Buttermilik is ready

Today I finished my final buttermilk product. After making 3, 1 quart size jars of buttermilk using whole milk, I placed them all in the refrigerator after letting them rest at room temperature (70F) for 24 hours. I made a lot for the sharing piece of this product. After they sat in the refrigerator overnight, I placed the final product into a half gallon container to bring tomorrow to class. In order to make it drinkable, I filled half the blender cup with the yogurt-like buttermilk. Then I added 4 milliliters of water to the cup, and mixed using the blender. I mixed using a blender for 10 seconds. I then placed the liquid buttermilk into the plastic container. Once I filled the container, I placed it in the refrigerator so that it is fresh for tomorrow. I added a few pictures showing the blending and final product.

This picture shows me filling the yogurt-like buttermilk into the blender cup. I filled only halfway and added 4 mL of water into the cup after.

After the addition of water and buttermilk to the blender cup, I mixed the contents in the blender for 10 seconds.

This is the half gallon container filled with the final buttermilk product. Although it looks like regular milk, it tastes like buttermilk. I am looking forward to sharing this with the class tomorrow!

decisions

After leaving the buttermilk containing skim milk in the refrigerator overnight to cool and prevent further fermentation, I decided to taste it. The texture of the skim milk version of buttermilk was significantly less thick than buttermilk containing whole milk. It had a much more watery component to it. Furthermore, the taste was slightly weaker than that of whole milk buttermilk. It was not as sour as the whole milk buttermilk. I decided to then leave the two products in the refrigerator for about three days to test any difference in taste, composition, and texture. The taste of the skim milk buttermilk was still not as potent as that of whole milk buttermilk. I noticed that the whole milk made a significant difference in the richness of the buttermilk flavor and smoothness. I still needed to add water to the skim milk buttermilk even after adding about 3 tablespoons into a glass, although the amount of water added was not nearly as close as that of whole milk buttermilk.

I made my decision to use whole milk buttermilk for my final product that I will bring in to share. I will need to make another batch of it as a second trial. This time I plan to increase the amount of whole milk from one quart to about half a gallon of whole milk and half a carton of buttermilk. Furthermore, I will leave the whole milk to warm to room temperature all by itself instead of warming it on the stove before I begin mixing the two milks.

These were the ingredients used for whole milk buttermilk. The same ingredients were used for skim milk buttermilk except that the regular milk was skim not whole milk.

and the results are in...

Today, I tasted a tablespoon of my healthier buttermilk that contains skim milk. After the 12 hour mark, the "healthy" buttermilk was a little more sour than the whole milk buttermilk was at 12 hours. I suspect this was because of warmer temperatures inside the house causing more rapid fermentation. I decided again to leave the healthy buttermilk to ferment another 12 hours, mainly because it wasn't sour enough, but also for consistency in the experiment.

After a total of 24 hours of fermentation, the buttermilk containing skim milk was less thicker than buttermilk containing whole milk. This proves my hypothesis that using skim milk would reduce viscosity due to lack of fat in the milk. Furthermore, the sourness was a bit more potent than buttermilk containing whole milk, and the same could be said regarding the odor. Again, I believe it may have been due to a higher temperature in the house over the last 24 hours. In my next step of the experiment, I will leave the buttermilk containing skim milk in the refrigerator for 24 hours like I did with the initial product using whole milk. I will then compare the tastes and contents after this.

I also plan on posting pictures once I figure out how to add pictures to this blog! Still learning how blogs work! Thank you for reading and following my posts.

A twist to my buttermilk

After tasting my initial product for the first time late Saturday night, I decided to compare the difference between using whole milk and skim milk. This would allow me to determine which type of buttermilk I prefer to share with the class, but also consume during meals. Although the addition of water to my initial product did not deplete the taste, it also was not recommended in the original recipe from my first post. The water was my modification to the first finished product.

Now onto the skim milk (or healthier) version of buttermilk. The same process and measurements were utilized for the skim milk process as with the whole milk process of making buttermilk.

I plan on checking the healthier buttermilk after 12 hours of fermentation. However, I assume that the taste will not be sufficient enough for buttermilk, and will therefore have to ferment for 24 hours total. I do not suspect that I will need to add water to this final product since skim milk is not as thick as whole milk due to lack of fat in skim milk.

Overall, I am thrilled that my initial product tasted great with modifications such as water, but I look forward to updating you all and myself on the quality of buttermilk using skim milk!

Results from my first fermentation of buttermilk

I checked the jar of buttermilk after 12 hours to see how sour or fermented the milk got. I consumed 1 tablespoon of my buttermilk, and I noticed that the buttermilk was much more viscous than when I initially poured the contents into the jar/ However, the taste was not as sour as buttermilk should be. The smell of the product had a slight sour odor, however, the taste was not as potent. I decided to let the buttermilk sit at room temperature for another 12 hours, so that total fermentation time was 24 hours.

After the 24 hour mark, I checked the milk again, by tasting of course, and noticed a dramatic difference. The buttermilk was still as viscous (almost like a yogurt), but had a liquid-like texture as well. The odor was much more sour and I could tell that the taste of buttermilk was to my liking (not too sour but sour enough). Furthermore, I compared store-bought buttermilk and my own fermented buttermilk and discovered a marked difference.

Store-bought buttermilk is significantly less viscous and much more like water and buttermilk. The odor of store-bought buttermilk is not as potent. Perhaps the water and lack of fermentation time reduces odor since not enough fermentation occurs. However, my own fermented buttermilk contained a sour smell similar to that of the taste.

I decided I would drink a glass of my buttermilk product after letting it cool in the refrigerator overnight. To reduce viscosity, and make it more drinkable, I added 10 mL of water to about  4 tablespoons of buttermilk that was in a small cup. The water did not deplete the taste as much as I thought it would, and the same sourness could be tasted in the glass. The taste was one that I was not expecting for my first try.

Updates on a taste I was not expecting

I started working on my buttermilk fermentation project earlier this week. I used the recipe from my initial post as a guide to develop this tasty dairy product. This is the process that I followed to make about 1 quart of buttermilk:

1) I needed to warm up 1 quart of whole milk to achieve room temperature. It's initial temperature out of the fridge was about 41.5 degrees Fahrenheit. So I put it on the stove until the thermometer read about 165 degree Fahrenheit.

2) After allowing the milk to warm to such a high temperature, I noticed that the texture of the milk was thicker and slightly more chunky. Also, a gooey-like layer formed on top.

3) Once the milk cooled to room temperature (70 degrees Fahrenheit), the whole milk was added to a 1 quart jar that contained 1/4 cup of buttermilk. The jar was then sealed. 

4) The jar was allowed to sit at room temperature (70 degrees Fahrenheit) for 24 hours.

Buttermilk Recipe and Getting Started

Hi everyone,

I am going try and make buttermilk for the fermentation project because I enjoy dairy products and often times drink buttermilk. Although I have never tried making my own buttermilk, I think this will be a great learning experience! Here are the ingredients I found:

1/4 cup "live culture" buttermilk
1 quart pasteurized milk

Instructions for this include:
1) Add 1/4 cup of live culture buttermilk into a quart sized jar.
2) Introduce pasteurized milk to jar until about 1/2 inch to the top.
3) Place a cover on the jar and lightly shake.
4) Then let the jar rest at room temperature for 12hrs to 24hrs ( I will try the 12hrs first) so that it can ferment.
5) Check sourness of buttermilk so that it is appropriate.
6) Place in fridge once it is done.

Website for recipe and instructions:
http://www.picklemetoo.com/