[Cheese] Buttermilk

[Peter Næslund Møller]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jack Schmidling" <arf at mc.net>
To: "The Cheese Makers' Digest" <cheese at hbd.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2007 6:56 AM
Subject: Re: [Cheese] Buttermilk


> Corina wrote:
> 
> > I make the buttermilk using milk that has been pasteurized but not 
> > homogenized (I buy it raw and pasteurize it at 145 F for 30 mins).
> 
> As far as I know, "cultured buttermilk" is made from skimmed milk, not 
> whole milk.

Yes..

> Other than that, I see nothing wrong with your process.
> 
>  > I figure the culture just grows until it has
> > turned it all into buttermilk, so it takes longer for a bigger batch?
> 
> I don't think so assuming you adjust the amount of starter.  When the pH 
> reaches 4.5, it is done.  It is important not to disturb it until that 
> point or it will/can separate.

Stirring in an unfinished batch of buttermilk slows the process down and makes the end product more liquid.. Taste etc. are not affected by this btw..  

This was a common problem when I worked at the cheese factory ( quit my job a couple of weeks ago ).. People would innoculate a 5 ton batch of skimmed milk to make a cheese starterculture and forget to turn the agitator off.. It'd take almost twice as long before the new batch of starter was ready for use..
  
> It is also agitated after this to break it up into a buttermilk-like 
> texture.
> 
> This, of course, in not really buttermilk but what the dairy industry 
> has decided we should like.  It's a good way to get rid of a lot of 
> skimmed milk.

Actually, here in Denmark the skimmed milk is not as big a problem as the cream.. At the cheese factory I worked at we processed ~3.500.000 litres of milk per week and sent ~50.000 litres of cream to a butter factory each week..

Skimmed milk, if in surplus is often spray dried and sold as ingredients for other food products etc..

/peter 
> Buttermilk is supposed to be what is left in the churn after butter is 
> made.  If the cream was cultured, we have cultured butter milk.
> 
> If you culture skimmed milk you get cultured skimmed milk but that 
> probably would not sell very well.
> 
> js
> 
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