Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Making butter

Some of you had questions about home-churned butter.  If you'd like to try it yourself, buy some whipping cream at the store, put it in a jar or other container that seals tightly, and start shaking.  Make sure the jar isn't over half full; One-third full is probably ideal.  The faster and harder you shake the container, the sooner you'll have butter.  My daughter used to work at a day-care, and they would let the children make a small amount of butter all by themselves, giving them each a quart jar with a half-pint of cream.  
It's so easy, even a child could do it, as the old saying goes. 
Does it taste fantastic?  It does if you like butter, because that's what it tastes like.  Butter. 
Do I salt my butter?  I used to, and for spreading on toast and such I actually prefer it salted.  However, since I store it in the freezer these days, I leave the salt out.  
As you can imagine, since we are two people in their sixties who can't quite keep their weight where it should be, one of whom has had heart issues, we don't consume a lot of butter.  That's why I deemed 1/3 cup portions to be about right for our table use (and popcorn use).  
When the butter is churned, you're left with buttermilk, but it is nothing like cultured buttermilk you buy in the store.  It's only suitable for using in baked goods.  And since I'm STILL bringing in a gallon of milk every day (sigh), I have plenty of regular milk for cooking and baking.  
Yesterday the cow had less milk in her udder when she came up than she has ever had since this calf was born, so I am hoping against hope that he's starting to consume more milk.  When that happens, I'll only milk once or twice a week again, as I've done in the past; then I won't be making butter because there won't be all this excess cream I have now.  
*added later:  once again, I only got 1/2 gallon of milk.  Things are looking up.


If there are any more questions about home-churned butter, feel free to ask.

7 comments:

  1. Your butter sounds wonderful. It's been a long long time since I had the real thing, but is is so much better than what I buy in the store. Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

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  2. oh, i wish i had your problem. a gallon of milk a day. when I was young we churned butter. We always let the milk sour. we perfered the sour taste. I was grown before I found you could churn butter from sweet milk.

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  3. How interesting. I thought it would be more complicated. It sounds easy. What could be better than homemade buuter. YUMMY. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. That is interesting! I too thought there would be more to it.

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  5. I love real butter but it aint good for me (I hate getting old), so I only get it on special occasions. Why do they think that oily stuff they sell in the store tastes like butter?

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  6. Anonymous11:44 AM

    I'm still available for adoption. Will do chores for food too.

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  7. I still think that it would taste WAY better than store bought. Like clotted cream. Yum.

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