Buttermilk is primarily due to lactic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria while fermenting lactose, the primary sugar in milk. As the bacteria produce lactic acid, the pH of the milk decreases and casein, the primary milk protein, precipitates, causing the curdling or clabbering of milk. This process makes buttermilk thicker than plain milk. While both traditional and cultured buttermilk contain lactic acid, traditional buttermilk tends to be less viscous, whereas cultured buttermilk is more viscous. Buttermilk can be drunk straight, and it can also be used in cooking. Soda bread is a bread in which the acid in buttermilk reacts
Sodium bicarbonate amounts of product are further obtained by solution mining, pumping heated water through previously mined nahcolite beds and reconstituting the dissolved nahcolite above ground through a natural cooling crystallization process. Currently, only Genesis Alkali (formerly Tronox, formerly FMC) in the Green River Wyoming basin has successfully commercially solution mined the product. Sodium bicarbonate, as "bicarbonate of soda", was a frequent source of punch lines for Groucho Marx in Marx brothers movies. In "Duck Soup", Marx plays the leader of a nation at war. In one scene, he receives a message from the battlefield that his general is reporting a gas