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I prefer not to buy buttermilk because I never manage to finish it. You can use regular milk as a substitute -- just add a teaspoon of lemon juice (less or more depending on how much buttermilk you need), let it sit for five minutes or so, and use in place of buttermilk.

I usually end up making my own buttermilk rather than running out and buying a carton for just one recipe. And it tastes just the same as buying it!

1 cup of milk, minus one tablespoon, plus one tablespoon of lemon juice.

I've had real buttermilk a time or two, but only the fresh version. If you make butter at home, you only get about 1/2 cup of fresh buttermilk from 1 cup of heavy cream... and that doesn't last long enough to ferment!

I learned the sour milk trick awhile back and have never looked back!

buttermilk is...... gross.

Buttermilk is indeed gross, if you drink it straight. Yuk. Then again, you probably wouldn't eat a mouthful of straight baking powder either. But it sure is a great ingredient.

I use powdered buttermilk, which according to the manufacturer at least is a lot closer to the real thing than the acid-cultured stuff you buy in a carton. For me, though, the more important thing is that it's incredibly convenient, and lasts a long time in the fridge. Otherwise I'm buying a quart of buttermilk and throwing out 3/4 by the time it expires (hey, i don't make *that* many pancakes.)

Though the instructions say to use it with water, I use it with regular 1% milk and get consistently excellent results, at least for pancakes and the like.

I don't know yet, but when we get our first 2 gallons of raw milk from our cow share, I will let you know. Store bought buttermilk is kinda ick, but I love kefir, yogurt, and other real fermented dairy, so I am pretty sure real buttermilk will fit in fine. Actually, I find that kefir is a good substitute for buttermilk, and contains less lactose (for the intolerant crowd).

All you sour milk people are missing out---it works but its sure not as tasty as buttermilk.

My mom taught me a great trick: she buys buttermilk for cheesemaking and turning homemade aioli into delicious Ranch dressing. But instead of wasting what's leftover, she freezes it in icecubes, then thaws at room temp for the next recipe! Now I'm on the frozen buttermilk bandwagon, too.

But, for pie crust, I use regular milk with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to substitute. Works great!

Wow! powdered buttermilk... freezing buttermilk! Great ideas- thanks for passing them on! Most of the time when I have a recipe that uses buttermilk, I end up with a lot left over and there it goes...chug chug chug down the drain.

I wish I had tasted "real" buttermilk. The store-bought variety does not get purchased too often in our household, just for specialty items every once in a great while. When I do buy it, I pull out all of my buttermilk recipes to use it up, which is done quite easily-none gets wasted. Buttermilk fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits, buttermilk waffles... that pretty much does it but it uses it up nicely.

Buttermilk is the stuff left over when you make butter. So make butter and you will find that it's fairly thin but milky liquid. I use it in soup or gratins or cakes, anyway that I would use broth or milk.

The commercial buttermilk you buy in the store is cultured, like yogurt. I have never bothered, but I suppose that I could culture my own buttermilk by putting a bit of plain yogurt in it (or if you leave it sitting around on the back of the stove for a day maybe you'll get lucky and it will culture itself, but I'm a bit skeptical in my kitchen).

Oh and I don't agree with the poster who says buttermilk is gross to drink. I like commercial buttermilk to drink very much. It's like a thinned out version of plain yogurt to me--if very cold it is refreshing. I know quite a few people who like to drink it, so it is worth trying if you never have.

I grew up drinking buttermilk when I was a little girl in Moscow. It's also great to add to summer spinach soups (spinach, potatoes, onions, carrots) or cold beet soup (one of my favorites: http://mangotomato.blogspot.com/2008/06/after-buying-beets-at-dupont-farmers.html

I drank "real" buttermilk as a child, and thought it was wonderful. Obviously, some "store-bought" brands are better than others. My favorite is Braums---an Oklahoma brand that is available in neighboring states.

Nothing can compare to using real buttermilk. Putting lemon juice or vinegar in milk is ok as an emergency subsitute, but you are short-changing your recipe and yourself if you think it doesn't make a difference.