Saturday, April 16, 2011

"Fake" Buttermilk - Never Buy Buttermilk Again!

What I am about to say may seem absolutely radical. 

Buttermilk isn't milk that's one churn away from being butter.  It's actually the leftover liquid that remains after butter has been made (kinda gross).  It's sour and it does contain a few specks of butter from the processing. 

I don't normally hear of people kicking back with a nice, cold glass of buttermilk.  Most of the time it's used in baking recipes, and that's when I find myself running to the store for that "special" ingredient that I don't normally have on hand in your fridge.  Plus, I have never used the entire quart of buttermilk and usually end up throwing the rest away.  Totally wasteful.  Not anymore!

To make Fake Buttermilk, simply mix:

1 Tablespoon White Vinegar or Lemon Juice
1 Cup Whole Milk

Let it sit for 5 minutes....and voila!  You have "Buttermilk" ready to use in recipes like Fake Pillsbury Biscuits!


Now let's do the Fake-It Yourself Breakdown:Fake Buttermilk
1 Cup Milk $0.17 (1 Gallon Aldi Milk $2.80),
Total Fake-It Yourself Cost $0.17

Compare to Grocery Store Brand Buttermilk $1.69 Quart
Use 1 Cup and probably waste the rest.
Total Fake-It Yourself Savings $0.99

Not the biggest savings, true, but I saved a trip to the grocery store (gasoline & temptations) and I wasn't wasteful.

9 comments:

  1. I have used this trick for years when I am out of buttermilk. Got it from an old country Church cookbook. Works great!

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  2. Would this work with skim milk? or 1%?

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  3. Yes, I believe it would work on any kind of milk. The idea is to get it to separate a bit. Cheers!

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  4. Actually the stuff you can buy at the store is not real buttermilk either... they are just faking it too. Basically, doing the same thing you are doing.

    ** Thanks for the recipes I am excited to try out your windex...on my windows.

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  5. Our Aldi's milk is $1.99, sorry to hear about yours! However, I've been using this recipe for years!

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  6. i grew up using this fake buttermilk, and it's pretty good. but you can actually culture your own buttermilk, which is WAY better. just take a cup of milk, add 1 TBS of existing buttermilk. shake well (i use a mason jar) and let sit out overnight. in the morning you'll have buttermilk. yes, you have to plan ahead a smidge, but the end result is WAY better. :) i didn't realize it was better until i ran out of cultured once and switched back to the fake stuff. the rising quality doesn't compare.

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  7. Thanks for the idea!! I live in Maine and a gallon of milk is 4 bucks!!

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  8. I grew up with making buttermilk to drink, however what you have made in your recipe is "Sour Milk" not buttermilk.
    For Buttermilk to drink and cook with you use either Nido full fat milk or Nonfat Dry milk powder and mix according to directions.
    Let come to room temp, land then buy some buttermilk with live active cultures in (much like making yogurt) and add a cup to about 1/2 gal. or more of milk, let set out at room temp over night in a large bowl stirring at time of adding the cup of butter milk, the next day 24 hours later you have cultured butter milk to drink or cook with, Refrigerate when buttermilk is cultured.

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  9. How wrong is this...almost everyone I know loves a cold glass of thick buttermilk. I buy it weekly as does my family and most of my friends.

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