was originally the liquid squeezed out when cream was churned to make butter. In composition it resembled a light, skimmed milk; but it was also mildly sour as a result of the ‘ripening’ of the cream to make butter.
Buttermilk was drunk in N. Europe throughout the Middle Ages; and in Britain it was for many centuries a ‘perk’ of shepherds and dairymaids. In the 17th century, and on into the 18th, both buttermilk and whey became fashionable city drinks (being drunk by the diarist Pepys, for instance, in 1664).
In recent times, after a long period when buttermilk was in low esteem, more people have come to regard it as a healthful alternative to ordinary milk, having much less fat. Its slightly sour taste is seen as an attraction: less cloying than whole milk and more interesting than plain skimmed milk.
If buttermilk is strained, it yields some curds which are put to various uses in e.g. C. Asia, the Middle East, and Scandinavia. See kashk. In the Netherlands buttermilk is hung up in a cloth until all the whey has drained, and then eaten on a rusk with sugar and cinnamon. This is called hangop.
Meanwhile, however, much of the available buttermilk had come to be used for making into other food products and was no longer available for sale as buttermilk. What is now sold as ‘cultured buttermilk’ is actually ordinary skimmed milk which has been slightly fermented with cultures of the same organisms as those which ‘ripen’ the cream for butter. Subsequently, it is heat treated to kill the bacteria and stop fermentation, so it cannot be used for any purposes which require ‘live’ buttermilk, although it is perfectly effective in many recipes, e.g. for making scones.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
