Questions & Answers
from "On Ice Cream" featured in Dairy Foods magazine
and sourced from "On Ice Cream" technical short courses.

Use of Buttermilk:

Question: Does the use of buttermilk add any functional advantage to frozen dessert mixes?

Answer: Buttermilk used in frozen desserts is not "cultured" buttermilk but, rather, the byproduct from the production of butter. During butter manufacturing (churning of sweet cream), the milk fat globule membrane is separated from the rest of the milk fat (i.e., butter) and is rich (compared to the rest of milk fat) in phospholipid. This makes buttermilk solids a good source of emulsifier functionality when used as most, or all, of the MSNF in the product. The components of buttermilk (3-5% milk fat and 95-97% MSNF dry basis) are normally highly cost effective and functional as partial replacements for milk solids not fat and milk fat. However, buttermilk production is tied to butter production. This can cause serious seasonal cost, availability, compositional, and quality variability, particularly in condensed buttermilk. Additionally, phospholipids carried in buttermilk solids are typically unsaturated, which, if not handled and processed (condensing, drying, storing, etc.) with care, can oxidize to create a variety of off flavors. All this can be managed, but only by properly selecting, understanding, and controlling your buttermilk supply chain, inventory, and quality.