Buttermilk substitute

Don,

Buttermilk is the liquid that's left when you churn the fat out of milk to make butter. So no, it can't be "made" at home unless you're goign to churn butter from fresh milk! (The buttermilk we buy in stores is a cultured, commercially produced product.)

BUT you can make a buttermilk substitute to use in recipes where buttermilk is required for its rising properties--e.g., cake batters, quick breads, pancake mixes, etc. It does not taste anything like buttermilk and won't work when you need the flavor of buttermilk (like to drink, or in soups).

To make buttermilk substitute, just add vinegar or lemon juice to milk. Recipes sometimes specify to put a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup, then fill the cup with milk to the 1-cup mark. For a cake recipe I recently made that called for 1/4 cup of buttermilk, I substituted a scant 1/4 cup of milk + 1 teaspoon of vinegar. It worked fine.

Susan