Well, not really, since we’re still here. I used buttermilk that’s been sitting in the fridge for quite some time. Smelled fine, looked fine except for some lumpiness that disappeared once I shook it up. Looked good going into the biscuits. Tasted fine when done. No after-effects. Expiration date: February 2013.
There was about a half a cup left in the carton, so I dumped it into the drain. Imagine my shock and surprise when I saw:
absolutely nothing wrong with it.
WTH is it with buttermilk that it can last that long? This is the full fat real deal product, not that lame-o stuff. The intertoobs say it can last for a couple of weeks past expiry, but this is nuts. Anybody else had this experience? Was I living on the edge?
I’ve found (also to my surprise) that if dairy products are properly pasteurized, sealed, and refrigerated, they can be good months after their expiration date, which is largely there on the package to ensure reasonable shelf turnover for your supermarket.
The high level of acid in buttermilk might be a contributing factor in this case, but I’ve found the above is true for cream, half-and-half, and (to a lesser extent) milk (I’ve never tried storing milk for quite that long).
My rule of thumb: If something doesn’t smell bad, it’s still edible. It boggles my mind when I think about the tons of perfectly good food people throw out every year just because the expiration date has passed.
I don’t use sweet milk fast enough to bother keeping it. So I cook with half & half, which is ultrapasteurized and therefore lasts months in my fridge.
Is it possible that your buttermilk was similarly ultrapasteurized?
Buttermilk is fermented, right? It’s already pretty well colonized by bacteria, and it’s pretty acidic; I just figured it’s real hard for other things to grow in that environment. We pretty regularly use buttermilk that’s way past the expiration date.
Well, we used to. But we recently discovered buttermilk ice cream, and oh my lord I don’t think we’ll ever let buttermilk languish again.
Buttermilk, like yogurt, comes pre “spoiled”. It’s innoculated with bacteria already. There’s so much bacteria in there, the real estate is taken up, the acid level is high and nothing much else likes to grow in it.
And, yeah, ultrapasteurization. It’s actual sterilization. If they put it in a sterile container, it’s got an unopened shelf life of forever. (Or until the seals give out.)
Yeah, like yogurt, kefir, and fermented milk products of that nature, it’s got live cultures in it that, when strong and healthy, tend to ward off less desirable bacteria and yeasts. In fact, if you want to make (cultured) buttermilk yourself, just top off a quarter bottle or so of cultured buttermilk with fresh milk of your choice, leave it at room temperature or slightly warmer for about a day and, voila, new buttermilk!
I’ve never tried extending the process indefinitely, though. I imagine at some point less desirable cultures contaminate the buttermilk, and you need to start with a fresh batch to culture.
(And I am talking specifically about cultured buttermilk, not the “old fashioned” kind that is the leftover product from butter making.)
Y’know, I grew up with a carton of buttermilk in the back of the fridge that my parents used to make pancakes with literally until it started to mold. It was this thing where they’d just say “buttermilk is already sour, it’s fine unless it’s chunky and moldy.” I was a kid, so I went with it, and it never made anyone sick. In fact, it made damn fine pancakes.
Some point during my adulthood I rethought that whole idea, and nowadays I throw out buttermilk after a couple weeks. But I know from experience that it won’t make you sick, as long as you’re cooking with it. Dunno about if you just drink it.
As an side, Cook’s Illustrated had a thing about buttermilk sometime in the last year or so. They said that though it still will be OK to bake with if it’s a little old (they’re talking weeks, not months ala my parents), it’s noticeably better if used within a week or so. They recommend freezing it, and that’s what I do now. I just throw pancake-sized containers of it in the freezer, and pull 'em out as needed. Works really well.
I guess I’ve thrown away a lot of good buttermilk over the years. I don’t use it commonly enough to finish a container, it’s not something I’ll drink straight, and after it’s been sitting a long time I just pour the rest out.
I knew it would last quite a long time, as I’ve used “expired” buttermilk in the past. But four months? I wish the stuff came in pint sized containers, as I don’t use it fast enough to buy a full quart. I get Darigold, as it’s full fat “Bulgarian” buttermilk and is in a plastic jug instead of a cardboard container, which can allow air to get in. Perhaps the plastic container adds to the shelf life, since it has a screw top.
As an aside, every time I hear the word “buttermilk”, I’m reminded of this obese nun that used to come into a now-defunct Cincinnati restaurant that was called Chester’s Road House that I worked at in the mid 1990’s.
They specialized in prime rib, and she would always come in early on a Saturday evening with a few (more svelte) nuns to get the prime rib. Thing was, she came early because what she wanted to eat was the fat chain off the rib. You know, the part that the cooks would generally discard shortly after the rib came out of the oven because…it’s almost 100% fat.
Her beverage of choice to wash this down? Cold glasses of buttermilk. I shit you not. This woman was old and had apparently been doing this years before I got there. Her cholesterol must have been through the roof!
