why can’t you make cream by mixing (butter)milk and butter?

Question

Butter is made by churning cream, which causes all the fat molecules to clump together (creating butter) and leaves buttermilk as a side product.

Following this logic, why can’t you make cream again when you combine butter and buttermilk? Or even butter and regular milk for that matter

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Commercial buttermilk – what you buy at the store – isn’t the same as the buttermilk left over from butter churning.

Commercial buttermilk is actually skim milk (or similar) that has had bacterial cultures added to it so it _slightly_ ferments. That is what gives it the traditional tangy flavor.