# Buttermilk question



## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I don't have any fresh milk right now. I used about 1/2 cup of cultured buttermilk in a quart of regular whole store bought milk. I warmed it some in the micrwave and set it on the counter. It took 2 days for it to get thick. It is thick now but it has a "different" taste than the original buttermilk. Do you think it is o.k.?


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

how different? More/less acidic or "off"

Two days is quite a long time. Did you boil the milk first?


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

No, didn't boil it. I just mixed it together, popped it in the microwave and warmed it. Not as acidic tasting. 

Well I take that back. I just tasted it and it is more acidic today than it was yesterday. It is beautifully white and thick, no separation, just doesn't taste like I expected it to. I thought it would taste like the bought buttermilk. I tasted it just now and it is just "different". I only use it to make cornbread. Think it is o.k. to use? It doesn't smell rotten or anything. 

Have you ever made it with store bought milk? Did I do it wrong?


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

you should be fine. It's different because of two possible factors: bacteria in the store milk (I have a few times successfully made clabber with store pasteurized milk), or temperature that favored some type of bacteria over others. 

The way to do it "by the book" is to boil the milk, cool it down, then add the buttermilk starter, then close up the container (I use canning jars) and put into a 75-85F water bath or other method of temperature control. If you don't boil the milk, you never know what it has in it. Pasteurization doesn't kill everything.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I poured it up into a clean quart canning jar, but I didn't boil the milk first nor use a water bath. Just set it on the kitchen cabinet. It's usually about 76-78 degrees in here. Maybe that is why it took so long to get thick. I'll boil it next time I try it. Thanks Pav.


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

76F favors all the milder type bacteria that make buttermilk really thick. You could have had clean milk and still had a similar outcome, depends on the original buttermilk and how alive the bacteria were. 

For cooking and drinking buttermilk, I make it same way you do - heat up raw or store milk, mix together, and leave it alone until it looks done. I like all the variation - a surprise in every jar . But for cheesemaking it doesn't work so well, have to be more exact.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

It makes good cornbread!!!


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