After making butter from cream, the liquid left behind is buttermilk, a low-fat, slightly tangy liquid containing water, proteins (casein), milk sugar (lactose), and minerals, which is excellent for baking pancakes, biscuits, and cornbread, or can be used in soups and sauces.
It's real buttermilk. If you culture the cream before making the butter, it will have a little tang, like store bought. It's tasty to drink. But it can be also used as a soup base, in any baking where you use milk, as a treat for pets, and as a liquid for stews, veggies, etc.
Buttermilk is actually a byproduct of the butter making process. It's the liquid part of the cream that is left behind when the butter solids coagulate during churning.
The stuff is the milk solids that separate from the fat once the water evaporates from the butter. They're essentially leftover protein and delicious. As kids, we would simply mix with sugar and chow down. But you can make a Tamilian sweet dish called Nei Kasandu..
What to do with all that Whey?
From enhancing your baking to making caramel, whey has endless potential!
Whey butter has a firm texture and in comparison to fresh butter types is oilier and less shiny. Whey butter varies in colour depending on the type of cheese being produced. Taste qualities include that which is luxurious, slightly cheesy and acidic, 'nutty', sweet and can be salty if salt is added.
My recommendation is to continue browning them until you have toasted butter solids. Those can be added to . . . everything. cookies, vegetables, sauces, anything where you want a little delicious browned butter flavor.
It has potential applications in animal feed, biofuel production, and as ingredients in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Ghee residue exhibits excellent antioxidant activity due to the presence of tocopherols, phospholipids, and products of browning processes.
Butter isn't that expensive — it's about $3 per pound at the wholesale level. Cream costs roughly $3.50 for 16 ounces, or less if you buy a larger carton. That means the price of making your own butter isn't much more than buying it in the store, and often you can get organic cream cheaper than organic butter.
Smooth and tangy, buttermilk only sounds decadent. In reality it is just the milk that's left behind after cream is churned into butter.
In the fridge, salted butter can last up to five months when well-wrapped and protected from air and strong odors. Most sources agree on a safe window of 3 to 5 months for fridge storage; after that, the butter might start to lose quality, but it isn't necessarily spoiled.
The water, fats, and solids in butter are an emulsion, which can break when melted and re-solidified.” If your recipe depends on butter to create air or structure, like a cake that calls for creaming butter and sugar, you'll want to start over with new butter.
Ghee and Gut Health Benefits
Butyric acid has potent anti-inflammatory effects within the digestive tract, which means ghee isn't just easier on your stomach if you're lactose intolerant - it might actually help support your digestive health. Pretty amazing for something that started life as regular butter!
Some butter types, like grass-fed and organic, have more nutrients and fewer additives. Butter can be part of a balanced diet, but some types offer more nutrients and fewer additives than others. Grass-fed, organic, and whipped butter are among the healthiest options to consider.
Ghee's high-calorie content is a ghee disadvantage.
Ghee boasts a rich taste and numerous culinary benefits, but it's important to be mindful of its high-calorie content. With around 120 calories per tablespoon, incorporating ghee into your diet requires moderation.
The typical options would be to either: drink it or use it in some sort of cooking. It doesn't take more than a second to type in buttermilk recipes to a search engine and get thousands of recipes that involve buttermilk.
Avoid pairing ghee with honey, radish, curd, fish, and acidic fruits like citrus. These combinations can lead to digestive issues, discomfort, or even potentially harmful reactions.
After the butter is melted, you will be able to see three layers. The golden middle layer is your clarified butter. The top and bottom layers are the milk solids. Skim off the milk solids that are on the top with a spoon.
Chefs' Pick for Favorite Butter
Kerrygold Unsalted Pure Irish Butter came out as the clear winner among chefs.
People avoid whey protein due to dairy allergies, lactose intolerance, potential digestive issues, concerns about heavy metal contamination, acne, or if they prefer whole foods/plant-based options, with long-term, excessive use potentially impacting kidney and liver health. It's generally unnecessary if you get enough protein from a balanced diet.
Messmör ('Whey Butter')
Messmör is a product made from whey, the part of the milk that's left over after you take all the good stuff out of it when making cheese.