Can I soak grains in old fashion buttermilk?

[*Karen*]

Or does it have to be cultured? Can I let the old fashion sit out to culture? Where I get my raw milk will sell me buttermilk for $1 a quart, but it isn't cultured. Can I use it for something?

[onetrumpeter]

Originally Posted by *Karen*

Or does it have to be cultured? Can I let the old fashion sit out to culture? Where I get my raw milk will sell me buttermilk for $1 a quart, but it isn't cultured. Can I use it for something?

Hmmmm... I'm very inexperienced so take my ideas w/ a grain of salt

I would *think* that as long as the buttermilk hasn't been pasteurized that you could culture it on your own. Perhaps the buttermilk they're selling is just the remaining milk from the making of the butter that they've kept chilled? Like the butter wasn't cultured, so consequently the buttermilk wasn't cultured, but you can probably let it sit out and do its thing?!

Looking forward to others' ideas! Just looked - our farmer also sells uncultured buttermilk - but for 2.90/half gallon. I'd give it a try if I were you!

[rhiandmoi]

To soak the grains you just need an acid, which the old fashioned buttermilk is.

[*Karen*]

Rock on! Thanks!

[*Karen*]

Bumping this, because I have the sweet cream buttermilk now. I can't seem to find anyone else who has actually let this sit out and culture. Can it still culture since it isn't the whole cream product? It seems like if it could that way more people would do this, no? If I do soak in this sweet cream buttermilk, do I leave it in the fridge? Thanks for you help!

[rhiandmoi]

Originally Posted by *Karen*

Bumping this, because I have the sweet cream buttermilk now. I can't seem to find anyone else who has actually let this sit out and culture. Can it still culture since it isn't the whole cream product? It seems like if it could that way more people would do this, no? If I do soak in this sweet cream buttermilk, do I leave it in the fridge? Thanks for you help!

You should be able to culture the buttermilk since it still has all the enzymes and natural bacteria of the milk, but I don't think you need to. When you taste it is it sour? If it is noticeably sour or tangy, then it is already fermented and I think should be refrigerated. If it is not tangy yet then you could probably experiment with leaving some of it overnight in a warm spot in the kitchen to allow the fermentation to occur. This should happen in a few hours, so probably this was done at the dairy when they skimmed off the butter.

[*Karen*]

I soaked flour in it last night in the fridge to make pancakes. They were amazing! I will just stick with keeping it in the fridge. Thanks.

[wife2jason]

My understanding is if your goal is to break down phytic acid, you have to soak at room temp with acid medium...dairy products must be cultured to count.

Even skim milk can be cultured (as in adding buttermilk or yogurt starter to it) so I'd assue you'd be able to culture what you have. I have bought cultured buttermilk from the store to start my own buttermilk at home. Not a perfect solution but it worked:
http://raisingolives.com/2009/03/hom...lk-and-yogurt/

Soaking source:
http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/...g-soaking.html

How to Soak
1. The first stage of preparation is to soak the whole grain flour in an acid medium and liquid. The basic idea is to soak all the flour with the liquid ingredients and 1 Tbsp of an acid medium per cup of water called for in the recipe.

Acid mediums options include: cultured buttermilk, kefir, cultured yogurt, whey, lemon juice or vinegar. Dairy product acid mediums must be cultured!
- Brown rice, buckwheat, and millet do not have as high of phytate content and thus need only be soaked for 7 hours (these are great last minute grains if you forget to soak, won’t be a big problem – also recommend purchasing brown rice pasta for this reason as well)

-All other grains (whole wheat, spelt, kamut, oats, etc) should be soaked from 12-24 hours, with oats have the highest level and best soaked for 24 hours.

2. Leave your grains soaking at room temperature on your counter. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, or with a plate to prevent it from drying out (especially in the case of a dough). After soaking, you add the remaining ingredients, if required, and proceed with recipe!

[*Karen*]

Huh, I hadn't thought of trying to culture it that way. That I could try!

[rhiandmoi]

My understanding is if your goal is to break down phytic acid, you have to soak at room temp with acid medium...dairy products must be cultured to count.

Old Fashioned Buttermilk is acidic. It is I think usually called fermented vs cultured though. There are bacteria eating the milk sugars anyway.

[athenalove46]

I had this question a while back and while reading through my NT book she actually uses old-fashioned buttermilk to soak the grains in her recipes. I get the old fashioned where I get my milk and I've always had success soaking my grains in it without doing any kind of prep (just mix it together and let it sit!).

[tanyalynn]

I just re-read an alternate way to soak grains ...

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.co...rown-rice.html

# Soak brown rice in dechlorinated water for 24 hours at room temperature without changing the water. Reserve 10% of the soaking liquid (should keep for a long time in the fridge). Discard the rest of the soaking liquid; cook the rice in fresh water.
# The next time you make brown rice, use the same procedure as above, but add the soaking liquid you reserved from the last batch to the rest of the soaking water.
# Repeat the cycle. The process will gradually improve until 96% or more of the phytic acid is degraded at 24 hours.

I can be happy with 96%.