Everlasting Buttermilk

I only use buttermilk for two things: Buttermilk pancakes and Buttermilk biscuits.  I never seem to finish it all and I end up wasting it. So, I decided, instead of throwing it away, I would use my science background to keep the culture going as long as possible.

I grow cultures all the time in lab and when I need to store them, I freeze them.
I decided to see how long a buttermilk culture would survive in the freezer.  Normally for cells to survive you have to keep them extremely cold, -80 degrees or in liquid nitrogen. A household freezer is at -20 deg. C.  At this temperature cells will slowly start to die but they will survive long enough for what I need.

Step 1 Getting Started

Whats Needed:

Buttermilk
Regular milk
1Qt Mason jar with lid
Ice cube tray
Ziploc bags


To start you have to buy some buttermilk, but if you do this right, it could be the last time you ever buy it.
*Make sure it says cultured buttermilk on the carton*

Lets talk about regular milk for a second.
I use whole milk for my buttermilk. The more fat content in the milk, the thicker the buttermilk will be. 2% would probably be fine too, but I wouldn't bother with skim, it should still work though.

The culturing part is quite simple. Start with your mason jar.  Wash and rinse it well and then add about an inch of water to it and put it in the microwave for about 5 minutes. This will sterilize the jar. You can also put the jar in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.
When the microwave is done, remove the jar.

****USE OVEN MITTS, THE JAR WILL BE EXTREMELY HOT AND THE WATER WILL BE BOILING.****

Pour out the water and set down the jar. Now you could wait for the jar to cool, but instead I pour my cold milk into it.

Comments

[edel]

really good instructable and I love how you included recipes at the end..recpies that i will be trying this weekend!

[target022]

You won't be disappointed.

[aeray]

Excellent! Instructables really does need more/better fermented/cultured foods. Maybe a Guide... hmm.