How to Make Buttermilk

I shock people every time I chug a frosty glass of buttermilk, but I swear, they’re the ones who are missing out. It’s a habit I picked up after visiting a friend in Berlin many years ago, where he taught me that a glass of buttermilk was a common breakfast option along with the rolls, butter, jams, honey, deli meats, and cheeses that also made up a typical morning meal. I’ve been drinking it ever since and love its cultured dairy flavor, not at all unfamiliar to those who like to drink or eat keffir, yogurt, and other similar products.

The catch, though, is that here in the United States, most of what is sold as “buttermilk” is not real buttermilk. I still drink the supermarket stuff, but it’s not quite the same as true buttermilk, which is a byproduct of butter-making, as its name has been telling us all along. Most store-bought buttermilk is simply low-fat milk that’s been inoculated with cultures that help thicken it up and give it a characteristic tang.

Real buttermilk, on the other hand, starts with fresh cream that’s been fermented with the help of friendly bacteria into a thick cultured cream most commonly known today by its French name, crème fraîche. Once whipped past the point of no return, the crème fraîche breaks into a sloshy mix of rich, yellow butterfat floating in the liquid that remains: naturally low-fat, wonderfully tangy buttermilk.

It’s an easy thing to make at home, and is one of the only ways to get real buttermilk with fresher, brighter, and sweeter flavor compared to the fake stuff. And if you make your own crème fraîche from scratch, which is an easy thing to do (and actually requires some store-bought buttermilk to kick off the fermentation), it’s also a cost-effective way to get all three pricey products: crème fraîche, delicious cultured butter, and the best buttermilk ever.

Give it a try. I think there’s a good chance it might become a thing you chug down with relish too.