I've been reading a lot about homemade dairy products this month. It's amazing what you can do with a little milk.
Remember yogurt? Heat, add lacto-bacteria, keep warm (at a temp in the higher range for the lacto-bacteria but which discourages competitive bacteria which would make the milk go bad) for a number of hours, chill, eat.
If you understand this concept a lot of other cultured dairy products become possible.
That quart of buttermilk getting a little low? Fill with milk, shake, and leave in a warm place 12-24 hours. In that time the buttermilk bacteria should have taken over the milk and changed the flavor and taste. Chill. Use in those pancakes.
It should be noted that buttermilk and yogurt use different kinds of bacteria. Buttermilk is actually easier because it just needs to be generally warm (like the back of the stove) for it to eat, break down the milk sugars, and reproduce.
The kind of bacteria used in buttermilk is the same as they use in creme fraiche and sour cream. Creme fraiche? Take out a cup of cream and add a tablespoon or two of buttermilk. Leave in a warm place. Chill. It thickens right up.
Creme fraiche can be used in place of sour cream (sour cream is generally less 'creamy'), but it seems to be difficult to make with pasturerized cream/milk. The difference appears to be that sour cream uses a lighter cream (or added milk) and is lightly curdled with an acid like vinegar or lemon juice, inoculated with buttermilk (or sour cream) and then left in a warm place. I haven't tried to make it yet because sites either use a creme fraiche recipe instead or say its impossible without unpasteurized cream and milk. Maybe some day.
The lesson to take from this is milk curdling.Curdling the milk makes another dairy product--small curd cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is a lot like making simple cheeses, only without the rennet to further harden the curds. Check out the link, it looks very easy. I haven't had an opportunity to try it out yet.
Which brings us to rennet-based cheeses. Soft cheeses like mozzarella seem very easy to make once you understand the pattern of culturing/curdling milk. Mozzarella also doesn't require a cheese press and can be made right on the stove. Rennet tabs (or liquid) can also be used to make cream cheese, another cultured dairy product a lot like creme fraiche (it uses the same culture in buttermilk/sour cream) but with rennet added for extra umph.
Check out the links. Most are from Dr. Fankhouser, a biology and chemistry professor from Ohio. He also has a link to cheap rennet tablets ($1.50 box) for curious folks.
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