What is American Buttermilk?

In United States, buttermilk has evolved overtime from olden thin skimmed cultured beverage to modern thick cultured buttermilk that may not be skimmed

In the olden days, the cream was skimmed off the raw milk. The cream was collected for a few days. During this time the cream became sour from the natural good bacteria present in the raw milk. The cream was then churned to separate Butter which was skimmed off leaving behind the fluid called as buttermilk. The buttermilk had live-culture, skimmed, and thin

In the olden days, the raw milk was also left at room temperature for a couple of days It became tangy from the natural good bacteria present in the raw milk. The culture also converted the lactose in to lactic acid. The lactic acid made the taste tangy and changed the pH. Change in pH makes the milk proteins (specially Casein) insoluble and precipitate out making milk as thick This was called Clabbered milk.

The modern buttermilk is a form of clabbered milk. Culture is added to pasteurized milk. The milk may be skimmed, 1%, 2%,or regular milk. The fermented milk is thick like clabbered milk (not thin like the old buttermilk made by separating butter from cream) with live culture. The modern buttermilk is thick, has tart taste due to culture. The buttermilk may be may also be pasteurized so the culture is not alive

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