Homemade Cultured Buttermilk

This is one of my favorite recipes,  I use a lot of buttermilk in cooking and it seems to be so expensive at the store.  So I make my own.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk (from the store or home cultured)
• 1 to 2 quarts skim,1%,  2%, or whole milk from the store or raw milk

Also needed:

• 1 clean, dry quart or half gallon jar with a tight fitting two piece lid.

Pour buttermilk (1/4 cup for a quart jar or 1/2 cup for a half gallon jar) into your clean jar.  Top off the jar with your plain milk.  Tightly screw lid to the jar and shake vigorously for 1 minute.  Place in a warm (but not hot) area out of direct sunlight.  Let it sit there for 12 to 24 hours, until thickened.  Refrigerate when thick.  Use within two weeks.  If you re-culture this regularly, you can carry on re-culturing indefinitely. 

If you use skim, it may end up a little thinner.

When I am down to my last 1/4 to 1/2 cup I make another batch using the last of the batch.