Lemon-Buttermilk Sherbet

While teaching classes in the American heartland few years back, as I started to measure out some buttermilk, I stopped and gasped, horrified to see tiny yellow flecks floating on top. Being a city slicker, I figured there was something wrong with the buttermilk and thought I’d have to toss it. But on closer inspection, I noticed that those flecks were little bits of real, honest-to-goodness butter, something you don’t see often anymore, since most buttermilk is cultured rather than a by-product of the butter-making process. The crowd got a good laugh at my startled reaction to my first encounter with real, old-fashioned buttermilk. And I promised them that I’d never dismiss the country’s midsection as “flyover states” again, since there’s very good buttermilk down there.