Ok folks. This is so easy, it’s not even funny.
Maybe a little.
I could go into a lecture about what’s in store bought butter, especially the non-organic, but I’ll spare you for now. The Chef is the pro at that, and right now he’s in a meeting. Consider yourself lucky for now, because it’s quite disturbing. The point is, make as many things you can yourself, and if you can’t; go organic. Just do research.
Anyways…
With having using butter quite a bit in our house, I knew we needed a change into organic, without breaking the bank account. In thinking this, I remembered my mom making us make butter for our “Home ec” class while being home-schooled. She simply put heavy cream in a leak-proof container and had us shake, and shake, and shake, and shake, and….
You get it.
But it actually worked back then, and I was proud.
The Chef actually wasn’t 100% sold that by simply shaking heavy cream, it made butter, so I had to prove him wrong. I ran for our half-gallon organic heavy cream (do not bug your eyes out at me! I see you!) and tracked down a leakproof container that would allow me to get the butter out easily after.
After shaking, and shaking, and shaking, and dancing, and jumping, and…. you GET it, we peeked in.
It was still heavy cream. Just with lots of bubbles.
On to more shaking, shimmying, grooving, high-kicking….
10 minutes later: light whipped cream. COM’ON!!!!
…………………… (that’s me shaking. I really think this was the colonials way of pre-working off the butter….Genius’s )…………………………………
The Chef peeked in and said “I don’t think it will move anymore. It’s not moving.” It was true. It wasn’t moving. It was now thick whipped cream. Lawdy lawdy…. WILL THIS NEVER END?? This was supposed to be a good idea!!!!
I took charge once again and shook my brains out. Then, the heaven’s broke and I heard the beginning of the divorce of the butter fat and buttermilk. The sound was glorious!!!!
Only a couple minutes after that and we had most beautiful butter I have ever seen. (Probably my arms talking…)
I corralled some cheese cloth and strained the butter and buttermilk into a glass. Please keep the buttermilk people. This stuff is liquid gold. It is the real buttermilk. Not the thick gross stuff that you buy at the store. Some say it’s kind of tangy but I didn’t think it had a ton of tang. It was just gooood. My kid drank it straight, but you can use it in pancakes, homemade ice cream, coffee creamer, sauces, etc. Use your imagination. It makes your dollar stretch further.
Next wash your butter either by an ice bath or rinse it under the tap and squeeze out the excess buttermilk. It helps not to have it spoil as quickly.
Reflecting back on this, if you’re making a small batch, the shaking method will work. It’s healthy for you. (The shaking part.) But if you are wanted to make a pound or more, put it in a mixer and have it whip it up for you.
Pun intended.
If you’re using a mixer, it only takes a few minutes, watch the consistency and once it looks like butter, stop. I honestly don’t know what happens if you over whip butter, or if you even can. If you know, let me know! (I’m sure The Chef knows but he’s not here at the moment.) *I did this little bit for the first time because I was a little afraid it wasn’t going to work. I’m here to tell you, it works. Be brave and go for any amount.*
Homemade butter might not be as cheap as store bought butter, but at Costco a half-gallon of organic heavy cream is around $6 and you get about 2 lbs or more, and you get buttermilk to use in your other delicious recipes your going to make. Plus, it’s organic, you know exactly what’s going into it, and the process in which it was made.
Mix it up too!! Add salt, garlic salt, honey, cinnamon and honey and serve it with your homemade artisan bread (recipe found here), and seriously wow your guests.
Look at you!! Be proud of yourself! I mean I was a little proud of me. Ask The Chef. I wanted butter on everything that night.
Now go create!!!
The Wife
[…] cup of butter milk (you can either use store bought, left over actual buttermilk from homemade butter, or make you own with 1/2 milk and 1/2 Tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice–let it sit for […]