Thursday, February 3, 2011

Making Butter - The Kind You Eat!

I made butter and I feel so domestic! :) The kids and I worked on this little project together and I just felt like sharing with all of you. I always believed that making butter was much more difficult than this. I remember having to crank and crank the butter churn for my mom. It took forever! But this was very simple.

Last night I poured some organic heavy whipping cream into a quart jar. I put the lid on and let it set out for 12 hours/overnight. This is the only time that planning ahead comes into play here.

I opened it this morning and it smelled a bit sour, just as it was supposed to. I started shaking it with well-definined shakes. About three minutes later we had solid butter and buttermilk.



I drained off the buttermilk into the little jar.


From there I added a bit of filtered water to the butter and "washed" the butter. I then drained it again and the result was this "cleaned" butter.


I prefer salted butter so I added some sprinkles of fine pink himalayan salt that is supposed to be so good for you. The kids and I shared a bagel to give it a test and it was very yummy!



I have so many variations in mind...add olive oil to have some spreadable butter in the fridge, add honey to make honey butter, add herbs, etc. Of course, I could do the same with the regular organic butter we buy at Costco but it seems more fun that I started with a jar of heavy cream and ended up with butter.

We buy the half-gallon containers of organic cream at Costco and I figure if I made my own, it would be cheaper than buying the organic butter at Costco. Plus it was just plain fun!

My 8 year old son took these pictures for me and I think he did a really good job!

9 comments:

A Life Deliberate Soap Co. Blog said...

Ok, you're just disgusting. LOL! But in a GOOD way! I bow to your domesticity! I think I need to try this now. How much buttermilk yields how much butter? Awesome post!

tenth avenue soapworks said...

Isn't making something from scratch so satisfying? I love trying things the "old-fashioned" way. It looks delicious! Soon you'll be needing a cow to keep up with your fresh butter cravings! ;-P

Holly said...

We had this tonight on some gluten free cornbread. I guess I can't say it's above and beyond regular butter but I love knowing I made it from scratch.

I used about 1.5 cups of heavy whipping cream and I ended up with about 1 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of buttermilk. I didn't measure it though so don't hold me to it.

Between Friends said...

Holly, it looks amazing! Ever since my sister-in-law told me about her home-spun butter, I've been meaning to give it a try. would you mind sharing the steps to making butter from cream?

Holly said...

This is the video I watched to learn how to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oropJD0CUxI

:)

Natural Aroma Beauty Handmade Soaps said...

That is fantastic! I found it really interesting and it sounds so much more yummy and better for you than margarine.

Between Friends said...

Thank you Holly! I'll go check it out right now. :)

Patrice-The Soap Seduction said...

Wow-impressive! I think I'll give it a shot:D

Amy W said...

How fun! My parents get milk from a local farm with the cream still on top, so I know my mom has made some butter with it. It does taste better when you make it yourself!