Making Butter
Butter can be made from home so easily which helps you avoid the added "extras" as well as saving money!
Prices on all food is going up! One way to avoid those spikes is to make at home what you can. Over the last 2 years, I have also become more involved in understanding WHAT is IN my food! There are so many unnecessary added ingredients that I would like to avoid. So CHEERS to making things at home that you can!
Butter is an easy one to start with! We milk Guernsey Cows so they have a higher butterfat content. As well our girl Jean is an A2A2 cow which means the proteins in her milk have been found to be more easily digested for those that normally have issues with milk. I start each day by pulling at least 1 gallon of milk from the cows to set aside to collect the cream off of for butter. The rest we either drink or turn into cheese.
How to Make Butter
Step 1 - Collect your Cream
Here is a gallon of milk and you can see the cream has risen to the top (notice the color change!) Depending on your cow breed and what they are eating, will affect how much cream you are getting. Guernsey and Jersey cows typically give the most cream.
I simply scoop out the cream either into a container to save for later or directly into the blender (you can also use your stand mixer, but we don't have one of those and the blender does a great job)
Step 2 - Blend!
Our blender only has 2 speeds so we opt for LOW. Your cream will go through 2 phrases... WHIPPED and then CURD. When you hit the WHIPPED stage you may have to add some water to the blender because it gets thick and then blade likes to stop working.
Here we are at the WHIPPED stage... Add a bit of water and keep going.
Now the curd stage!
Step 3 - Drain and Press
Make sure to collect the buttermilk that you squish from the butter. You can use this in anything! I use it in just about any recipe that calls for water! Some use cheese cloth I prefer a fine mesh strainer (it's easier to wash in my opinion)
Once the majority of the buttermilk is drained off, start running cold water over the curds and use a metal spoon to fold and press the butter curds till you start getting a ball. You can use your hands as well, but I don't like the feel of the butter on my fingers :)
Keep folding and pressing till there is no more milk squishing out. You can then mix in salt if you want, I never do.
Step 4 - Store
If we are in a surplus of butter, I will typically bag this butter and store it in the freezer. Otherwise, you can container it and pop it right in the fridge.
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