I discovered lait ribot within an hour of landing at the port in St. Malo. We were looking for some food and water to tide us over until we could get to our destination. And there it was in a convenience store fridge… I saw it again when we went to a grocery store to stock up on supplies… this time there were several brands. Curiosity got the better of me, and I ended up trying a bunch of different brands.
What is lait ribot?
Lait ribot is French-style buttermilk. Brittany was famous for making butter. And buttermilk was quite popular because it was a cheap, healthy, probiotic and protein-rich drink.
This delicious beverage is still very popular, and in some grocery stores, there are more brands of lait ribot than milk! However, it is no longer cheap leftover buttermilk from making butter. Modern-day French buttermilk is a cultured whole milk product that has a thick consistency and cheesy flavour.
It is typically drunk as a snack or part of a meal. It’s also used for baking (of course) and is added to mashed potatoes and soups. We found it to be very drinkable and went through 4 litres in one week!
Easy Lait Ribot
Lait ribot is a cultured buttermilk from Brittany in France. Made with whole milk, it is a thick and cheesy probiotic beverage. It is easy to make at home, provided you have some original culture from Brittany!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 Liter 1x
- Category: Beverage
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 liter of whole milk
- 1/4 cup of cultured French buttermilk
Instructions
- Mix milk and culture together.
- Leave it out on the counter for 12-24 hours. It is finished when it has a slightly sour taste and thicker consistency.
- Refrigerate until ready to drink.
Notes
- French buttermilk is REALLY easy to culture. I tried several brands and they all worked well.
- The process for culturing is identical to making fermented buttermilk in North America, but it involves different cultures. The flavour is less sour and more cheesy.
Keywords: Brittany, buttermilk, cultured, probiotic, traditional, dairy, milk
Hi Emillie,
I late to the whole fermenting game and have a question about making lait ribot. It’s not really available here in the North East of England but I did manage to get some from an Internet site (at a cost! ). Having used it as a starter to make my own how many times can I use the consecutive batches for a starter culture before I need to buy it fresh again or can I use it ad infinitum?
I think you can use it over and over again. The only trick is that you need to keep culturing regularly (at least once every 2 weeks) to keep the culture active. Alternatively, you freeze a small amount every time you make it, then use that to culture the next batch. I do that with ferments that I don’t make as regularly, for example, sour cream. Enjoy!