How to make butter and buttermilk
2013
I had a reader ask me a couple of weeks ago about where I get my raw butter. Sadly, I don’t have access to raw butter unless I make it myself. Luckily, it’s really easy to make your own butter. And what’s even cooler is that when you make butter you automatically make buttermilk, too. Then you get to make yummy things like buttermilk pancakes, buttermilk biscuits, buttermilk… you get the idea.
So in other words: Homemade butter and buttermilk is awesome.
How to make butter and buttermilk
First you need some cream. And if you have it on hand I’d also recommend ice water. Maybe some salt. That’s it. Unlike “buttery” spreads and other margarine junk food, butter is a simple food made from a simple ingredient that’s easy to pronounce… unless you are a dog. (Although if your dog can say “butter” please send me a video!)
If you want raw butter, you obviously need raw cream. Because I love you guys SO MUCH I let my raw milk sit for a day or two so I could show you how to make butter. It was a sacrifice, but you’re worth it.
If you’ve never skimmed cream from milk it’s easy:
Step 1: Let milk sit a couple of days until the milk and cream separate.
Step 2: Using a method of your choosing, collect that white golden goodness from the top.
I like to use a baster to suck up my cream. Just be careful not to dip it in too far or you will start collecting milk, too. Just let is barely touch the surface.
Of course, you can always just use store bought cream to make your own butter, too…
Now that you have cream
There are a number of methods you can find online to make butter. I’ve made butter in both my blender and food processor. Both work well. If you have a lot of cream, you’ll probably want a larger tool like the food processor. You could also just use your own “horse” power and put your cream in a jar with a tight lid and shake it until your arms fall off. Your choice.
Recipe: Homemade Butter and Buttermilk
Ingredients:
Cream (any amount, but the more you have the more butter you get)
Ice water (optional, but it does help preserve the butter longer)
Salt (optional, but again, helps the butter “keep” longer)
Directions:
1. Place cream in your blender or food processor. Making sure the lid is tight, start blending on high for 5 – 10 minutes. Ultimately you are taking your cream well beyond the “whipped cream” phase into an almost curdled phase.
2. Once your cream is well curdled and you see the fat start to separate from the milk, let it rest for a couple of minutes.
3. Pour the contents of the blender/processor into a cheesecloth (I’ve used a flour cloth, too). Squeeze out all the liquid into a bowl. Congratulations! That is your buttermilk!
4. Dump the butter that is left in the cheesecloth back into the food processor and pour some ice water over the butter. You don’t need a lot, just enough to help “rinse” the butter from any remaining buttermilk. This is technically an “optional” step but it will help your butter last longer.
5. Pulse your blender/processor a couple of times.
7. Pour contents back into cheesecloth. Squeeze out (and discard) remaining water. Congratulations! What’s left in your cheesecloth is butter. Feel free to add some sea salt or other herbs to make salted butter, herb butter, etc.
8. Pat yourself on the back. You are officially old school.
post script:
As you can tell from my pictures, I didn’t make a lot of butter. That’s because I didn’t have a lot of cream on hand. And in all honesty, it feels like a lot of work for very little butter. Besides, I have a hard time letting my raw milk sit that long! So I only make butter when I want to get some brownie points for my “Home on the Prairie” reality game show. Or when I want to impress people. Or when I really want some really awesome raw butter.
Because it is awesome. Make no mistake about that.
Have you made your own butter? What’s your favorite way to do it?
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Oh excellent! This is perfect to put in my homemade butter crock!
Homemade butter crock? You are awesome.
Yea! I am a potter and I have been making stoneware butter crocks and my new “experiment” is making sauerkraut crocks.
So cool!
This is so funny! We just made butter for the first time the other day and the kids think it’s great fun! Plus it tastes really really fabulous. We did ours in the KitchenAid mixer which worked great.
Good to know. That’s the one appliance I haven’t tried it in yet.
I did this a couple days ago! (In my kitchenaid mixer) Yes, it is really hard letting the raw milk just sit. But it is sooo good! I had 2 gallons of milk, let it sit for a couple days and got a little over a quart of cream. From that I got 1/2 pound of the most luscious butter I’ve ever tasted.
That’s awesome!
Let the milk sit refrigerated to separate, right? I just want to double check because to make whey I have to let it sit un-refrigerated for 4 days.
It would work either way. I always leave it in the fridge, but you would probably get something more like cultured butter if left at room temp for too long.
Hi! I have a question. I live in GA, and was told that it is illegal to sell “raw” cream. They said that what they sold was a low pasteurized cream (145 degrees for 30 min.)…what are your thoughts on making this recipe using a cream pasteurized this low? Healthy? Not healthy? Thanks!
Obviously I think raw is best, but if you can’t get your hands on that then low heat pasteurization is definitely you next best bet.
Hi Dee,
It’s possible that it’s just illegal to sell it commercially (in stores), but that you could buy it direct from the farm. That’s the case here in Vermont.
Here’s a link: http://www.realmilk.com/real-milk-finder/georgia/#ga
Apparantly, it’s legal for farms to sell raw milk for pet consumption… have any pets at your house? I’m sure *Rover* wouldn’t mind sharing with you.
Also heard a great tip – if you let the cream sit at room temp until it “heats up” to about 55 degrees, it goes to butter much faster. I do the “shake the Kerr jar” method and can get it done in less than 10 minutes if the cream is slightly warmer as opposed to more than 30 minutes of shaking (and my arms falling off) if I do it from straight out of the fridge.
Thanks for the tutorial – fresh is the best!
That’s a great tip, Andrea! Thank you!!!
I had a great food processor, it lasted me 43 years, but the plastic security part of the handle died a couple of months ago. I would love to have a new one. I sorely miss having a food processor. I love your “natural” tips. Thank you so much.
Awesome tutortial! Thanks. I can’t wait to try it… though, I’m still trying to locate my best source for raw milk. There’s a farm reasonably close to me, but they feed a combo of grass and grain. I’d prefer 100% grass-fed. I’m in Vermont, so since our pastures are covered in snow for 6 months, maybe a grain-feed is unavoidable. I don’t know…
I’ll come back and visit again.
Good luck, Pam! I know it can be hard to find no-grain raw milk. But even if you can’t, if the farm has good standards it will still be a better choice.