I've become intrigued with the idea of making my own butter. Is it worth the effort? I would appreciate anyone who has made their own butter to comment on what you used to make it and how you used it. Can it be substituted for store-bought butter? How does it compare with Kerrygold, etc. Is there anything you would not use it for?
I've never made my own butter, but I imagine it'd be fun to try. In order to make butter like Kerrygold you'd have to use grass fed milk. From what I understand, making butter is simple. Get ready, set, churn.
I've made butter before and it's really easy! My advice would be to use double cream rather than milk and it can be a good idea to make a slightly salted variety. Unsalted homemade butter keeps fresh for only a few days but if you add salt you can get 2-3 weeks out of it. Churn/whisk it up, drain the buttermilk and use pats to get it into shape. Once you've got your basic butter sorted you can start adding different flavours - garlic, herbs, brandy... Hope this helps
I've made my own a couple of times an also recommend using double cream. Double cream = double the fat and butter should, indeed, be really fat.
As to it's cost effectiveness, unless you can purchase cream in large amounts...probably not but it's been a few decades since I made my own butter. And please let us know your further adventures in butter making!
I make butter on a fairly frequent basis -- seems like every holiday leaves me with a lot of extra cream that is seeking to become something. I've found that the easiest way is to make butter is to use a KitchenAid with wisk attachment. Start slow to keep the splattering under control and gradually increase the speed as the cream whips and eventually breaks. It is fun and a good science experience for kids (or anyone else who doesn't know where butter comes from). In terms of quality, the better the cream the better the butter. Alta Dena Manufacturing Cream (sold in half-gallons and easily found) makes a good butter despite having carageenan additive. For keeping improved quality it essential to properly wash the butter to cleanse it of residual whey. And it equally important to dry the butter after washing to avoid too much moisture in the final product. The whey and water tend to degrade the butter faster. Home-made butter is no different than any other butter in terms of using it. I have yet to experiment with making cultured butter, which I imagine would result in a more European tasting butter. My understanding of cultured butter technique is that it takes linger but is not really any more difficult than making "sweet cream" butter.
Back when I was a " living off the land" kind of girl, we had a cow that gave the most wonderful tasting milk that was about 1/3 heavy cream.
We would skim off the cream and put it in a sterilized mason jar and leave it on the counter for about 24 hours. When there were little bubble slowly drifting to the top, I'd shake the jar (obviously with a lid on) until it curdled into butter and whey. Then I'd line a fine mesh sieve with a couple layers of cheese cloth, place it over a bowl and dump in the whole, lumpy mess. I'd press as much of the buttermilk and whey with a spatula and reserve it for biscuits later. Then I'd wash the butter in cold cold water pressing again with the spatula and forming the butter into a nice ball.
I'm a big fan of the Amish butter crock that keeps the butter at room temp perfect for spreading.
This kind of "sour cream" butter is a bit tangier than Kerry Gold, but has a great flavor for using in savory applications-especially smearing on fresh corn on the cob!
An Amish butter crock I believe is very similar to a French butter dish. What you do is put the butter in the top part and water in the bottom (if its unsalted butter you put salt in the water.) The water seals the butter from being exposed to the air. Here is a pick:
We used to make our own butter when I was a kid. We bought, fresh, unpasteurized milk from friends just up the road from us. We'd skim the cream off the top and use that for our butter making. We had a vintage glass butter churn with a hand cranked wooden paddle. My brother and I would churn the butter was we watched Saturday morning cartoons. My parents never knew about rinsing the butter, and didn't salt it, so we had to eat it up within a few days or it would start going rancid.
oooopppss.... not paying attention...multi tasking and .... over whipping the cream.
sad to say it happens to the best of us.... lol
butter is very easy to make. Put heavy whipping/manufacturing cream into a kitchen aid mixer and let her rip... rinse off the butter until the water comes clean and add salt if desired.
oooopppss.... not paying attention...multi tasking and .... over whipping the cream.
sad to say it happens to the best of us.... lol
butter is very easy to make. Put heavy whipping/manufacturing cream into a kitchen aid mixer and let her rip... rinse off the butter until the water comes clean and add salt if desired.
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