I love buttermilk and I love to have it in the fridge all the time! Buttermilk is easy to digest, great for cooking (just made buttermilk pancakes – yum), goes well with savory food like pies and is great in salad dressing.

Traditional buttermilk was a byproduct from churning cream into butter – that’s how it got the name. Nowadays, buttermilk we buy from the shops is rather cultured low fat milk using lactic acid bacteria.

If you love buttermilk and buy it frequently, here is my easy homemade buttermilk recipe:

• To start with, you need a small carton of buttermilk – 1-2 cups and milk (I use full fat milk)
• Pour milk into a bowl
• Add buttermilk: as a rough guide use 1 cup of buttermilk to 1 litre of milk, mix well
• Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature for about 24 hours (or overnight if very hot)
• Check for consistency – once fermented it should be slightly thick and smell pleasantly sour
• Use beaters or whisk and mix for a few minutes until smooth and free of lumps
• Pour back in a clean milk plastic bottle or any container you can easily pour form.
• NOTE: if you pour the buttermilk back into original milk bottle, label it as buttermilk to avoid confusion or someone can get sour over a sour coffee!
• Store the buttermilk in the fridge – when cold it will thicken a bit more.
• When you almost have used it all, save the last cup or so and repeat the process – it’s like a bottomless jug of buttermilk!

I have repeated the same process for months using only one carton at the start. I have tried the same method with kefir and it worked.

Buttermilk keeps 2-3 weeks in the fridge, but check regularly. Make the quantity according to your consumption and it’s better to make a fresh batch more often. If you made 3 litres for instance and used more than half, pour what’s left into a smaller container.

If the buttermilk starts to smell unpleasantly sour, discard and start with a new batch form beginning.

Also, by buying organic buttermilk for a start and organic milk first every time after, you are making your own organic buttermilk – and you can save considerable amount.

Note:  To make buttermilk form scratch you need raw milk!

Please leave a comment below if you have any thoughts or further ideas on how to make homemade buttermilk.