Conference turris::cooks

    >What is buttermilk?
    
    The liquid remaining after milk has been churned into butter.
    
    > Is it liquid or powder?
    
    It's apparently available in both forms; see note 3631.
    
    -b

    Depends on where you're at.
    
    Here in New England buttermilk is a thick liquid - rich!.  You can buy
    the powdered buttermilk in cans at better grocery stores - I use that
    and reconsitute just enough for the recipe I'm using cuz I can't stand
    the stuff and buying it by the quart is a sure way to waste money in my
    house.
    
    BTW, my grovery store doesn't stock the powdered buttermilk in the same
    aisle as the baking goods - they have it over with the coffee, of all
    places.  So you may end up scouting around for it.  Comes in a tan and
    white can with I think a picture of a chef on the label.
    
    Hope this helps.
    
    Dana

re: .0

>    What is buttermilk?
>    
>    	Is it liquid or powder?
     
Buttermilk is normally liquid, but it is possible to buy dry buttermilk
powder as well.  The dried stuff can be handy if you only use buttermilk
occassionally for baking, or if fresh buttermilk isn't easily available
where you live.

-Hal

    
    so when you buy the powered version, and a recipe calls for 
    1/2c buttermilk.....what do I d?  Do you mix it with water??
    

re: .4

>    so when you buy the powered version, and a recipe calls for 
>    1/2c buttermilk.....what do I d?  Do you mix it with water??
    
You can do that.  I've only used it to make bread, and I've just added
the powder with the dry ingredients and added the water with the liquid
ingredients.

-Hal

    Is the taste or some chemical factor that makes buttermilk an
    ingredient for bread?  Or anything else, for that matter.  How does it
    taste?  Is it easier or harder to digest than regular milk?  Is it as
    high in calcium?

    Well, it tastes good - as an ingredient; I never could figure out how
    anyone could drink it as a beverage, but I don't even like regular
    milk.  Buttermilk is sort of acidic.  It is good in baked goods, or in
    things that you are going to dip into milk to make breading adhere to
    them before cooking (fried chicken or fish).  If you don't have any
    around, you can usually get away with souring regular milk by adding a
    bit of lemon juice to it and letting it sit while you get out the rest
    of the ingredients you need.  I often do that since I don't use
    buttermilk often enough to use up a whole quart of it before it goes
    bad.  I've never tried the powdered kind; I only discovered that it
    existed fairly recently.  I don't know about the digestibility or
    calcium content of the stuff, either - you might check a big cookbook
    for that sort of info.
    
    /Charlotte

    I like buttermilk.  I like to drink it "a lot".  But I do not care for
    the buttermilk that you can buy in the market today.  So when I do want
    some buttermilk, I will buy a quart of it from the market and then make
    my grandmothers recipe for "HOME-MADE BUTTERMILK". Of course, I will
    drink the remaining bought buttermilk, but my preference is for the
    home-made. What she did was make a quart of instant powdered milk. 
    Then she would take one-cup of leftover buttermilk and pour it into the
    instant milk.  She would let it sit overnight - unrefrigerated.   In
    the morning, she would stir it up and put it in the refrigerator to get
    cold.    This is the best-tasting buttermilk I have ever had and I much
    prefer this to the market buttermilk since it isn't SOOOOO thick.

    You can make the best cornbread ever, with it.  Also great corn
    muffins, muffins that do not get hard... but stay moist and fresh for a
    few days.
    
    ana