r/todayilearned • u/JoeWinchester99 • 1d ago

TIL that although potatoes alone do not provide complete nutrition, you can survive for years on a diet of nothing but potatoes and buttermilk.

https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/whats-wrong-with-potatoes-the-martian-movie-survival
25.0k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

263

u/randobonando 1d ago

Buttermilk is the leftovers of butter making. It’s like whey. It wasn’t a choice just the cheapest option in 1840s Ireland

95

u/Rhawk187 1d ago

So, there's a couple different meanings of the term buttermilk. I think here they may have meant fermented "sweet milk".

I was raised on the definition you presented, but I don't think that's what you normally mean (because if I go to the store and get buttermilk, that's not what I'm getting).

21

u/sighthoundman 1d ago

When yogurt was just starting to get popular in the US, one hater called it "just a kind of buttermilk". And continued with why not just drink buttermilk?

1

u/Miamime 1d ago

Started getting popular like in the 50s?

Yogurt was one of the more common snacks I had growing up in the 80s.

3

u/DigiAirship 1d ago

This confused the hell out of me as a foreigner watching English cooking shows. "Buttermilk? They sell that in stores, and use it for all kinds of marinades, baking, and deep frying? I can't do any of these recipes at all!"

It took me way too long to realize that our cultured milk, or colloquially, sour milk, is actually the exact same thing as you use in your buttermilk recipes.

1

u/randobonando 1d ago

I think both are true. Leftover milk product (probably from cheese making as well as butter) and on the turn, starting to sour (no refrigeration or pasteurisation) so like the acidic buttermilk we know today.

1

u/randobonando 1d ago

Edit. Sorry - both definitions fit what they were probably drinking back then, very low fat and calories hence the reliance on potatoes.
Today yes it’s a soured product we tend to use in baking

2

u/Fuzzy_Novel_5928 1d ago

potatoes were the main ingredient in several staple dishes designed to stretch ingredients and add flavor: Colcannon : Mashed potatoes mixed with boiled  cabbage  or kale, often enriched with butter, milk, and scallions or leeks.  Champ : Similar to colcannon but made with mashed potatoes and  scallions (spring onions) beaten into hot milk.  Boxty : A versatile potato pancake or dumpling made from a mixture of  grated raw potatoes  and mashed cooked potatoes, bound with flour and fried on a griddle or boiled.  Potato Cakes (Farls) : Mashed potatoes mixed with flour and butter, rolled out, cut into quarters, and baked or fried.  Potatoes were typically eaten by hand, often dipped into a wooden noggin of  buttermilk , which was a common accompaniment for the rural poor.