Product Review: Vegan Buttermilk!!

A few weeks ago, when shopping at Sprouts, a new product caught my eye! The Best Taste is Plant-Based Vegan Buttermilk by Mill It. That's a great name for a product (and from a company I'd never heard of), and as a Southerner, I was very excited to see this crucial cornbread and pancake ingredient in vegan form.

Now, for years, I've gotten by just fine by making my own vegan buttermilk with plant milk and vinegar. A small splash of ACV in just about any type of plant milk works great in pancakes, cornbread, biscuits, and any other buttermilk-containing recipes. But there's something exciting about see plant-based buttermilk sold in the store. Plus, this version was made with live active cultures, just like dairy buttermilk. My homemade version doesn't have all that!

The buttermilk is made with cultured ancient grains (sorghum and millet), coconut cream, and sunflower seed butter.  First, I tried the milk straight from the bottle, and I have to say it didn't taste quite like I remember dairy buttermilk tasting. It seemed a bit chalky. Not bad. But not something I'd want to drink from a glass.

But it did have that buttermilk twang, and I knew it'd be great in pancakes! So last Sunday, I whipped up some Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes using this Tasty recipe (but subbing the buttermilk and subbing whole wheat pastry flour for the white flour). They turned out great! Light and fluffy with a very subtle twang.

Next, I tried the buttermilk in cornbread (using my recipe from Cookin' Crunk). Again, light and fluffy! Probably some of the best cornbread I've made in a while! I served this with a bowl of homemade Purple Hull Pea Soup (made with the last of my CSA peas).

The buttermilk did great with cornbread and pancakes, but the bottle also suggested adding this to smoothies. So, I've been adding a half-cup to my post-run smoothies each morning, and I do believe that's been my favorite use of the buttermilk so far! You can really taste the active cultures in a smoothie, much like when you add yogurt to a smoothie. I finished the bottle off in my smoothie this morning, and I'm a little sad about it.