I make my own buttermilk from 3% cow milk UHP- this starter works slowly, but gives a wonderful thick tangy cultured milk product!

I add ussually(for 1 lt of milk ) - 2 tbsp of dry low-fat milk, 1 tsp of inulin, and in last batch i added 2 tsp of honey (something 30 minuts before thickening - when milk is still liquid).

Thank you!

I was given this packet by Tess Schaffner from Off The Vine Market here in Williamsburg. We used milk from Trickling Springs Creamery purchased at the market and frankly were a bit skeptical if this would work. After following the instructions and waiting the 24 hour period, my mother and grandmother and I found the glass jar of milk and transformed into actual buttermilk. We used Creamline Milk and we think because of this, it gave the milk it's nice thick appearance. My grandmother said it tastes like the buttermilk of her childhood.

This culture makes a great butter milk. My wife is very fond of butter milk especially with a little salt. Ever since I started making the b.m. she'll drink it again!

So I ended up with a gallon of organic pasteurized milk and some of these packets of culture. I do not like buttermilk to drink, or milk. But I made 4 liters of this. It was beautiful and really thick. With my buttermilk this weekend, I made 1. The world's best biscuits, 2. UNBElievable pancakes, 3. Cool buttermilk blue cheese dressing for my salad, 4. Cornbread, 5. Two pints of crazy good buttermilk sour cream. And I still have 2 liters of this stuff to play with. I have it in old fashioned jars with glass and rubber tops. It's pretty and I'm happy to say that I am loving this way of making buttermilk. It's not like anything I've ever had and it elevates each of the things I've made in my kitchen to a whole new level.

This starter, of course, makes wonderful cultered buttermilk and a tangy buttermilk soft cheese, as instructed in Ricki's book. Out of curiosity, I tried the Buttermilk-DS starter in in a farmhouse CHEDDAR recipe. It produced a good, firm curd (with a subtle buttery aroma), and produced a lovely, solid wheel after pressing up to 50 pounds. The cheese, after 6 weeks of aging in wax at 48 degrees, resembles gouda with a bit more acid tang. Very nice. One further experiment was to use it in Ricki's recipe for Swiss-style CREAM CHEESE. For this, I deviated from the her published recipe by using 1 packet of Buttermilk-DS in 2 quarts (rather than 1 quart) of Kroger brand Half and Half (the 1 quart Kroger Half and Half is not UP, although their similar label 1/2 gallon IS UP!), and performed all the lengthy setting and draining at 63 degrees F (the winter temp of my kitchen) rather than her suggested 65 degrees. Press weight was 10 pounds. WOW! Whereas the predicted yield was about 1 pound, I ended up with 2 pounds of the richest, creamy and full-flavored cream cheese I've ever tasted. I suspect that the Leuconostoc mesenteroides subspecies cremoris that appears to be contained in the Buttermilk-DS came into its own at the lower temperature. One could imagine that this particular bug lurks in the raw milk of the Alps. My point in writing this review is to encourage others to consider the Buttermilk-DS starter as an interesting variant for any recipies that call for a simple direct-set mesophilic starter. [As a probiotic, the s. cremoris appears from the scientific literature to be more potent than the various probiotic bugs found in yogurts.]