Buttermilk prepared in traditional way is considered beneficial to health as it contains probiotic microbes and is sometimes referred to as "Grandma's probiotic". It is also soothing to stomach and skin. The fat content of buttermilk is far lower than milk or curd as fat is removed during churning. The probiotic nature of buttermilk is beneficial to the gut and improves immunity when taken regularly.


About ButterMilk


Buttermilk refers to a number of dairy drinks. Originally, buttermilk was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream. This type of buttermilk is known as traditional buttermilk.
The term buttermilk also refers to a range of fermented milk drinks, common in warm climates (e.g., the Middle East, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Srilanka and the Southern United States) where unrefrigerated fresh milk sours quickly,[1] as well as in colder climates, such as Scandinavia, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. This fermented dairy product known as cultured buttermilk is produced from cow's milk and has a characteristically sour taste caused by lactic acid bacteria. This variant is made using one of two species of bacteria—either Streptococcus lactis or Lactobacillus bulgaricus, which creates more tartness.
The tartness of buttermilk is due to acid in the milk. The increased acidity is primarily due to lactic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria while fermenting lactose, the primary sugar in milk. As the bacteria produce lactic acid, the pH of the milk decreases andcasein, the primary milk protein, precipitates, causing the curdling or clabbering of milk. This process makes buttermilk thicker than plain milk. While both traditional and cultured buttermilk contain lactic acid, traditional buttermilk tends to be less viscous, whereas cultured buttermilk is more viscous.
Buttermilk can be drunk straight, and it can also be used in cooking. Soda bread is a bread in which buttermilk reacts with the rising agent, sodium bicarbonate, to produce carbon dioxide.


In India Butter Milk is served as a welcoming Drink as a Thirst Quencher.There ingredients like Ginger,Curry leaf,Coriander Leaf,Salt,Roasted Cumin Powder,Green Chillies are added to the butter milk to give it a salty spicy taste.These ingredients are not only for taste but also has the medicinal properties which helps in relieving stomach acid indigestion and cool the body.

Butter Milk can be done in two ways,Easy method and hard Method.

Easy Method:


Ingredients:


  • Yogurt - 1/4 cup
  • Water - 3 cups
  • Salt - as needed
  • Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Green Chillies - 1 slit lengthwise,if u want more hot dice them
  • Curry Leaf - 5 leaves chopped finely
  • Coriander Leaf - 3 tbsp  Chopped Finely
  • Ginger - 1/2 " Chopped Finely
  • Lemon (optional - if your butter milk is not sour enough) - 1 tbsp


Method:

Mix all ingredients  in a pitcher and serve them .Dont need to chill them,serve as is.




Hard Method:

First we need to make yogurt for this method.

To make Yogurt:

Ingredients:


Good Yogurt - 1 cup at Room temperature
Milk - 1 Gallon

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degree and then switch off.Do this at the beginning ,so when you are ready to place milk in oven to form yogurt,it will become cool enough.
2.Now pour Milk in a big pan and let it starts to boil.
3.Let it rest on stove top and get cool ,don't cover(If you cover ,a layer of skin will form on top of milk).
4.When its cool enough ,if you dip your finger in milk it should be warm but not cool or hot.
5.Now whisk  yogurt with milk completely and switch on the oven light and place the milk covered inside oven near light ,Let it sit for 3 hours.
6.At this stage Yogurt must have formed.
7.Now take a big vessel to hold a sieve and place muslin cloth on top of the sieve and pour the entire yogurt on top and put this in refrigerator overnight.
8.Next day if you see the yogurt what you get on top of sieve will be very thick like greek yogurt.
and the vessel below will  have just water,this water is used as butter milk.Then add the ingredients listed on top to make salty spicy butter milk(If you like little matter add a tablespoon or two of plain yogurt to the butter milk water)


Tip:


1) When ever i make yogurt i filter it and get butter milk and then add spices to make the drink
Other than that i will use easy method to do the butter milk.