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Cultured Cream Butter Anyone?

post #1 of 15
3/27/08 at 7:45am
Thread Starter 
I have an idea. I'm going to try and make cultured butter from culturing cream. Anyone have any idea how long I should culture the cream? Creme Fraiche or beyond? Will it separate out like it normally does when whipped?
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post #2 of 15
3/27/08 at 2:41pm
Thread Starter 
OK just tell me it's the stupidest idea ever. I can take it. Go ahead. Say it.
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post #3 of 15
3/27/08 at 2:51pm
I just came home 5 minutes ago with some Issigny Ste-Mere cultured butter... I'll let you know if it's a stoopid idea as soon as I find a piece of bread....

:D
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post #4 of 15
3/27/08 at 4:55pm
It's neither stupid nor fugly. It's easy. You're right about a culture/acidity about equal to creme fraiche.

How to:

Add 1/3 cup of cultured buttermilk, yogurt, creme fraiche, cream fresa, etc., to a quart of the richest cream you can get. (Note, it's the bacteria in the cultured starter that's important, not its fat content. The non-cream will get a second life as buttermilk.)

Let the cream sit for between 8 and 12 hours at a temperature between 75F and 85F. The cream is cultured when it has noticeably thickened and tastes (yes!) like creme fraiche -- which, btw, it is.

Cool the cultured cream to between 50F and 60F degrees. Beat it in a stand mixer with the paddle until the butter solidifies. Separate the buttermilk and reserve for other purposes (which can include keeping refrigerated as a butter starter).

Knead the butter in ice water. Pour off the water, and continue adding ice water and kneading until the water stays clear. Form, wrap and store.


BDL
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post #5 of 15
3/28/08 at 5:49am
Great explanation BDL!

Just a comment for Canucks from the GWN (Great White North) out there...

If you want to attempt the recipe above, make sure that the cultured dairy you purchase is UNpasteurized. Unfortunately, most cultured dairy products in Canada are pasteurized.

Another note: the cultured used to make buttermilk, sour cream and crème fraîche are not the same as the ones used to make yogurt.
For authenticity sake, buttermilk cultures are used to make cultured cream butter. The residual milk left after churning is actually real buttermilk (at least originally). Today, buttermilk is just cultured skim milk and is no longer a butter making by-product.

(yogurt cultures are thermophilic meaning they like high temperature compared to buttermilk cultures which are mesophilic (temperate). To culture yogurt, the ideal temp is closer to 100F (40C) for 5 to 7 hours)

Last word of caution: make sure all your equipment is well sanitized before attempting to culture dairy products at home... the propose temps are also ideal to grow nasty microbes like e-coli, salmonella, etc.)

Luc H.
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post #6 of 15
3/29/08 at 8:04am
You might not need to go to so much trouble.

Back in my hippie days ('70s-commune, organic farming, weed, music, sweat-lodges, full moons, you get the picture) we had a cow. Clover was the sweetest "looking" little brown and white Jersey with big, doe like eyes that effectively hid the evil, ***** nature lurking in her tiny little brain. If one could manage the bucket, stool, head-butts, kicks and crushes against the barn wall enough to milk her-she gave the sweetest creamiest milk you can imagine. Each gallon yielded about a quart and a half of cream.

We would often skim off the cream and set it in a clean jar on the counter for about 18-24 hours, then make butter from it. All you had to do was shake the jar for about 5 minutes, then skim and wash the curds. This slight souring made for delicious butter-especially when spread on corn fresh from the garden.

I've never had anything like it since. Even the cultured European butters are significantly different. Still very good, just different.
Give it a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
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post #7 of 15
3/29/08 at 12:14pm
food,

Not condemning you understand... I think I lived on a commune in the late sixties, too. But I can't be entirely sure.

Anyway, it's not a good idea to leave unpasteurized milk on the counter without, at minimum, planting a known healthy bacteria. Even then ... The vast majority of people, the vast majority of times won't suffer any ill effect. The problem lies (or sits!) with those few people those few times.

BDL
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post #8 of 15
3/29/08 at 12:25pm
Oh, I know BDL. No offense taken.
One thing I didn't mention is that we always heated the raw milk to kill any nasty bacteria before doing anything else with it. We did have some acquaintances who firmly believed in the benefits of raw milk:crazy:-the whole family got pretty sick at one time. Of course, if you're making cheese, it's a different question all together.

The sour cream butter can be made with store-bought heavy cream as well. I make it occasionally when in the mood.
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post #9 of 15
3/30/08 at 8:18am
Thread Starter 
OK wow! This isn't too bad at all. I stopped it at creme fraiche stage. Maybe I can take it further next time. I also ought to get some better cream other than Costco cream.
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post #10 of 15
3/30/08 at 9:48am
Funny, when describing our schizophrenic cow, Clover, I mentioned that she had an evil side. One of the words I used was starred out-*****.

I didn't know that

D
E
M
O
N

was a curse word. Seems pretty innocent to me.
Glitch in the censoring program?
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post #11 of 15
3/30/08 at 5:42pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone have an idea of how much salt to add?
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post #12 of 15
3/30/08 at 7:30pm
My French butter says max 2%.
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post #13 of 15
4/30/08 at 11:58am
You could purchase "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon. Her book has instructions on how to very easily make any cultured milk product. It is a very good book on how to prepare basic foods that have been around for centuries. I personally enjoy cultured butter.
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post #14 of 15
5/1/08 at 3:04am
for cultured cream:
put the cow in a library, make sure the books are easily accessible. Leave about a week at room temperature.
the cream she produces should be cultured.
ok, sorry, i couldn;t resist
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post #15 of 15
5/1/08 at 4:55am
LOL Siduri,

I can picture the cow with reading glasses on the tip of her nose looking up from a book she's reading clearing her throat and saying: Ahem.... mmooooo!
Hehehe
Luc H.
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