How to Make Butter

[FarmerChick]

we were chatting about butter in another thread. this is what I found and am going to give it a try. Will pick up cream at the store on next visit and give it a whirl and a cost comparison.

Does anyone know how long fresh butter lasts in the fridge? just wondering...



Overview:
Making butter in pioneer times was a difficult chore. Churning was physically tiring, and it took a long time. Usually the young girls would be the ones to churn and they would make up rhymes to sing and help pass the time. Make butter at home with the recipe below. Make sure to make up rhymes and songs to help pass the time, because a healthy dose of patience is part of the recipe!

Materials: 1 quart-size glass jar with a screw-top lid
2 cups of whipping cream
mixing bowl
4-5 ice cubes (leave in freezer until ready to use)
1/4 teaspoon salt
butter dish


Procedure:
1. Wash the jar and lid thoroughly with a little dish soap and hot water. Dry completely.
2. Take cream from refrigerator (leave it in its sealed container). Place cream and jar in a warm place such as next to the stove or in the sun. Let stand for two hours.
3. Put warm cram in the jar and tighten on the lid. Hold the jar with one end in each hand. Shake up and down non-stop for 15 to 20 minutes. Now is the time to try those rhymes! Also, try taking turns with a friend.
4. As the butter begins to form from the cream it will separate or "gather" and stick together in a solid mass. If, after 20 minutes, butter has not begun to gather, add a few teaspoons of hot water, replace the lid and mix again.
5. Once the butter ball stops getting any larger, open the jar and pour the buttermilk into a glass. Try drinking it. Buttermilk was considered a real treat on the frontier!
6. Wash your hands with soap and hot water.
7. Put the butter in the mixing bowl and add the ice cubes. Work the melt water into the butter just until it feels cold. Discard the remaining ice cubes and water.
8. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the surface of the butter and then mix it into the butter until it completely disappears.
9. Shape the butter into any pattern you like - a square, star, circle, flower, animal or any think you like. Pioneers often had carved butter molds the they pressed their new butter into. When they came out of the mold, the butter had a beautiful pattern in it.
10. Place it on the butter dish and store it in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

 

[annmarie]

According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, butter can be safely stored in the refrigerator for 3 months, or frozen for 12 months. Good luck in your butter endeavor. Please let us know how it goes (and also let us know what songs you make up while you make it!)!

 

[user251]

its easy to that way but its expensive. we buy amish sweet cream butter from a produce stand/store its 8 bucks for a 2# log but i think its worth every penny and no shaking or rolling the jar for so little return. i wish someone around here would sell whole cow milk so i could do it myself. :|

 

[Cassandra]

its easy to that way but its expensive. we buy amish sweet cream butter from a produce stand/store its 8 bucks for a 2# log but i think its worth every penny and no shaking or rolling the jar for so little return. i wish someone around here would sell whole cow milk so i could do it myself. :|

Totally agree with you! I have just about decided it's not worth making any homemade dairy products unless you own a cow! I have asked around our local farm groups and everything. No one has any milk, as far as I can locate.

I remember making milk when I was a girl, though. My mamaw had a cow named Bossy. She would pour the milk into a big metal bowl (like a restaurant size mixing bowl), cover it with a dish towel and let it sit overnight. The next morning, there would be a thick layer of ... I don't know what... all the fat, I guess which had risen to the top. She used a big metal spoon and scooped all the fat out into a large jar, that we'd shake until we got butter.

I have never been able to make butter with store-bought heavy whipping cream in a jar. It always turns to whipped cream for me. Once it gets like that, it won't shake any more! (What do you do?!) I have made butter with heavy whipping cream by using an electric hand mixer, though. It is SO SO good. (Not exactly pioneer friendly, though) If I remember correctly, you have to beat it about half an hour to get the butter to separate from the milk.


ETA some parts I bolded so the post would make more sense and be more clear. LOL

Cassandra

 

[user251]

i did it with heavy whipping cream, it has to be cold or it will not form a ball, so chill the cream shake it a while then chill some more. when i got tired of shaking it i rolled it around. dont forget to work out the water and buttermilk out of the butter ball before molding it for storage.

 

[FarmerChick]

wow sounds more like a pain.
I like the mixer idea but I don't own one.
Hmm...maybe to rethink this...but remember my friend Barb owns a dairy farm not a mile from me. I have all the raw milk I want. Tons of it..LOL

thanks all
interesting to read about the experience!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Karen, you milk your goats. Have you thought about separating the cream from goats milk and making butter from that? Might taste a bit different from cows milk, but it should work.

I remember making butter in a jar that way when I was 15. Your arms do get tired from shaking that jar!

 

[Cassandra]

I added some comments (in bold) to my post above so it wasn't so vague.

I read about goats that their milk is already homogonized, which makes the cream hard to separate out. But a local lady here with goats told me that you could store your goat milk in one of those sun-tea like pitchers that has the spout at the bottom--so you are only using the bottom milk and not disturbing the top milk--and the cream will rise. And you can collect small amounts at a time like this and put it in the freezer, adding to your freezer bag or container each time, until you have a few cups. Then you can thaw it out and shake it to make butter.

I've never tried it, though.

Cassandra

 

[me&thegals]

It takes quite a lot of cream to make a little butter. It varies on fat content, but generally I get about 1/2 cup butter from 4 cups cream. I just let the cream get to room temp, dump in a blender and beat it for 2-3 min, or until it just sounds like it's clumping. When I open the blender, I can see the butter chunks floating on top. Then, I strain off the whey (and feed to the chickens), then rinse the butter under cold water to get the rest of the whey out. After that, I smoosh the butter on a wooden cutting board with a wooden spoon to further work the whey out. It does NOT store very well, or maybe I'm just not getting it pure enough. It IS great frozen, though. Unless I'm going to use mine immediately, I freeze it for baking to prevent it from going bad.

I guess I wouldn't recommend this unless you're getting free cream like we do :/

 

[FarmerChick]

quail all my milk is for soap..none to spare hardly..lol
I don't like the taste actually for drinking. just me