enjoys cake made with buttermilk. I mean salad dressing. We eat lots and lots of salad, with dressing that I make with buttermilk. And also cake.

Do you make buttermilk? What do you use buttermilk for at your house?

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We Get Milk Again – I Can Finally Make Buttermilk!

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It’s been sort of a crazy few months around where cows are concerned.

You’re picturing it, aren’t you? With that one little statement, you have now conjured up in your mind a scene in which the local cows are behaving in strange ways, perhaps showing up on people’s doorsteps, speaking in full sentences, or maybe climbing onto billboards to paint a message. (Is anybody else now hungry for Chick-fil-A?)

What I’m really trying to say is that our regular milk sources have had unfortunate issues with their milk cows, leaving us without a source for raw milk. Boy have we ever been spoiled for the past few years.

Thankfully, as of last week, we were able to find another source for this liquid gold. What did I do just as soon as we picked up our milk? Well, I took a picture, of course. Then, I shook up a jar of milk and had a glass. And then I made buttermilk. And yogurt. And kefir.

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Yum

Besides drinking it, making homemade dairy products is what I’ve missed the most about having raw milk. (Here’s what we did in the meantime, in case you’re wondering.)

Doesn’t it take a long time and a lot of work to make buttermilk, yogurt, and kefir? Only if you consider five minutes a lot of time and shaking a jar a lot of work. Seriously, making homemade, cultured dairy products is so easy – and think of the money it saves!

So there you have it. My fridge is now full of great milk, fresh cream, and all the cultured dairy products I need for baking and making smoothies. You’ll find all the links and instructions for making these products here.

Do you make any homemade cultured dairy products? If so, which ones are your favorites?

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A Fresh Batch of Homemade Buttermilk

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I’ve been making homemade buttermilk for about seven years now. It’s such an easy-to-make food item! 

The beauty of homemade cultured dairy products, besides the fact that it saves you a lot of money to make them yourself, is that once you’ve made a batch, you can then use that batch to make more batches. In other words, once you have a jar of homemade buttermilk, you use the last cup of that batch of buttermilk to make another batch of buttermilk. Then you use the last cup of that buttermilk to make another batch of buttermilk. Then you use the last cup of that buttermilk to make another….

Well, you get the picture.

This system works very well. Until you go on a long trip across the country and come home to find that the buttermilk that has been untouched for several weeks in your fridge smells gross and you need to begin a fresh, new batch. 

That would be the predicament that I found myself in this week. I found that the last little bit of buttermilk in my fridge had seen better days and needed to go. That’s okay though. Every once in a while, it’s a good idea to begin with fresh cultures and start a new batch of buttermilk.

Why do I like having buttermilk on hand? I use it often for pancakes and baked goods. And I really love using it in Creamy Orange Coolers. It tastes delicious and refreshing in that recipe, and gives our tummies some great, live cultures. It’s awesome for digestion!

I’ve shared it before, but I’ll share it again – just to reinforce to you how easy it is to make buttermilk. 

First, you get a starter culture. My favorite comes from Cultures for Health. Also, you need milk. I prefer raw milk, but this does work with store-bought milk as well.

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Next, you pour the starter culture into a cup of milk. I use a pint sized jar for this.

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Put the lid on and shake it up. 

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Once you’ve done this, place your jar in a “warmish” spot in your house for about 24 hours. (In the winter, I find that it often takes longer than 24 hours.)  I usually put mine in the cabinet above my refrigerator because it tends to be a little warmer there. Don’t put it on your fireplace – that’s too hot and it will kill the live culture. Not that you were thinking about doing that. But just in case, I thought it was worth mentioning. We’re going for warm here, not hot. (About 70°)

In about 24 hours, the milk will have turned into buttermilk. You’ll know that the process is complete when you turn the jar over and instead of being liquid, the buttermilk will kind of “plop” away from the side of the jar in a single mass. It’s pretty cool.

No need to fear leaving this dairy product out in the open for 24 hours. Live cultures are healthy and will not spoil your milk. Leaving it out in a warm place is all a part of the culturing process. I promise.

Once my buttermilk is finished culturing, I can then use the last cup of that buttermilk to make another batch of buttermilk. 

Pour your one cup of cultured buttermilk into a quart or even half gallon of fresh milk to make larger batches once you’ve activated your starter. Allow the buttermilk/milk combination to culture in a warm place for 24 hours or until it has become buttermilk. Then refrigerate it and use as needed, saving the last 1 cup for a future batch.  

Then you can use the last cup of that buttermilk to make another batch of buttermilk. Then you can use the last cup of that buttermilk to make another….

Oh wait. I think I told you that part already. But yay for saving money and eating healthy at the same time!

Ever tried making buttermilk? If not, what is holding you back?

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