Yesterday I thought finding full fat buttermilk was difficult; today I’ve decided it’s impossible.
I’ve checked all the Walmart stores in the Joplin area (and I think there are seven!) and they only have low fat buttermilk, IF they have any buttermilk. This morning Vince had to drop a box off at UPS so we ran by Harp’s, another grocery store. They only had low fat buttermilk. Vince had to take the pickup to have some a/c work done so he ran by a grocery store in Carthage and they only had low fat buttermilk. We called Natural Grocer and a health food store. Natural Grocer has low fat, the health food store has none. We called a few grocery stores in nearby areas and they either don’t have buttermilk or it’s all low fat buttermilk.
Then Vince said “There’s a big Hiland Dairy facility here. I’ll just call them!” He called and talked to the buttermilk guru. All their buttermilk, even the Bulgarian buttermilk, which I would have sworn was full fat, starts with 1% milk and none of their buttermilk is full fat. He told Vince that the Carthage Walmart will get in 9 cartons of Bulgarian buttermilk tomorrow and the Neosho Walmart should have 19 now. Neosho is about an hour away so we may for Bulgarian tomorrow but probably not.
How crazy is that? Now that the Hiland guy explained about Bulgarian, I’m not sure how long it’s been since I had full fat buttermilk from a store.
There is a local dairy here and they sell raw milk. We used to drive from Nevada, MO to Carthage to get their milk so we need to get over there and buy some milk. I’ll have to pasteurize it before culturing it for buttermilk but I will drink it raw. I can use some of the cream from the raw milk to make butter. Can’t get much better than that!
In the meantime, I’m culturing storebought whole milk to make whole fat buttermilk. We made buttermilk that way a lot several years and and Vince liked it better than the Bulgarian buttermilk we were buying in the store.
While doing my research about whether or not it really matters if I have full fat buttermilk, I came across this article that was interesting. Even though it’s one of the few that seems to say it doesn’t matter if you use full fat buttermilk or not, which I don’t agree with . . it’s a good article about buttermilk and the different kinds.
Carol says
I have to get to my Kroger early in the day to find full fat buttermilk. There are not many cartons. I usually use the low fat and it’s okay–but for some things, the full fat is just better.
Judy Laquidara says
There’s a Dillons in Pittsburg, KS and they’re basically the same thing as Kroger but they don’t have the full fat buttermilk either. I’m probably doomed to never be able to buy it again. It could be worse! 🙂
Sandi B says
I wonder if Braum’s has it?
Judy Laquidara says
No. We tried there last week.
Cindy F says
I have never been able to find full fat buttermilk here. I never thought about trying to culture it. I will have to look that up. I know you can add vinegar or lemon juice to whole milk to do that and use it in a recipe as a substitute but I wondered if that was truly the same.
Judy Laquidara says
Yes, I’ve done that in a pinch but we drink the buttermilk we culture and it’s good. You have to start off with a buttermilk you like and so far, that’s been a bit of a problem but we’ll find one eventually.
Gina says
Did you try Braums? There is one in Webb City, Joplin, Carthage and Pittsburg. Online it appears that they carry the full fat version.
Judy Laquidara says
They don’t have it at the Webb City store, or they didn’t when we were there. We’ll check Carthage or Joplin when we’re back out.