Making Butter

Anybody making their own butter? Thinking it can't be that difficult,any advice or tips? Thank you.

buy a cow, then make butter.

I used to buy unpastuerised cream. It came from Jersey cows so was very creamy. I used to make it into butter. It is simple and tricky at the same time. Here is what I did:

1. Stuck a litre or 2 into my food processor and processed till the fat became solid and the whey separated out. It always took longer than I thought it should.

2. I drained the whey off and added water and turned the processor on for about 10 seconds to wash the remainder of the whey out.

2a. I drained the free liquid away and added salt at this point, from memory but I wouldn't hold me to that, and blended it in. I always guessed at how much salt preferring to go lightly rather than be heavy handed.

Then came the tricky bit.

3. I had two butter pats. I'd take about half of the butter from the processor and put the remainder in the fridge while I worked on the butter I had. This had to be pressed and pressed and pressed a whole lot to squeeze out the remaining water and whey.

4. Repeat with the other half. It was quite a time consuming process and I wish I had some sort of butter press to do the job

You have to get as much of the whey and water out as you can
If your butter pats are small then you have to work with smaller amounts

I had some attractive grooves in my pats so I'd use them to shape the butter and put and make the finished product look pretty.

After that I kept what I needed and stored the rest in the deep freeze and used when needed.

You do not have to use a processor. You can use a manual rotary hand beater of you want or the whisk attachment in a mixer. I found the blender just did the job faster.

Sometimes I'd forget to add salt so had to add it to the squeezed 'dry' butter. It all had to go back into the blender bowl and was a jolly nuisance when I forgot so I always had the salt right there beside me.

I preferred not to use iodised salt. I preferred to use sea salt but the choice is personal.

Other just beat up cream to the solid fat, liquid whey stage and leave it at that. I was just fussy and as we only ate that butter it was important to get it right.

It isn't but nor is it economical.

You should not add salt ,until the butter has been made.

That is probably because there is still of lot of water and liquid that has to be drained/squeezed out rather than for any other reason and you are probably right but it is quite tricky to get the salt all the way through once you have it right and a ready to shape.

This agree with as well. Making your own isn't something I'd recommend for saving money. If money is the driving force then what I did was watch on here and eventually someone led me to a shop that was selling butter below $4.00. I was planning a trip out and my route took me past the shop so I threw a chilly bin into the boot and just bought an entire box. That has worked out well for me so far. Butter at our local p-n-S is $5.79 and rising steadily.

Did you freeze it Buzzy? How long can you freeze butter for? TIA

We get fresh milk from a jersey herd so lots of cream
I found that letting the cream sit on the till it comes to room temperature it takes less time to turn into butter
I gave a Mad Millies jar with a spring thing inside which helps
Once the butter forms I drain it then add clean water to the jar and shake then drain off water and keep doing this till water is clear then tip butter into dish and press out water then add salt and shape
All up it takes about 10 minutes

yes made all my own butter as milked 23 house cows then separated Just use my cake mixer after washed and made into balls put in the freezer

i added salt while still cream state

Thanks for all that info,I think I might give it a go.

I always store butter, excepting the block I am using, in the freezer. It will pretty much lasts indefinitely there.

I never leave butter out of the fridge either. It doesn't take very long to get to spreadable consistency once out of the fridge.

Wish I'd done that.

I make cultured butter by fermenting the cream in milk kefir grains first , absolutely delicious.