Making Butter

It's really quite simple and oh so satisfying. Nothing tastes better than homemade butter on homemade bread. Simply divine! Yet another thing to check off my self-sufficiency list!



Start off with heavy cream, the heaviest you can get a hold of. In my neck of the woods, the heaviest available is 35%, commonly known as Whipping cream. A lower cream content can also be made into butter but it takes longer.

Whipping Cream recently went on sale in my area so I pick up some. I am using 500 ml of 35% cream and two 500 ml mason jars.

Fill jars half full and place on the lids. And now shake! You don't have to shake vigorously, just keep the liquid moving.




After about 10 minutes the cream gets thicker.




And then it will almost solidify. At this stage it becomes hard to shake and it really feels like you aren't doing anything because the cream is stuck to the outer edge of the jar and then...puff! The whey separates and you have a big lump of butter in the middle splashing around.



We kept shaking for a few more minutes before emptying the whey (cloudy milk) and adding ice cold water. Shake around again. Pour out, add more ice water. Keep going until the liquid is pretty clear. Pour out remaining water.



Then put your butter on top of a cloth. I used a cheesecloth in this picture but the fibers were too far apart. A linen cloth would be best. Squeeze the cloth around the butter and let the remaining whey drip out.



It's important to get the whey out or else the butter will expire pretty quickly. Then remove cloth, and place butter in your desired container and refrigerate!

Since I was doing two jars my daughter volunteered to help with one. We had a shake off, to see who's would turn into butter first. She won by the way but only because I was stopping to take pictures.

You can also make butter using a blender or food processor or a mixer. To get directions for this method check out Down to Earth

My 500 ml ( 1 pint) yielded almost two cups or one pound of butter. Let's forget about self-sufficiency for a moment and look at the numbers. At the regular price of $3.59for whipping cream, this process hardly makes it worth it when pre-made butter costs $2.99 but when whipping cream is on sale for $1.99 it makes financial sense. It certainly can provide a nice treat at a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast!