Buttermilk Churner

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The Sanctum Sanctorum of the Indian household

Buttermilk Churner

Butter milk is a popular welcome drink with South Indians. During summer time big cool earthen pots containing churned buttermilk were kept in the open verandas’ of homes and farmhouses and those visiting were offered a glass of cool refreshing buttermilk-the quintessential summer drink.

Buttermilk is a traditional drink that was made by churning curd with the buttermilk churner to remove the butter content. Buttermilk is also known by different names all over India- as Majjiga in Telugu, moru in Tamil, Majjige in Kannada, Chaas in Gujrati, and lassi in Punjabi. Buttermilk is taken at any time of the day specially in summer but is usually taken towards the end of a meal as it has the ability to enhance digestion. In Western countries too buttermilk is consumed as Salted Yogurt Drink, Yogurt Shake and Indian Drinking Yogurt is a blend of three tastes which are sweet, sour and astringent.

Buttermilk can be prepared very easily by blending fresh curds, plain water and salt. By replacing salt with sugar it becomes sweet lassi, very popular in North India, having its origins in Punjab.

Method of Preparation
The best way to prepare buttermilk is to always use fresh home made curds and mix it in equal parts of water to make thick buttermilk.
For a more thinner buttermilk add 3 parts of water to one part of curds and use a hand churner (traditional wooden or stainless steel churner) to churn the mixture ,rolling it back and forth between your hands.

Do this for 2 minutes. This action helps in blending the mixture well and any fat which is in the curd will separate and rise to the top. Skim off the fat.
This can be done either by a hand churner or by using a blender to blend on low speed for a minute.

Andhra Spiced Buttermilk is a soothing combination of fresh home made curds, water, fresh curry leaves, crushed ginger, green chillies, salt and a dash of lemon juice. This spice and herb infused drink is a perfect blend of myriad flavours…. sweet, spicy, sour and salty which balances and pacifies all the three doshas -Vata, Pitta and Kapha, as per Ayurveda and strengthens and increases appetite and digestive power.

Another variation is to add a tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves to the above prepared buttermilk.

Another version is to add a dash of lemon juice to plain salted buttermilk.
North Indian version of buttermilk or lassi calls for the use of rock salt, dry roasted cumin powder and fresh mint leaves.

Each home in India has its own version of buttermilk be it North, South, East or West. The basic recipe of buttermilk is the same, only the infusion of spices and herbs differs according to each home or region.

Benefits of Buttermilk
Ayurvedic nutrition recommends buttermilk to pacify Pitta dosha (with the addition of sugar or rose water), pacify Vata and Kapha (use of rock salt, honey, spices like dry-roasted cumin powder, black pepper and herbs like ginger).Buttermilk is highly recommended as one the best home remedies for certain ailments like piles, diarrhoea, jaundice and dysfunctions of liver and spleen.

This traditional thirst-quenching refreshing drink with high therapeutic and nutritional properties is appetizing, cooling , rejuvenating, soothing and serves as an excellent antidote to sunstrokes during peak Indian summer. It goes without saying that buttermilk is the healthiest low calorie milk product among the many dairy products and works as a good calcium substitute for the high calorie dairy products.

Buttermilk serves as a good home remedy for removing sun tan. By applying buttermilk to the face and rinsing off with cool water, once dry ,regularly makes the tan disappear.

Types of Buttermilk Hand Churners
The gadget exists in various forms literally in all traditional households. They can be made out of wood, Aluminium, or Stainless Steel. Today electrical mixers have replaced this tool.

Traditional buttermilk churner in iron with a wooden handle

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Modern buttermilk churner in stainless steel with a plastic handle

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Traditional buttermilk hand churner
One of the finest and the simplest is this one exhibited here, that belongs to the priestly family of Chennapatna. This gadget is purely manual and very scientifically crafted by highly skilled carpenters. The high levels of precision ensure a very smooth operation. The Tamils called this ‘More Mathu’. This is from a part of the personal antique collection of Mr. Steve Borgia and his family.

Antique buttermilk churning equipment
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Unusual Methods of Making Lassi

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Lassi being made in a washing machine???
In Ludhiana, a sadar dhaba owner uses a small top loading washing machine to make large quantities of lassi with minimum effort and in a very short time.

Hardeep Singh Sidhu, a retired maintenance engineer with Swaraj Tractors in Mohali, has been interested in how electrical gadgets are modified and used for unintended purposes. He informs that the washing machine doubling up as a lassi maker became the rage in the late eighties, especially with semi-automatic and locally produced washing machines that came quite cheap.

“People would use it for churning milk and then clean it for use in washing clothes as well,” he says. For churning smaller volumes of lassi, say 5-6 litres, washing machines were too large, so someone took a table fan shaft, modified it and added blades to make a portable blender that now comes for Rs 600-700.

A washing machine converted to a lassi maker
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