Cathy Katin-Grazzini
Cathy's Kitchen Prescription LLC
www.cathyskitchenprescription.com
 
A Better Buttermilk
 
In the era before dairy products were processed and mass-produced buttermilk was the liquid left over when cultured cream was churned into butter. Modern commercial producers typically culture pasteurized milk, adding salt and thickeners.
 
This plant-based buttermilk ferments minimally processed soymilk with live cultures, rich in lactobacilli and other beneficial bacteria. The result is heavenly: thick, rich, and creamy and without any additives or thickeners.  Enjoy this better buttermilk in salad dressings, in batters for griddle cakes, buffalo’ed vegetables, biscuits, and fritters, and in baked cakes, muffins, fruit buckles -- any baked goods requiring buttermilk’s lactic acid to activate baking soda to leaven it.
 
Hint:  No time to wait for this better buttermilk? You won’t bet the taste or texture, but you can activate baking soda by acidulating soy (or another plant-based milk) with acids like vinegar or lemon juice.
 
Prep time 5 minutes
Culture time about 4 hours
Makes 1 cup
 
1 cup minimally processed soymilk, either homemade or simply using organic soybeans and water.
 
2 capsules ultra-strength, broad-spectrum probiotics, each with a minimum of 40 billion colony forming units (CFU) per capsule
 
Pour the soymilk into a jar. Open the probiotic capsules and stir into the soymilk. Cover tightly and shake for a minute to disperse and dissolve the cultures into the milk. Set in a warm corner or shaded spot outdoors where the temperature can be maintained at a steady 85-100°F.  Note: Heating beyond this temp risks killing the microorganisms.
 
Check at 3 hours. Shake the jar and open it to test its thickness and taste. It may require another hour or perhaps more, depending on the ambient temperature. The buttermilk is ready when it has developed a viscosity that is thicker than whipping cream but thinner than yogurt and the taste is rich with a scarcely perceptible tang.