i've got raw double cream, how can i make butter with it?

[bluebell]

i can't find raw butter anywhere here in england, we have a farm down the road that does milk, cream and cheese, but they won't do butter because they say it needs too much cream for them to be able to make and sell. so i bought up some cream, but i've not got a clue how to make butter apart from putting it into a jamjar and shaking it like they did at a toddler group once!!! do i need to ferment it first before i shake it? i don't have a food mixer otherwise i'd use that but i do have a food processer and i tried to make it with that once with the cream from the top of the milk but it didn't seem to work to well and i got hardly anything. i think i need to eat loads of good butter i think it would help me alot, and as i can't buy it here i'm going to have to make it! any ideas?

[Bensmommy]

I make my own butter in a breadmaker that also churns butter; it's a Toastmaster Bread and Butter maker model #1195. It will churn butter in about 30min from 1cup of cream. Maybe do a web search for this machine, or just google "butter churn" and see what you come up with.

As for fermenting, etc- no, you can make fresh, sweet-cream butter from fresh cream. The older the cream (even if it isn't "sour") the more parmesean cheesy your butter will smell (it's still good, but less appealing in my taste). You can also make cultured butter, but I'm unsure how exactly that's done.

If you have a food processor, just try continuous whipping with a blade. First the cream will whip up into a "whip cream" but then, just past that fluffy cream look it will separate into butter and butter milk. It happens quite quickly. Once it's separated, pour off the buttermilk (I save mine to soak or drink), then rinse the butter very well with cold water until the water is clear- you have to rinse the buttermilk off or it will sour the butter quickly. Once the butter is well rinsed, I salt mine (because that's how I prefer it- but you definitely don't have to), and put it in the butter bell on my counter. That's it!

Hope this helps!

[JaneSmith1010]

my mom just dumps it into her kitchenmaid mixer and lets it beat until it is obviously butter. easy, fun and nutritious!

[tabitha]

cultured butter is so wonderful.

if you have it, pour a tiny teaspoon of buttermilk into your cream and sit it at room temperature all day. you can also buy a buttermilk freezer culture and keep it on hand- a few granules will do the trick for making butter, buttermilk, and sour cream. here is a link. whether you culture your butter or not, better butter is always made at room temperature. it is also important that you have all the cream you are going to use together in one container while it warms. if you add two creams together for the churning one will come to butter first and you will leave the other behind in the buttermilk.

once you have room temp, you can use a jar shaking method, the kitchen aid, a food processor or a butter churn. it will be obvious when the butter comes (flakes or balls of butter pulling out of liquid butter milk) but if you miss it in a mixer or processor, and churn it back together, there is no fixing it (although it is still yummy) once the butter is obviously out of the milk, strain the whole mess with a cloth and save the butter milk. do not crush the butter granules together as it strains. once the majority of the buttermilk flows away into your bowl, set the cloth with butter over a colander in the sink and use your coldest water (if you kitchen tap is cold enough, a spray nozzle is so helpful here!) to pour over the loose butter in the cloth until it runs clear. occasionally stir or readjust the butter without crushing it together until there is no milk left in it. let the water drip away and now you may salt it to taste- sprinkle it over. (i like mine unsalted)

a butter board or bowl is useful at this point, but i dont own one and i get by.

still in the wet cloth, fold it up and press it together, keeping the butter in a uniform mass. 'work' the butter without smearing it, keeping in mind that if you salted it this is how that salt is getting distributed. into the cloth you'll see water bead and sometimes milk. when you are confident that it is water & milk free (do you best, but it wont hurt if it has milk... it just will sour faster) form it into a shape you like. a butter mold is nice, but i dont own one of those either. sometimes if i want the final result to have a measurement i will press it into 1/2 cup measures and spoon it out. then i put it in wax paper or the like in the freezer or fridge.

the buttermilk, while cultured, is not like what you buy in the store. it will likely sell like that, but it is sweet because all of the milk sugar is left behind and little of the fat. it is wonderful in cooking, soaking, etc. it will also culture other things if you keep it alive. if you want 'regular' buttermilk, use whole skimmed milk and add some buttermilk to it at room temp. let it sit for 24 hours loosely covered and you will have something like what they sell at the store.

when i am getting a lot of milk i make a lot of butter and freeze it. cultured butter lasts longer and tastes better as it sours.

[smeisnotapirate]

The Amish woman at the farm we get our stuff from says that she puts the cream in a jar with a bit of salt and a couple marbles and has her kids roll it back and forth on the floor between them until it becomes butter.

If'n you don't have a stand mixer.

[bluebell]

thanks everyone for the tips. tabitha thanks so much for your detailed explanation. i would like to culture the cream first but i don't have any buttermilk, can i use anything else? or i suppose i could make a small amount of butter with one tub of cream and then use the buttermilk from that to culture the rest of the cream. i've been enjoying eating the cream itself - so i don't know how much cream i'll have to make butter with soon!!

thanks.

[tabitha]

bluebell, it wont work that way. you have to start with a culture (a specific set of bacteria) and while it is possible to capture your own buttermilk it is time consuming and the results aren't always pretty. if you want cultured butter but aren't sure you want to buy a ready to use powdered culture, but some active buttermilk from the store. even non-organic crap buttermilk, as long as it is alive and cultured, will work.

it is a lot like yogurt, you can keep it alive in your own good milk and have it on hand when you want to make butter or sour cream. the bacteria that makes cultured butter, SC, and buttermilk like room temperature, but can live in the fridge too. the bacteria that make
yogurt like warmer temps, but again survive the fridge and can be used again and again.


i like to have both a live jar of Buttermilk in the fridge and a freeze-dried back up culture. that way if i kill my working culture i dont have to go to the store and buy anything.

[Bensmommy]

OK, so if I have raw, cultured buttermilk (not the buttermilk I pour off my regular butter) I can make cultured butter? Cool! I think I'll try that tomorrow! I've never tasted cultured raw butter, but I'd love to try. Thanks for the tip!

[bluebell]

thanks tabitha for the clarification, i can get some butter milk from whole foods in london i think.
will try it out anyway and see what happens!