Ingredient Introduction #1 - Buttermilk

The farmer's market yesterday was pretty much closed down by the time I got there, so today when I ran to grab a prescription I hit one of the local vegetable markets, Garden Fresh Market. This market has been really great at having reasonably priced produce while attempting to get from local/regional buyers. They have eggs and milk from Cruze Farms and the produce is definitely seasonal (they had muscadines today!). They do cater some to their customers by occasionally importing stuff (20# bag of Idaho Potatos, citrus fruits), but that's normally quite obvious. I ran in with the intent of making something this evening for Sutro and me, but I hadn't been home much in the last week, between going to PA and falling ill at Sutro's.

They had these lovely leeks, which inspired me to make my mother's potato soup, while I got the few ingredients for those, I went to get some eggs. The soup, I remembered, needed cream. The only cream they had was from Mayfield. But they did have Cruze Farm buttermilk. Well, that led to remembering that a friend has a birthday this weekend, and I've wanted to try a recipe for Apple Cake that needed buttermilk, which I would then bring another batch to Sutro's family's Thanksgiving over in Western TN. So in go some local Fuji apples, plus a lovely Acorn squash because I know I'll use it, and there we go. We have meals planned and cooking to do.

The woman at the register noticed my buttermilk and commented on how much she loves it. She drinks a glass of it every morning. I had no idea what buttermilk was really like, except that it was different from milk and much creamier.

I come home, put away my groceries, feed the cats, and pour myself about a finger of thick, creamy buttermilk.

And I drink it.

Or at least... I try to. It's chunky and sour! So I go online to make sure that *this* is what the woman drank. And sure enough....
from wikipedia:

Buttermilk is a fermented dairy product produced from cow's milk with a characteristically sour taste. The product is made in one of two ways. Originally, buttermilk was the liquid left over from churning butter from cream. In India, buttermilk or mattha is known to be the liquid leftover after extracting butter from churned curd. Today, this is called traditional buttermilk. On the other hand artificially made buttermilk, also known as cultured buttermilk, is a product where lactic acid bacteria called Streptococcus lactis have been added to milk.

How can she do it?

Well, off to clean some and make the cake and soup. I think the buttermilk will work for those.

Good news: I found my camera, so now there may be pictures of my cooking. Yay!