Homemade buttermilk for soaping

[seven]

I wanna try making soap with buttermilk, but alas we dont have the bloody thing in here. Was wondering if i can make my own using milk and lemon juice and use it for soaping?

Anyone tried self made buttermilk for soap?

 

[lsg]

I would hesitate to use lemon to curdle the milk. Too much lemon might interfere with the lye action. Do you have dried buttermilk? You can also use yogurt.

 

[seven]

That's what i'm afraid of, the acidic nature from the lemon. Dried buttermilk? Nope nothing, nil. I think i'll try yoghurt instead. Thanks.

 

[Obsidian]

Buttermilk and sourmilk are different. You can get some cream and churn it, once the butter has formed, what is left is buttermilk. Traditionally, the cream was allowed to ferment for awhile. A glass full left on the counter overnight would probably be enough.

 

[coffeetime]

If it's raw cream you can leave it out to culture, but I wouldn't with pasteurized. Pasteurized has had all the good bacteria killed.

 

[CCa1892]

I wanna try making soap with buttermilk, but alas we dont have the bloody thing in here. Was wondering if i can make my own using milk and lemon juice and use it for soaping?

Anyone tried self made buttermilk for soap?

I used an internet recipe to make my own buttermilk using fresh lemon, but it is aged a week or two before soaping. I fill a wide mouth quart Mason jar with milk (used many kinds of milk), then squeezed half a lemon into it and stir. Instead of capping it, cover with clean cheese cloth than tighten the band to hold the cloth in place. It sits on the counter for 2 days> stir each day, then replace the cheese cloth with a cap then band. Give it a good shake everyday because it does separate. I soaped with it after 2 weeks....worked out beautifully!

I made a really nice creamy, bubbly soap using about 4-5 oz (measured in grams actually)that was stick blended into the oils. I portioned out enough for two natural (herbal) colors, and used an oat flour slurry to anchor my eo's. Seven months later my remaining bar is till creamy white, and holding it's scent.

 

[Lin]

Buttermilk and sourmilk are different. You can get some cream and churn it, once the butter has formed, what is left is buttermilk. Traditionally, the cream was allowed to ferment for awhile. A glass full left on the counter overnight would probably be enough.

Thats what real buttermilk is, but whats sold in the stores as buttermilk and called for in recipes is cultured milk. When a cooking recipe calls for buttermilk you can 'make' it by adding lemon juice to milk.

 

[new12soap]

Thats what real buttermilk is, but whats sold in the stores as buttermilk and called for in recipes is cultured milk. When a cooking recipe calls for buttermilk you can 'make' it by adding lemon juice to milk.

Correct, liquid buttermilk is just cultured, like yogurt. The powdered stuff tho is actually the real thing.

 

[robnbill]

For holidays I usually make my own butter. I take a quart of heavy cream and whip it in my stand blender. First it makes whipped cream and you keep whipping it and it eventually becomes butter with a thin liquid milk (the butter milk) that precipitates out. Usually around 10-15 minutes of whipping. This is not cultured butter or the same thick sour milk as cultured buttermilk since as coffeetime mentioned, the quarts of heavy cream available through our grocery stores are all pasteurized and will not culture. That does not keep it from making great butter and the remaining milk is still buttermilk but it is sweet rather than sour.

It could still be used for making soap, not sure what the difference would be between using it and a cultured buttermilk. It would be an interesting experiment. FYI, butter usually is about half of the volume in heavy cream, so you make about a pint from a quart of cream.

When I was a kid I do remember my grandmother taking whole milk which was unpasteurized since we got it straight from our cow, letting it sour, then churning it until it made butter. That would result in the sour buttermilk. Unfortunately pasteurized cream will not get there.

Adding lemon juice to regular milk just makes soured milk. It would curdle the milk, cause the casein to precipitate and is used when making ricotta cheese but it is not buttermilk. Hope this helps.

Bill

 

[Lin]

Fresh butter and whipped cream are awesome, I love making them. Once I started making fresh whipped cream I never bought it.

Butter is super easy, but it's also important to rinse your butter so it stays fresh in the fridge.

 

[seven]

Thanks guys, i am gonna try one more time to find a real buttermilk in a couple of grocery stores that sell lotsa imported goods. If i cant find it then i'm gonna make my own.

 

[CCa1892]

For holidays I usually make my own butter. I take a quart of heavy cream and whip it in my stand blender. First it makes whipped cream and you keep whipping it and it eventually becomes butter with a thin liquid milk (the butter milk) that precipitates out. Usually around 10-15 minutes of whipping. This is not cultured butter or the same thick sour milk as cultured buttermilk since as coffeetime mentioned, the quarts of heavy cream available through our grocery stores are all pasteurized and will not culture. That does not keep it from making great butter and the remaining milk is still buttermilk but it is sweet rather than sour.

It could still be used for making soap, not sure what the difference would be between using it and a cultured buttermilk. It would be an interesting experiment. FYI, butter usually is about half of the volume in heavy cream, so you make about a pint from a quart of cream.

When I was a kid I do remember my grandmother taking whole milk which was unpasteurized since we got it straight from our cow, letting it sour, then churning it until it made butter. That would result in the sour buttermilk. Unfortunately pasteurized cream will not get there.

Adding lemon juice to regular milk just makes soured milk. It would curdle the milk, cause the casein to precipitate and is used when making ricotta cheese but it is not buttermilk. Hope this helps.

Bill

Thank you for the great explanation from first hand experience! I knew that the Internet recipe for buttermilk was actually soured milk, but it was the only recipe I found. I wish there was a way to make true homemade buttermilk... When I was a little kid, I accidentally made homemade butter, by over whipping heavy cream (we used the butter). I just might try it again, great idea!

 

[ca_soap]

We must first ask why we want to add buttermilk to our soap, what added properties do we expect to gain from it? When we look at it in that light we get our answer. When we use substitutes for cooking, such as adding lemon to milk, it doesn't change the properties of the milk, people most often do this for nothing more than mere taste and flavor. With soap we aren't ingesting it, we are washing with it, if the benefit isn't in the product already, simply sitting it on the counter to change its appearance/smell isn't going to change the beneficial properties of our soap but rather if it is going to change anything it will most likely just be the appearance/smell. Buttermilk should be readily available at just about any grocery store and if that isn't an option they make powdered buttermilk, just like they make powdered goats milk, and you can order those online if they are not available locally. Are they as good as the fresh, raw, product? Not at all, but they will have the nutrients, or at least the majority of the nutrients, the fresh raw product have.

 

[seven]

well, believe it or not, we don't have buttermilk here, at all. not fresh, not powder. to order online for powdered buttermilk and pay hefty shipping seems a bit too much for me.

 

[ca_soap]

Where are you at where there is no buttermilk to be found? I need to know because I couldn't live there.....lol. I not only cook with it but drink it as well.

 

[neeners]

if you can get a hold of raw milk, you can make your own buttermilk. this recipe is courtesy of Little Bits N' Pieces Farm:

To start your culture to make the buttermilk;
1) Allow a cup of filtered fresh raw milk to sit covered at room temperature until it has clabbered (usually 24-48 hours).

2) Place 1/4 cup of the clabbered (thickened) milk in a pint mason jar, add a cup of fresh milk (does not have to be raw at this point), cover, shake to mix, allow to sit at room temperature until clabbered.

3) Repeat this transfer of sub-culturing several more times until the milk dependably clabbers in 24 hours. Taste a small amount to confirm that it is tart, thickened, and has no off flavors. It should taste tart not bitter, for instance.

4) To then make a quart of buttermilk with this culture, add 6 ounces of the buttermilk to a quart jar, fill with fresh milk, cover, shake to mix, allow to sit at room temperature until clabbered.

5) Refrigerate.

Now, when you have a quart of buttermilk, add that to a gallon of fresh whole milk, let it sit until it thickens enough, usually 24 hours if the buttermilk is fresh, now you have 5 quarts of buttermilk. Generally, you add one part of your buttermilk to 4 parts milk.

 

[seven]

ca_soap, i am in indonesia. and although there are grocery stores that sell imported goods, buttermilk is no where to be found i even tried a baking shop and the attendant flat out told me to make my own using milk and lemon juice, lol


neeners.. thanks so much. i will try that method one day. for now, i will have to do with 'fake' buttermilks aka yoghurt with milk or milk with cream of tartar.

 

[ca_soap]

Oh wow, I didn't realize you weren't here in the U.S. Now I know why shipping would be outrageous as well. We are going to have to start a drive to get Buttermilk to you!

 

[soap_rat]

Buttermilk is often called for in recipes because of the acidity it brings, usually for making a chemical reaction with a basic ingredient like baking soda. The adding-lemon-to-milk is not done to make it taste sour, (unless you're about to drink it) but to allow it to create the right chemical reaction in baking.

I am in the US and could get almost any form of buttermilk if I wanted it, but I haven't run across any info that makes it seem like a magic ingredient in soap above all others. I think I'd just play around with the ingredients I could find and see if I liked the soaps they make.