What is the ratio of buttermilk mes. starter and milk?

by Amanda
(Tamarac, FL)

Does anyone know how much mesophylic starter I would use if I made frozen buttermilk mes. starter that are 1 oz. cubes?

I am using a recipe that calls for 5 liters of raw milk, 1/16th of a teaspoon of p.candidum, 4 mls of liquid rennet and it calls for 1/2 teaspoon of Flora Danica but like I said I made homemade mes. starter and I am stuck for a min on this.

Can you help me? I would so appreciate it. Kinda has put a halt on my cheese process.

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Hi Amanda,

Using frozen cubes of buttermilk in your cheese making is fine. They will be good for up to 2 years, but the problem is that many people don't prepare the culture properly, nor do they buy the right buttermilk to start with.

You have to make sure that what you have bought is cultured buttermilk, rather than just buttermilk as this is what is left behind after making butter.

Then, you need to prepare your cultured buttermilk correctly.

You need to open the lid to the bottle and then allow the buttermilk to sit in your kitchen after bringing it home for 6-8 hours at room temperature.

This allows the buttermilk to ripen fully and to give your cheese making the right starter that it needs. After it has become quite thick and smells sour you can go ahead and place it in your VERY clean ice-trays.

If you make cheese on a regular basis you will know that sometimes you have flops and sometimes experimenting turns out some great cheese with unexpected results. So, you will need to take a chance.

However, you would normally use 1 cube of frozen culture starter to 1 liter of milk, or 4 cubes to 1 gallon of milk.

Just make sure that you defrost the culture starter in a bowl before adding it to the milk.

Good luck and let us know what you decided to do.

Regards
Kathryn
Countryfarm Lifestyles