[Cheese] Buttermilk

[Peter Næslund Møller]

The texture is mainly related to the pH in the product, not the bacteria..

btw.. There are actually 4 strains of bacteria in a buttermilk culture:

Lactococcus Lactis
Lactococcus Diacetylactis*
Lactococcus Cremoris
Leuconostoc Cremoris*

Some cultures have a bit of Lactobacillus Caseii added as it is believed to have a positive influence ( probiotic ) on the human digestive system

All 4(5) of these bacteria start by fermenting the lactose to lactic acid, then as the pH drops the bacteria marked with a * starts fermenting citric acid instead..

The bacteria marked with a * are the ones that ferment the citric acid present in the milk to acetaldehyde and diacetyl.. The acetaldehyde flavor is what you may recognise from yoghurt..

Fermentation of citric acid is also responsible for the "good" holes in most Edam types of cheese 

The names of these bacteria may vary slightly in the US as it was decided to rename the Streptococcus family used in milk products to Lactococcus to avoid confusion with pathogens..

Did that make any sense?

/peter

 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Corina" <corina at cyber-dyne.com>
To: "The Cheese Makers' Digest" <cheese at hbd.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 10:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Cheese] Buttermilk


> Hello again,
> 
> I didn't realise the temp mattered so much! My kitchen probably is 16 
> C in the winter, but right now it must be way too hot. That must be 
> part of the reason why my buttermilk has recently changed 
> texture--I'll bet the bacteria is different. That's really useful 
> information (about the two different kinds of bacteria), because now 
> I will know not to use buttermilk I make during these warm months to 
> make frozen buttermilk cubes for cultures later. I'll buy new 
> buttermilk for that.
> 
> Thanks again, to you both!
> 
> Corina
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