Buttermilk in English refers to either the liquid left behind after churning butter from cream or a cultured dairy drink made by adding bacteria to milk. It has two primary meanings:
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Traditional Buttermilk: This is the liquid byproduct of butter production. When cream is churned, the fat solids clump together to form butter, and the remaining liquid is buttermilk. This type of buttermilk is relatively low in fat and has a tangy flavor due to the natural lactic acid produced during the churning process.
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Cultured Buttermilk: This is the commercially available product most people are familiar with today. It's made by adding specific strains of lactic acid bacteria to pasteurized milk. These bacteria ferment the lactose (milk sugar), producing lactic acid, which gives the buttermilk its characteristic sour taste and thickens its consistency. Cultured buttermilk is not necessarily a byproduct of butter making; it's a deliberately created dairy product.
In summary, the term "buttermilk" can refer to both the original byproduct of butter production and the widely available cultured milk product.
