# Buttermilk Culture?



## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

So, does anyone know where I can get a goat milk buttermilk starter? It can't have any cows milk in it. My son is allergic to cows milk.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Have you tried New England Cheesemaking Supplies?


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

It contains milk  and unless they specify goat milk I have to presume it's cows milk.

Thank you for the suggestion though, I will certainly check them out for cheese making supplies


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

You can still get what you need there. Instead of using a packet of buttermilk starter use 1/8 teaspoon of Mesophilic direct set culture for your first 3 cup batch. Let it set at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours to grow the culture. It should smell tangy. This is cultured buttermilk that you can use and also use to culture more buttermilk keeping the starter going indefinitely.


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

Thank you!  That's so exciting! I had no idea I could do that.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

So, don't put a lid on the milk while the culture is growing. Cover it with a doubled piece of cheesecloth held on with a rubber band or ribbon. use 2 cups of it, add 2 cups more milk to the cup that's left and let set to grow. It can be stored in fridge in between growing batches.


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

the allergen information says it contains milk.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

The one I looked at on Amazon only had the yeasts...


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

Which one were you looking at? New England Cheese Supply lists it as having milk, but for whatever reason I didn't think to look on Amazon, which is odd because I go to Amazon for everything else.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

This one, they all contain lactic acid for food for the yeast but, goat's milk contains more lactic acid than cows milk anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/Ezal-Cultures..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=1MWPYVQNSKBWX4W9ATN5


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

As long as it doesn't have anything actually derived from cows milk I should be good  I will contact them to be sure before I get it.

Thank you so much 

I'm so excited about being able to make buttermilk and sour cream so my son can have them


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## lovinglife (Jun 6, 2013)

How about using kefir to culture milk, I use my kefir same as I would buttermilk and it grows well in my raw goat milk.


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

I got an email back about the culture. All of their cultures are grown in cows milk. (EZAL is part of New England Cheesemaking) and they said that it will be very difficult to find any cultures that don't use cows milk. If he just had a lactose intolerance he would be fine, but he was diagnosed with his milk allergy after having breathing issues so it's not something I'm willing to test with him.

Thankfully he doesn't really react that badly now, he just gets hives, has horrid diarrhea, and he hurts, but he's still too little to tell me how he hurts and what hurts. Milk is in everything so even though I try to be so careful he still sometimes gets something that has cows milk.


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

So I've emailed another company and they explained that all cultures are grown on lactose derived from cows milk but that the lactose is consumed so shouldn't be present but that they have to list it on their allergen lists. Does anyone with a milk allergy have any experience with this? Does it still affect you?


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## moonmilk_creamery (Oct 21, 2015)

I would suggest making your own milk Keifer. It can be used as a starter for any cheeses. It is cheap initially and very sustainable because you don't have to keep buying starters. All you have to do is after you add rennet, for example, add like a 1/4 cup keifer (it depends on the cheese, you can look up the exact amount)


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## Aprilszoo (Mar 31, 2014)

So I know about milk allergy because I have one son who was severely allergic and one son who we always thought was but it turns out what he has is a severe case of lactose intolerance.

So first things first:


a true allergy to milk is an allergy to the milk *protein* which exists in most of the components in milk but is concentrated in the casein, and the whey components of the milk. The protein structure differs in different animals, which is why someone with "milk allergy" is often able to drink goat's milk even if they can't have cow's milk... Protein is associated with DNA and is species-specific.

lactose, aka milk sugar is the same in _every milk, no matter what animal it comes from._ It is formed at a cellular level by the combination of 2 carbohydrate molecules -- glucose (simple sugar) and galactose. It has _no_ DNA affinity, and is not species-specific. Once lactose is derived from milk, it is not distinguishable what species it is from.

This differentiation is why diagnosing my lactose intolerant son was so difficult and crazy. He reacted to any dairy _at all_ with bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and severe abdominal pain, among other symptoms, beginning when he was a newborn (though the bloody stools didn't happen until he was about 2). Even _my breast milk_ made him sick! We eventually had to put him on specialized formula designed for babies with metabolic disorders... At the time, all the doctors assumed that he was severely allergic to milk _proteins_ when the reality was that the formula happened to contain NO LACTOSE, relying instead on basic glucose as carbohydrate. Later when we tried to give him goat's milk, he got just as sick... And that led to more investigation and a trial of formulas that had the basic proteins altered, yet happened to use lactose as a carbohydrate. The severity of his reaction to_ that_ formula was the first clue that told the dr's that it was the sugars not the protein that was the problem... Once we found that out, he is able to have dairy so long as he takes an enzyme (lactase) that breaks down the sugars (or eats dairy products that have the enzyme added). He is still limited, though, because the enzyme breaks down quickly in the G.I. system, so it's hard to have enough in the gut to work on the dairy-containing food, before it breaks down.

My other son, on the other hand has to take care to make sure there's no casein or whey or other cow's milk derivative ingredients in his food. He gets hives, increased asthma symptoms, and he says he feels "oogie...", like bugs are crawling on his skin. He never had any problem as a baby when he was only getting my milk, but formula made him sick every time. He was ok on goat's milk, too... although he never liked it much. Now that he's adult, he's been able to tolerate a very little bit of cow's-milk-dairy if he's not had an exposure for a good long time, but it's a risk-- he never knows how much he can get away with...

*So all of that was to say*: The buttermilk cultures that use lactase as their base shouldn't give your son any trouble, since the lactase is exactly the same no matter if it comes from cow's milk, goat's milk, breast milk, or any other mammal.... It is a sugar and there's just no difference...

If you are still worried, check with your son's allergist... Or plan to only give your son very small amounts of the buttermilk until you see if he reacts... 
Also consider that if you plan on making your newest batch of buttermilk using a little of your previous batch as a starter... Then you will be diluting the original starter every time you make more, until after several batches, the amount of original starter will be next to nothing (or probably gone, really, because the original culture does eventually die off). So you could just wait to give him any until you've made a few batches.... _Remember, the sugar isn't what is reproducing in the culture, it's the bacteria that are growing._

Good luck... I hope you figure out how to keep your son healthy and happy with a minimum of trouble someday. I know it can be tough. But it _*is*_ doable! My boys are all grown up now, and none the worse for wear. ;-)


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## Steampunked (Mar 23, 2015)

As a cheese maker (amateur, but...), if you are really unable to find anything that's been made from a non-cow culture, try this:

Culture your buttermilk from the available culture using goat's milk. Use it for yourself.
Culture your next lot from the culture you have created, using goat's milk again.

Repeat this several times until you have your own culture which only has a fraction (if that) of any original milk protein remaining...

Bugger, I just read up and April had already said it


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

Thank you! He was diagnosed with a blood allergy test so we know it's a true allergy. My son developed his allergy right at a year old when we started transitioning him onto regular milk. He actually weaned himself then too and no longer nursed, I had no idea what was going on, then he started breathing funny and couldn't sleep because something was hurting him so I would sit up all night with him.

Now he's almost three and doing well, though he can't have anything made from cows milk. A couple weeks ago he accidentally got a saltine cracker made with milk and had hives, horrible diarrhea, and pain. He still is learning to tell me what hurts and how it hurts.

We tried my son on goat milk a few months after we got his diagnosis and he did great. There was an incredible boost on his growth chart as well, it had actually been curving down and then after he got goats milk it spiked up 

Thank you so much for your experience and your advice.

And Steampunked, great minds think alike


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## Aprilszoo (Mar 31, 2014)

Since you know it's a milk protein allergy, the culture that uses lactose shouldn't be a problem then. :rainbow:


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## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

Great thread! Wow...I'm continually amazed by the collection of knowledge on this site! Ya'll are great!!! Best wishes to you, TeyluFarm! Please update us on how this all goes for you. :hi5:


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