Buttermilk is the most popular fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, the buttermilk was a liquid left behind extracting butter from cultured cream. It is mostly useful in the warm weather in countries like Middle East, South Asia, and Southern parts of the United States.
The buttermilk can be used directly. It is also useful in cooking, preparing soda bread. The acid present in buttermilk act as a raising agent. The presence of sodium bicarbonate produces carbon dioxide, which works as a leavening agent. You can also use buttermilk as marination in pork or chicken.
In Ayurveda, buttermilk is used for the treatment of different diseases and maintaining health. There are some reasons for the use of buttermilk. It makes digestion easy from its sour taste and astringent properties. Buttermilk helps improve your digestion and reduce puffiness feeling. It is one of the best natural treatments for irritation, swelling, gastrointestinal ailments, digestive disorders, anemia and appetite problems.
How To Make Buttermilk?
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- 1 cup (225 ml) Milk
- 1 tbsp Fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Add the lemon juice or vinegar in the milk.
- Let it sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature before making the recipe.
Notes
Spicy Buttermilk Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 and a half Cup Curd
- 2 Cups Water
- 12-14 Mint leaves
- Handful Coriander
- 1-2 Green chilies
- 1 tsp Ginger Grated
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seed powder Roasted
- 1 Pinch Black pepper
- Salt
Instructions
- Include water in the curd and churn it to prepare buttermilk. Use cow milk for making the curd. You can also use one cup curd if you have thick and sour curd in the home.
- Remove the seeds from chilies and chop them using a mixer.
- Include mint leaves with coriander leave and blend lightly. Do not make a paste.
- Include these coriander, mint, grated ginger, black pepper powder, salt, and jeera powder in the buttermilk.
- Serve chilled.
Notes
- You can use Kala Namak (Himalayan black salt) and half table salt in place of the whole salt.
- Spicy buttermilk is also good for toddlers, younger kids, and everyone.
- Try using light color chilies, which are not too hot.
- You can avoid adding chilies in buttermilk for toddlers.
Types Of Buttermilk
As a basic food item, milk found in different varieties, buttermilk made from natural yogurt in different ways. Buttermilk contains a lot of the whole cream without water. You can consume it with sugar to calm your digestive tract. It looks similar to yogurt. Consuming buttermilk improves digestion and reduces tiredness.
NUTRITION INFORMATION
Amounts per 1 cup (245g)
Calorie Information (Amounts Per Selected Serving
%DV)
- Calories 137 (574 kJ) – 7%
- Carbohydrate 52.9 (221 kJ)
- Fat – 44.1 (185 kJ)
- Protein 40.2 (168 kJ)
- Alcohol 0.0 (0.0 kJ)
- Protein 10.0 g – 20%
Carbohydrates
Amounts Per Selected Serving
%DV
- Total Carbohydrate 13.0 g – 4%
- Dietary Fiber 0.0g – 0%
- Starch 0.0 g
- Sugars 13.0 g
- Total Fat 4.9g – 8%
- Saturated Fat 3.0 g -15%
- Monounsaturated Fat 1.4 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
- Total trans fatty acids –
- Monoenoic fatty acids ~
- Polyenoic fatty acids ~
- Omega-3 fatty acids – 73.5 mg
- Omega-6 fatty acids 98.0 mg
Amino Acids & Protein
- Protein 10.0g – 20%
- A Vitamin 142 IU – 3%
- C Vitamin 3.7 mg – 6%
- D Vitamin ~
- E Vitamin 0.3 mg -1%
- K Vitamin 0.2 mcg – 0%
- Thiamin 0.1 mg – 8%
- Riboflavin 0.5 mg – 30%
- Niacin 0.2 mg – 1%
- Vitamin B6 0.1 mg – 4%
- Folate 14.7 mcg – 4%
- Vitamin B12 0.9 mcg -15%
- Pantothenic Acid ~
- Choline 39.2 mg
- Betaine ~
- Minerals
- Calcium 350 mg – 35%
- Iron 0.1 mg -1%
- Magnesium 31.9 mg – 8%
- Phosphorus 201 mg – 20%
- Potassium 441 mg – 13%
- Sodium 211 mg – 9%
- Zinc 0.6 mg – 4%
- Copper 0.0 mg – 1%
- Manganese ~
- Selenium 5.6 mcg – 8%
- Fluoride ~
Sterols
- Cholesterol 19.6 mg – 7%
- Phytosterols ~
Benefits Of Buttermilk
Provide Essential Macronutrients
Buttermilk is a whole food. It is full of nutrition and provides necessary elements for a balanced diet. It contains plenty of carbohydrates, proteins, minimal lipids, essential enzymes, and vitamins. Buttermilk should be added to all types of diet, and you can eat it every day. As 90% of buttermilk contains water, it hydrates your body and absorbs in the intestine slowly. Buttermilk is a better substitute for other flavored drinks. Fermented buttermilk has a sour taste and a lot of nutritions that helpful for tissues.
Culinary Applications
Buttermilk is popular for uses of many cooking purposes. As it contains calcium, different acids, and enzymes. It works effectively for tenderizing meat. Buttermilk also uses to flavor seafood and poultry. It brings special flavor in the various recipes. Buttermilk is also useful for making light biscuits, cake, pancakes, and waffles. Cornbread is prepared from buttermilk, which creates moistly and prevents dryness.
Soaking chicken in the buttermilk helps to make it tender and juicy. Many recipes from Mediterranean and East regions recommend marinating lamb and goat meat in buttermilk to increase texture and taste.
Hunting communities uses buttermilk to remove the raw flavor of wild turkey diseased. The calcium content of buttermilk stimulates the enzymes of connective tissues and muscles by breaking proteins. Hence, it promotes muscles.
Fermented buttermilk is useful for making cold soups in the summer season. It will give you the best flavor and nutrients you lose from sweating.
Sooth Digestive Tract
Buttermilk protects the digestive tract from spicy foods. It helps to soothe the stomach lining after spicy food consumption. The ingredients like cumin powder, ginger, and other condiments help to soothe the stomach irritation. It is more effective for lowering body heat and symptoms of post-menopause like body heat, hot flashes.
Men also get benefits from buttermilk for balancing body temperature and metabolic rate.
Reduce oily food effects
Often heavy meal containing oily food causes bloating. Drinking a glass of buttermilk helps to reduce bloating. You can include cumin, ginger, and coriander to help indigestion.
Buttermilk washes off the fats and oils accumulating in the stomach and food pipe. Having buttermilk after a heavy meal prevents drowsy and lazy feeling.
Treats Stomach Ailments
Buttermilk contains a sufficient amount of acid that work against bacteria and helps to flush out the stomach and assist indigestion. All the condiments found in buttermilk helpful for the digestive system. If you are drinking spicy buttermilk, it will have ginger, cumin, coriander, and pepper that remove the stomach gas. The buttermilk also provides cooling effects to the gastrointestinal tract. It prevents stomach infection, colon cancer, irritable bowel ailment, and irregular bowel movement.
Prevent Dehydration
Buttermilk is effectively prepared from thick yogurt and spices. It helps to hydrate your body. Buttermilk contains full of electrolytes and the best beverage to lower heat in the body and prevent dehydration in the body. It helps to prevent prickly heat and uneasiness in the body.
Provides Calcium
Often people think that buttermilk holds more calories and fats. However, it is not true as the buttermilk comprises low fat than full milk. Milk is a valuable source of calcium and fats. Sometimes the intolerant of lactose may cause side effects to regular calcium. These people can fulfill their need for calcium from the buttermilk. It will not trigger adverse effects because the lactose gets changed to lactic acid with healthy bacteria in the buttermilk.
Calcium is essential for cell signals and muscle contractions. Consuming good nutrition helps to prevent bone ailments such as osteoporosis. Buttermilk provides nutritional supplements and calcium without any calories. It promotes bone health and osteoporosis.
Rich in Vitamins
Buttermilk provides lots of vitamins such as vitamin D and B complex. It prevents anemia and weakness occurred by vitamin deficiency. Vitamin D makes your immune system strong and prevents infections. One serving of buttermilk provides 21% daily value.
Detoxify the Body
The presence of riboflavin in the buttermilk is essential for converting foods in energy. It promotes hormone secretion and helps indigestion. The body uses riboflavin to stimulate enzymes in the cells, hence promote energy in the body. It also assists in liver function and detoxifies your body.
Lowers Blood Pressure
There are things present in buttermilk, which induce plenty of bioactive proteins. These help to reduce cholesterol and act as antiviral and antibacterial. Consuming buttermilk reduces blood pressure.
Reduce Cholesterol
Buttermilk is a natural remedy for reducing blood cholesterol. It works effectively for managing healthy cholesterol levels. Even Ayurveda also stated that buttermilk helpful for reducing cholesterol.
Regulates Stomach Acidity
Buttermilk is a strong drink for treating stomach acidity and reflux. The presence of ginger and spices in buttermilk reduces stomach burning sensation caused by acid reflux. It lowers the irritation spices in the food.
Eases Constipation
Buttermilk is good therapy for comforting your stomach. It prevents constipation and stomach disorders. Consuming wrong foods pressurize your digestive system and cause diarrhea. Regular consumption of buttermilk eases the condition of constipation. It promotes bowel movement.
Weight loss
Buttermilk provides huge nutrition and essential enzymes that require the body without additional fat and calories. Regularly consuming buttermilk makes you energetic and hydrated. Regular buttermilk consumption helps to hydrate the body. Buttermilk suits weight loss plans as they provide vitamins, proteins, minerals, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and enzymes to manage energy levels. It is helpful to drink for promoting satiety levels and assist in weight loss. It prevents junk food addictions and reduces hunger.
Treat Gastrointestinal Tract
Buttermilk is a rich source of good bacteria that are good for the gastrointestinal tract. Those bacteria are known as probiotics. Healthy bacteria are found in the colon of every human, and they symbiotic. The bacteria in buttermilk contain lactic acid, which converted into lactic acid. They help to break down the food easily and enhance nutrition absorption. The lactic acid also helpful for entire gastrointestinal health and reduce irritable bowel syndrome.
Remember, there is no cure for an irritable bowel movement, but buttermilk can correct the antidote condition. It works by impacting the good bacteria growth and lower the bad bacteria from nourishing in the gut. The gut bacteria perform important things, including enhancing immunity, synthesizing vitamins, promoting digestion, prevent cardiovascular disease.
Assist Body Mass
Buttermilk improves protein consumption. Every cell in the body contains proteins. Every tissue of the body depends on the proteins to maintain and repair the damage cells. The buttermilk is full of proteins, which helps in the growth of muscles. It also provides vitamins and essential nutritions, which prevent extra calorie intake.
Rejuvenates Bodyâs Skeletal
Buttermilk contains all the nutrition of milk. As there is a rich presence of calcium, it is essential for growing bone blocks and enhancing the skeletal system in the body. It also promotes your teeth and bone health. The calcium content of buttermilk helps to manage bone density. It also nourishes your heart tissues and other organs, including muscles and nerves.
Enhance Skin
Buttermilk consumptions are also beneficial for skin health. It flushes out all the toxins and promotes smooth skin. The buttermilk is used as moisturizing your skin, and it brings a natural glow and elasticity of the skin. The buttermilk is one of the soothing and relaxing ingredients for skin. Add buttermilk in your regular diet to get the complete benefits. You can use the buttermilk for a peel-off mask for the face. The presence of probiotic lactic acid work as a face mask. It helps to exfoliate your skin and enhance brightness on skin tone. Using buttermilk also treat freckles.
You can step into the sun without worry as the buttermilk is effective for stopping premature aging. Regular use of buttermilk promotes your skin tightness and remove the wrinkles by bringing a youthful skin.
Buttermilk use also helpful for controlling blemish and acne problems from its properties of astringent from lactic acid.
Combining egg white, honey, and buttermilk helps to remove sun tan and let your skin glow.
Use buttermilk, avocado, and honey mask once in a week to get silky and smooth hair.
Strengthen Immune System
The buttermilk dink is full of lactic acid. This bacterium promotes the immune system and assists the body to work against pathogens found foods. These bacteria are responsible for preventing various illnesses in the body. As the buttermilk contains low calories than whole milk, it also contains low fat, and that is good for weight loss.
People suffering from obesity problems and diabetes require to manage healthy blood pressure. Buttermilk helps to manage the blood pressure-regulating minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium. However, avoid including excess salt as it lowers the nutrients in the drink. The probiotic presence helps to treat vaginal infections and urinary tract. Candida infection found in diabetic women can be reduced by consuming buttermilk.
Treat Ulcers
Various case studies have shown to prove that consuming buttermilk helps to treat ulcers. As the buttermilk assists in neutralizing acids of the stomach by covering the stomach lining. It limits the heartburn and acid reflux. Buttermilk provides cooling effects and prevents ulcer growth.
Prevent Thrush
Intake of 2-3 glasses of buttermilk daily helps to prevent thrush. The good bacteria present in buttermilk stop the yeast growth. You can also hold some buttermilk in the mouth before swallowing it. It helps to treat the mouth sores and ulcers.
Treat Sunburns
People with continued sun exposure get sunburn and red skin. Buttermilk is an instant remedy for treating sunburn. Try applying half a cup of tomato juice with buttermilk over the affected area. Keep it for one hour and wash it with cool water. It will make your skin cooler and remove sunburn by lowering redness.
Treat Haemorrhoids
Buttermilk is an efficient treatment for hemorrhoids. People who are experiencing hemorrhoids and not receiving a cure with medicines can try buttermilk with banana and rice. Use this remedy 2-times a day to get adequate results.
Fight Colds
Buttermilk is the best treatment for an antidote for reducing common cold accompanied by a runny nose. Include a few crushed garlic and ginger in buttermilk and consume multiple times in a day.
Help Food Industry
Buttermilk powder provides much application in the industry of foods. It is added in whipped cream to get a good emulsifier. It is also useful for milk-based beverages to enhance nutritive content without more calories. You can also use concentrated concoction with plain yogurt, including, water to polish the brassware. The lactic acid removes tarnish and makes brassware spotless and shining.
Side effects of buttermilk
Buttermilk may cause some side effects rarely due to its salt content.
High Sodium
Milk products consist of enough amount of sodium, make sure to check the nutritional label if you are on limited salt. Consuming more salt may increase high blood pressure, especially in the people of salt-sensitive. Having high blood pressure is one of the risk factors for heart ailments. People with dietary salt sensitivity may get damage to the kidney, heart, brain, and blood vessels. Low sodium foods contain only 140 mg sodium or less in every serving. In contrast, one cup of buttermilk contains 300-500 mg sodium. Buttermilk is low in fat but contains more sodium.
Digestive System Allergy
Buttermilk provides lactose, which is a natural sugar and may cause side effects in some people. Even though buttermilk is easy to digest still, it can be sensitive to some people. The lactose intolerance symptoms include diarrhea, upset stomach, and gas.
People with allergic to milk may also get allergy from the buttermilk. Milk allergy includes wheezing, vomiting, upset stomach, hives, and anaphylaxis.
Buttermilk Substitutes
If you do not get buttermilk, then you can also have a substitute.
Acidified Buttermilk
You will require milk and acid to make acidified buttermilk. When acid combines with milk, the milk gets curdles. Acidified buttermilk can be prepared from dairy milk with fat content. You can also prepare with non-dairy products with alternatives such as almond, soy, and cashew milk. You can use acids like white vinegar, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar.
Keep the ratio of one cup of milk with one tablespoon acid. Slowly mix both ingredients and keep it for 5-10 minutes till it gets curdled.
Plain yogurt
Plain yogurt also one of the substitutes for buttermilk. It is a fermented product, and you can use it in baking at a 1:1 ratio. If the recipe requires one cup buttermilk, substitute it with one cup of yogurt.
Cream of tartar
Tartar cream is a type of by-product of wine production. It is an acid that used in baking because it is a combination of baking soda and tartar cream, which produces gas of carbon dioxide.
Combine one cup milk with one and 3/4 tsp tartar cream and keep it sometime.
Make sure to avoid the mixture becoming lumpy and mix the tartar cream with some milk before adding to the whole cup.
Buttermilk is a refreshing and healthy drink for reducing body heat. It will make you feel calm inside the body after a heavy and spicy meal. It is the best beverage to consider in the summer season. The lactic acid content of buttermilk promotes your immune system and reduce bacterial infection and diseases.