Cornbread mix smells like sour milk

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paqman

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As the title states, our corn bread mix smells like sour milk. And this has been going on for at least a year now. We don't make it very often, but lately, whenever we buy mix from the store it has this nasty smell. The brand doesn't seem to matter, we've tried multiple brands and they all seem to have it. And they're not expired. But they didn't smell like this a year ago or so. I'm not sure when we first noticed it. After they're baked it's not as strong, but definitely still there. Anyone know what's going on? It's not just me my wife and diughter smell it as well! What is going on please?
 
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Welcome to CookingBites

:welcome:

I'm not familiar with cornbread from a packet mix, but given that it is made with buttermilk normally, which can give off a sour smell, I'm not surprised that there is an odour when it is cooked.

Is the odour during baking or after it has cooled?

Have you tasted it? If it only smells sour, then I suspect this is normal. If it tastes sour as well, then I'd be questioning it.
 
I get murican cornbread as well, no complaints from me, mines aunt Betty or something. I'm upstairs ATM. I look later. Yellow packet.

Russ
 
Welcome! Does it contain buttermilk powder? We never use store bought mixes for cornbread, too easy to make from scratch. Plus the cornmeal can be used for other dishes.
 
Well, if you're just trying a couple of different brands, it could be that they're made in the same factory and branded differently, so I'd try as many as I could, just to see. I'd try yellow versus white as well.

If every single brand has the same sour odor/taste, then I'd have to look at what's happening when you prepare it. I'm not sure what the box mixes call for, but if they call for oil, is your oil rancid? If they call for milk, maybe it's the milk that's off? If they call for eggs, etc.

If it's still funky, I'd buy some cornmeal, follow the recipe on the back of the box (it's really maybe one step more involved than a box mix) and see if that's off.

Maybe I'd even ask a friend to mix up a batch, and if all of that still results in that sourness, I'd start thinking about some kind of sensitivity that's developed, something environmental in the house, maybe.
 
This is stuff I get

Russ

37204
 
Wow guys, for some reason email notifications were not on when I posted this, and have completely forgotten about it! Thanks for all the replies. Honestly haven't tried making it since I posted this last (that I can remember). We don't make it often, but started noticing this when we do.
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Welcome to CookingBites

:welcome:

I'm not familiar with cornbread from a packet mix, but given that it is made with buttermilk normally, which can give off a sour smell, I'm not surprised that there is an odour when it is cooked.

Is the odour during baking or after it has cooled?

Have you tasted it? If it only smells sour, then I suspect this is normal. If it tastes sour as well, then I'd be questioning it.
Click to expand...
I didn't have any in our pantry at the moment, but I looked online at a few brands we've tried (Krusteaz, Famous Dave's, can't remember others at the moment), but neither of them had buttermilk powder in it. The odor can be smelled in all stages. The powder right out of the box has the smell, after you've mixed in the ingredients you can smell it, and then when after it's baked you can smell it. Can't quite remember during baking. It is less I think after it's cooled. But still there some. The taste is also there, but again, not as much. And it's never gotten anyone sick, just a weird smell is all.

CraigC said:
Welcome! Does it contain buttermilk powder? We never use store bought mixes for cornbread, too easy to make from scratch. Plus the cornmeal can be used for other dishes.
Click to expand...
Not that I could see in the ones we've tried.

TastyReuben said:
Well, if you're just trying a couple of different brands, it could be that they're made in the same factory and branded differently, so I'd try as many as I could, just to see. I'd try yellow versus white as well.

If every single brand has the same sour odor/taste, then I'd have to look at what's happening when you prepare it. I'm not sure what the box mixes call for, but if they call for oil, is your oil rancid? If they call for milk, maybe it's the milk that's off? If they call for eggs, etc.

If it's still funky, I'd buy some cornmeal, follow the recipe on the back of the box (it's really maybe one step more involved than a box mix) and see if that's off.

Maybe I'd even ask a friend to mix up a batch, and if all of that still results in that sourness, I'd start thinking about some kind of sensitivity that's developed, something environmental in the house, maybe.
Click to expand...
Could be, the two off the top of my head are Krusteaz and Famous Dave's. I could easily see Famous Dave's just relabeling Krusteaz, although, they are a bit different in texture. And we go through eggs and milk so quickly that we've never had an issue with either of those going bad at our house. For the most part oil too. However I know it's not any of our ingredients, because the powder mix has that smell right when you open the box, before we even add anything to it.
 
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