What, NO Buttermilk?!

[Joan Simpson]

Mike & BakerAunt about the fruit grown in state I have a story for you.When our son was living in New Jersey we wanted to get some Ga.peaches to take to them.A small town not far from us has the best peaches so we went to the peach shed and bought several boxes of peaches.After we got to New Jersey my son was reading a label on the peaches and what do you know but they were from South Carolina.Well damn,I found out after we were back home that after the peaches were picked around here were gone they were getting them shipped from South Carolina.The peaches were good but I didn't know they did that.Live and learn.

[BakerAunt]

I did see fruits and vegetables from Mexico and oranges from California. Of course, California is now having some issues with citrus due to an invasive insect. My sister says it affected her lemon tree.

They do make it hard to "shop local," don't they Joan?

Florida is having an issue with "greening," which is destroying trees. My husband was hoping to bring back a dwarf tangerine or Meyer lemon tree to go with our lime tree, but the only nursery we saw that was certified not to have the greening did not have dwarf trees available in a small enough size that we could get one into the car for the trip back.

Oddly enough, we got wonderful green beans at Aldi's here in Indiana before Christmas, which were grown in Florida.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

The buttermilk culture is looking good. Because it had a cool spell last night after the fire in the wood stove burned out, I will let it continue for the full 24 hours. I'll use a plastic screw on cap and be careful not to close it too tightly.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Most places are probably like it was in So Cal - the grocery stores all receiving their produce from central warehouses some place. Here in New England the big thing is trying to bring in local produce when possible which gives better quality but is seasonal. But that's relatively recent since Whole Foods moved in and now everyone does it.

In Hartford we have a smallish hydroponics farm that produces things normally out of season year round. There is a bigger Israeli group in a town called Guilford that has a lot more acres of hydroponics but it's still only about 40 acres planning to grow to 100, I think, which is pretty small compared to even some of the smaller conventional farms in New England. But they're also hoping for greater density and higher yields.

[BakerAunt]

The first batch of buttermilk looks and smells great! It's now in the refrigerator. I'm making a second batch in another jar, so that I can always have one available while the other is culturing.

[skeptic7]

Thats great news! I screw the lid down tight once its in the refrigerator just in case it gets accidently jostled -- I don't think it needs to breathe once refrigerated.

[Mike Nolan]

I made some buttermilk, too, and let it sit out for 24 hours but it didn't get very thick. (It was in the mid to high 60's in the kitchen.) I stuck it in the fridge and I'll smell it in a day or two and see if it smells like buttermilk.

[BakerAunt]

I used some of my first jar of buttermilk today--about half the jar. I added milk to replace what I took out, and I'm now letting it warm for a couple of hours next to the wood stove. I shook the buttermilk before I used it, and it was nice and thick. I'm using it to bake another batch of Juhlknackebrod, which has become my husband's favorite, instead of crackers.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt, Congratulations on successfully culturing and using your own buttermilk!

Mike; I hope your buttermilk thickens with time. Do you think your starter was fresh enough? It just might need more time to ferment in the cooler environment. I've given buttermilk half a day longer in winter.

[BakerAunt]

Apparently the store relented: When we went shopping on Saturday, they again had several half gallons of buttermilk in the dairy section. I went ahead and bought one in order to encourage them to keep stocking it. I'll use up what I've cultured, then use it, but I may extend out what I've bought by culturing some more of my own.

[Mike Nolan]

I used about 2/3 of what I had when I made banana muffins the other day, so I replenished it. Seems like this time it got a bit thicker, but I left the container sitting by the stove while I was making the muffins, so it was in a somewhat warmer place than the first time.

Followup: I checked my buttermilk today (Monday) and it's nice and thick.

[BakerAunt]

I'm bringing up this thread again, as I've been having trouble getting buttermilk at the local grocery again this year. They do have, on and off, 1-quart containers, which of course cost more than the 2-quart jug. When I asked, the clerks shrug their shoulders and say that is what the suppliers send. I've decided, as I'm running low and it is an essential ingredient in my baking, that I need to culture my own as I did last year. My only concern is where will be a good spot to put it. Last year, I would set it on the floor near the wood stove, and that worked spectacularly. This year, however, we are not in the house and the stove is out of use until the renovation is completed. I'll have to get an idea of where in the apt. would be warm enough. I might do some baking this afternoon, so perhaps the central area of the stove would be a good spot.

One thing I noticed about this thread: how many people were posting. I feel sad that we don't see more posting activity these days.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

I just left it on the counter for a few hours.

Posting numbers may be down but overall traffic as measured by Google has remained pretty constant for the last six months. Not as high as I was hoping, but not declining, either.

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