At 01:28 PM 3/17/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Listmates:
>Could
>anybody please tell me about buttermilk?  Is the
>lactose really fermented like in yogurt?
>

Hi Dave
Dairy products vary a lot around the world but buttermilk was originally a
waste product from the production of soured cream butter. The cream had
bugs added to make it sour and then used to make butter. This made a very
unstable buttermilk which went off very quickly. Today most commercial
buttermilks are made from skim milk and inoculated with lactic acid
producing bugs. Sometimes the even add tiny grains of butter to give it an
authentic look. It is very similar to Filmjolk a sour milk from Scandinavia
and the same bugs are usually used. Different bugs to traditional yogurt so
a different taste but the same principle of bugs eating lactose and making
lactic acid. How much lactose the bugs eat is the million dollar question
coz Im LI too :)
And the answer is it varies. It can depend on how sour the dairy wants it
to be, or if they add skim milk powder which contains heaps of lactose. If
the bugs are happy and eat lots ..all sorts of variables.
Were I am, at certain times of the year, due to chemical changes in the
milk from lactation and climate, yogurt doesn't gel very well. And for
about a week or two won't gel at all. To try and get around this dairies
add bags of skim milk powder which might be 60% lactose to the yogurt. I've
seen them just keep adding bags till it goes thick. The idea being, protein
will help it gel, more lactose for the bugs to eat and a dry powder will
thicken it anyway. So I can eat yogurt most of the year.... when exactly I
cant eat it is a bit of a lottery. Its nearly lethal a few weeks a year.
By contacting the dairy they should be able to tell you how it is
manufactured. Fermented milk should be just skim milk with some bugs. So
check the protein level it should be the same as the dairy's skim product.
hope this helps