What is buttermilk?
A: Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink.
Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after
what?
A: Churning butter out of cultured cream.
Most modern butter is not made with cultured cream but
what?
A: Uncultured sweet cream, most modern buttermilk is cultured separately.
It is common in warm climates where what happens?
A: Unrefrigerated fresh milk sours quickly.
Buttermilk can be drunk straight, and it can also be
used in what?
A: Cooking.
In making soda bread, the acid in buttermilk reacts
with the raising agent, sodium bicarbonate, to do what?
A: To produce carbon dioxide which acts as the leavening agent.
Buttermilk is also used in marination, especially of
what?
A: Chicken and pork.
Traditionally, before the advent of homogenization, the
milk was left to sit for a period of time to allow what?
A: To allow the cream and milk to separate.
During this time, naturally occurring lactic
acid-producing bacteria in the milk did what?
A: Fermented it.
Why does this facilitate the butter churning process?
A: Because fat from cream with a lower pH coalesces more readily than that
of fresh cream.
The acidic environment also helps prevent what?
A: Potentially harmful microorganisms from growing, increasing shelf life.
Traditional buttermilk is still common in many Arabic,
Indian, Nepalese, Pakistani, Finnish, Polish, and Dutch households, but
rarely found in what?
A: Other Western countries.
It is a common drink in many Indian and Nepalese homes,
and often served with what?
A: Roasted maize.
In the Arab world, buttermilk is a common beverage to
be sold how?
A: Ice cold with other dairy products.
It is popular during what?
A: Ramadan, where it is consumed during iftar and suhur.
When was cultured buttermilk first commercially
introduced in the United States?
A: In the 1920s.
The tartness of cultured buttermilk is primarily due to
what?
A: Lactic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria while fermenting lactose,
the primary sugar in milk.
As the bacteria produce lactic acid, the pH of the milk
decreases and casein, the primary milk protein, precipitates, causing what?
A: The curdling or clabbering of milk.
This process makes buttermilk what?
A: Thicker than plain milk.
When introduced in America, cultured buttermilk was
popular among whom?
A: Immigrants and was viewed as a
food that could slow aging.
When did it reach peak annual sales of 517,000,000 kg
(1.14 billion lbs.)?
A: In 1960.
Condensed buttermilk and dried buttermilk remain
important in what?
A: The food industry.
Where is liquid buttermilk primarily used?
A: In the commercial preparation of baked goods and
cheese.
Buttermilk solids are used in
ice cream manufacturing,
as well as being added to what?
A: Pancake mixes to make buttermilk pancakes.
Acidified buttermilk is a substitute made by doing
what?
A: Adding a food-grade acid such as vinegar or lemon juice to milk.
How can it be made?
A: By mixing 1 tablespoon (0.5 US fluid ounces, 15 ml) of acid with 1 cup (8
US fluid ounces, 240 ml) of milk and letting it sit until it curdles after
about 10 minutes.
Any level of fat content for the milk ingredient may be
used, but whole milk is usually used for what?
A: Baking.
In the process to make paneer, the acidification is
done in the presence of what?
A: Heat.
Commercially produced buttermilk is comparable to
regular milk in terms of what?
A: Food energy and fat.