# where to find/how to make REAL "churn" buttermilk?



## Doc

I can't find the real thing. All that is in the food stores are cultured (Yick) products. In NC it is against the law to sell raw milk, but I do know a dairy or two that might be persuaded to barter or even give me some.

Question is: how do I make the real thing from the raw milk?

What are VA and SC laws about this -- does anyone know?
Thanks.


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## Elsbet

In SC we have a few places that sell raw milk, Whole Foods in Greenville included. I think we must have more lenient laws than NC? Bee Well Farm Market in Pickens also sells raw milk. http://www.beewellhoneyfarm.com/ The Bee Well market is so neat- they have everything. My husband and I love going up there. So I think if you cross the border into SC and it isn't too far to drive, you'd have less of a problem finding raw milk, sold legally.
The other thing we've been considering is possibly trying to buy a share of a cow so that I have a steady supply of milk. Then you "own" the cow, so the milk is already yours to do what you wish with, no worries about laws governing the milk that is sold.
As far as making the buttermilk, I can't help you. I'm just starting out to learn all this stuff, too.


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## suzyhomemaker09

If you're not looking for cultured buttermilk you'd need to separate the cream from the milk, make butter, and then the left over liquid would be your buttermilk.
No real clue what you find offensive in cultured buttermilk.


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## Doc

Offensive? How about tasteless. Pure watered down milk. Read buttermilk can stand on its on.

Elsbet: any place near Spartanburg?


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## Elsbet

I don't know that area well, I'm almost never up that way. Check the Real Milk website- http://www.realmilk.com/ This is a pretty neat site, lots of information on milk and where to get it.


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## gone-a-milkin

To make 'churn buttermilk' get ahold of some whole milk., skim off the cream, shake up the cream 'til the butter comes...the liquid left after making butter is buttermilk. 

You can buy whipping cream at the store and make butter from it...


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## suzyhomemaker09

*shrugs*

I culture my fresh goats milk to make buttermilk...
It makes a nice creamy buttermilk that I love to use for cooking....
I don't care for the taste or texture of buttermilk myself but nothing beats the taste of a good buttermilk biscuit.
It would take massive amounts of cream to come up with enough buttermilk the way it's being discussed.


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## Happyhomemama

I'm with Suzy. Homemade, cultured buttermilk is thick and tangy and wonderful. The buttermilk that is left over from butter making is, um..., I don't know, kinda creamy and runny, I haven't found anything I like to use it in. I find it hard to imagine that is what you what but what do I know.:shrug: As with a lot of other things homemade, cultured buttermilk is not comparable to store bought cultured buttermilk.

Deanna in WA


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## backachersfarm

I've never tried any cultured buttermilk I cared for. My mom used to stuff hers full of cornbread. I can't figure out what to do with the milk left over after making butter so I just feed it to the chickens. same with the whey I have after making cheese. I use some of it for making bread and the chickens drink some of it. We have our own cow so we always have fresh milk.


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## NCLee

Real buttermilk -- It's been years since my Mom made it, but this is what I remember. 

She used an old fashioned crock - butter churn with a wooden dasher. Dasher was a wooden rod with an x shaped piece attached to the bottom. The rod extended through a hole in the lid of the crock.

To start a batch of buttermilk, she'd fill the churn with milk straight from the cow. She didn't separate the cream from the milk. She'd let it sit until it clabbered. Then she'd churn it until the butter separated. 

She removed the butter clumps. Washed them to remove the whey. Used a butter paddle to make sure all the liquid was removed before she put the butter into her butter mold. Oh, -- she added salt to taste. Removed the butter from the mold, wrapped it in waxed paper and put it into the ice box (later, the refrigerator.)

What was left in the churn was buttermilk. The real thing!

Her buttermilk was thick, creamy, and had that real buttermilk twang that the stuff from the stores just can't duplicate. We often crumbled southern style cornbread in it and ate it with a spoon. Ice cold, it was the perfect beverage to go with turnip greens or collards for dinner (lunch, since we ate "supper").

Her butter had flavor, too. Not like the bland stuff marketed as "real butter", today. I'd give almost anything to be able to eat one of her homemade biscuits filled with her butter. Or to drink a glass of her buttermilk. 

Thank you, Mom, for giving me those memories.

Lee

Edit: I still have her churn, dasher, and butter mold.


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## gone-a-milkin

NCLee, what kid of cow did she have? What a sweet story.  It sounds like you have the tools you need if you decide to make your own butter...


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## NCLee

I don't remember the types of cows, if I ever knew. Mom stopped making butter when I was about 14 or so. She had two cows. One was a cream or light yellow in color, named Bessy, if I remember correctly. The other was a dark brown cow, named "Brownie", naturally. 

Yes, I was fortunate to get some of her butter making equipment, after I got married. Based on what I remember and what I'm reading about current homemade butter, I should be able to make some much like hers. Getting the raw milk would be the problem, since we don't have cows. (sigh). The only cattle grown around here, now, is beef. There's 3 operations within a few miles of us.

Lee


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## francismilker

Silly question> How do I get homemade cultured buttermilk. Personally, the family and I don't like the ol' fashioned stuff. When we get through churning butter, we don't like the stuff that's left in the churn. It seems to be watery whey that has no flavor. I like the stuff that comes out of a buttermilk jug from the store that has the smooth twang and mixes well in recipes. 
Do you have to put some kind of culture in the milk?


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## suzyhomemaker09

Just mix some buttermilk from the store into some fresh milk form your farm...leave it sitting on the counter overnight and there you have freshly cultured buttermilk.
I usually use 1/2 cup culture in a 1 quart jar, top off with fresh milk.


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## francismilker

suyzhomemaker,
Do you mix store bought stuff in with the remains of making butter, leave out overnight, and then drink? And, once you've made your cultured milk, are you saying to just reserve half a cup of the stuff you made as a "starter" culture for future batches and so on and so forth. So, if I get this right, never totally empty your buttermilk jug. Just add fresh buttermilk to it and then pull it out of the fridge and set it on the counter overnight for a fresh batch. 

I notice you said you're mixing culture with fresh milk. Is that "fresh whole milk" or "fresh butter milk"? 

Sorry for so many novice questions, it's just that I should've paid more attention to grandma back when I knew everything.....


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## suzyhomemaker09

No need to be sorry for ever asking a question.... 

To clarify, I have goats that I milk for all of our milk needs, I'm a huge fan of raw milk so I don't pasteurize ours at all.
I use our fresh milk and add a bit of cultured buttermilk that I've purchased.
I store my milk in glass mason type jars so that's what I use when I do buttermilk. It sits on the countertop overnight at least..sometimes a bit longer if it's been cooler or the milk just doesn't get to looking like I think it should. My peference is that the milk will be rather thick and cling to the sides of the jar.
As we've had much discussion on milk storage in the different sections and not knowing if you've seen any...it is the general consensus that storing milk in plastic is a bad thing...containers that come from the store are fine for single use but can never really be cleaned and sterile for re-use.
As far as what type of buttermilk I use when I purchase from the store....I've used it all and any seems to work as well as the other. Much the way you can use low fat plain yogurt to culture your own.


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## francismilker

Thanks for the info suzy. I'll give it a try.


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## whitewolf

SOOOOOOOOOO....the agreement is that the buttermilk we remembered as children did not come from the milk left over from churning the butter. That makes me feel better because I have tried alllllll kinds of things to make that stuff thicker...... Anyway, I have used cultured buttermilk and added it to my fresh milk and made good, thick, tangy buttermilk. However, I have also had it to get thick and "slimy" (yuk!). Can someone tell me why it does that. I do it the same way each time, but 1/2 the time it is "slimy"? Any help would be greatly appreciated. FYI, I have a Jersey milk cow. Thanks.


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