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Buttermilk plant.

  • 10-06-2017 11:18PM
    #1
    Nekarsulm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,293 ✭✭✭✭


    Anyone here who does a lot of baking use a Buttermilk plant?

    Looking for one, but finding it hard to source.
    We had one when I was a child, but if you dont keep feeding it fresh milk it will die.


Comments

  • #2
    Shenshen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    Nekarsulm wrote: »
    Anyone here who does a lot of baking use a Buttermilk plant?

    Looking for one, but finding it hard to source.
    We had one when I was a child, but if you dont keep feeding it fresh milk it will die.

    For a moment I wondered if that was related to the infamous spaghetti tree.
    But then I googled it - it's not too dissimilar to a sourdough, is it?
    I never had the patience, I admit.


  • #3
    Nekarsulm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,293 ✭✭✭✭Nekarsulm


    The one we had looked like a lump of cauliflower head. We were milking cows at the time so there was lots of fresh milk available.
    It would easily allow you have enough buttermilk to make a couple of soda or brown loaves every day.


  • #4
    RoYoBo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 856 ✭✭✭RoYoBo


    Not a buttermilk plant, but I make my own yogurt and strain it to make really thick Greek yogurt. The remaining whey is brilliant for anything you'd use buttermilk for: bread, scones, pastry etc. It keeps in the fridge for weeks so I always have some.


  • #5
    Whistlejacket
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 241 ✭✭Whistlejacket


    Instructions on how to make one are in Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen, in https://www.amazon.co.uk/Irish-Traditional-Cooking-Irelands-Heritage/dp/0857830333

    I had a go out of curiousity a couple of summers ago and it worked perfectly well over several weeks. I just don't need to make soda bread every day so I didn't keep it going once I had satisfied my curiousity. I started with regular pasteurised cultured buttermilk to get it going. I added some raw milk after about ten days and it took off! There was a marked improvement in its activity with the raw milk.

    However (before you all go mad with the raw milk worries) I would like to add that I got the raw milk from my neighbour's dairy farm. I know him to be a really good farmer with healthy and well-minded cows and a spotless dairy so I was happy to use it for myself. I have enough animal and microbiology knowledge to be aware of the potential risks so it was a judgement call I was happy to make for myself, plus I grew up on a farm, drank raw milk as a child and still enjoy it.

    The milk plant worked fine with the pasteurised starter anyway, it was just a lot more active with the live cow cultures in it.


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