This simple recipe of mesophilic culture can generally be used for all recipes requiring a Mesophilic Starter. The taste of the final product will vary slightly from that of a true cheese culture.
- Start with 2 cups of FRESH store bought Cultured Buttermilk.
- Let the 2 Cups of buttermilk reach room temp. (70°F / 21°C).
- Then allow the buttermilk to ripen for about 6-8 hrs. (Store bought buttermilk does not have a high enough concentration of bacteria to serve as a starter culture without ripening.)
- The resulting buttermilk will be much thicker and sour then what you started with. It should have the consistency of fresh yogurt, if it doesn’t let it sit a few more hours.
- Pour this culture into a full sized CLEAN ice cube tray and put into your FREEZER. As with all steps of cheese making, cleanliness is next to godliness.
- Once frozen, remove the cubes and put into a CLEAN sealed container or plastic freezer bags. It is a good idea to label the container to distinguish it from your thermophilic culture. And also the date of preparation will save you guessing it later.
- The resulting ice cubes are each 1 oz of mesophilic starter.
- Add these cubes (thawed) to your recipes as required. The cubes will keep for about one month.
To make more starter culture, simply thaw one cube and add into 2 cups of fresh milk. Mix thoroughly with a fork or a whisk. Allow the milk/culture to stand at room temperature (70°F / 21°C) for 16-24 hours or until the consistency of fresh yogurt. Then follow from step 5.
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