Arismama--I skim the cream off the top using a measuring cup. I literally scoop it up (very shallow) and pour it into a smaller container. It's a little tedious but it works. I generally get about a pint of cream off every gallon of raw cow milk. I think if you pour, the milk would rush out and the cream (since it's heavier) would tip back with the jar.
Softmama--Are you using goat's milk or cow's milk? My understanding is that you need a special machine to seperate cream from goat milk but the cream should rise to the surface on the cow milk. It's generally a tad darker than the milk.
Making butter is really easy. The main difference between making butter and whip cream is that you don't stop mixing until you make butter
The fastest way to make butter is to let the cream come to room temperature (better yet, let it sit out for 24 hours--this makes more flavorful butter). Let the bowl for the kitchen aid mixer sit in the freezer for an hour or two so it's nice and cold. I just dump the cream in the bowl and use the mixing paddle. Mix at the highest speed you can without splattering everywhere (after a few minutes you should be able to turn it up a notch). Once it starts to look like tiny butter balls in liquid (the initial separation of the butter from the buttermilk), turn the mixer down do the balls can stick together. It's done when everything starts "slapping" around. At this point I just strain off the buttermilk (don't throw it out--it's great for soaking flour--see NT). It's very important to clean the butter immediately. Put it in a bowl and smash it with a spoon (you can do this with your hands too but it's messy). Pour off the buttermilk that seeps out. Put some cold water in the bowl (must be cold) and continue to smash the butter. Pour off the water and repeat until the water stays clear. This is really important because if there is buttermilk left in the butter, the butter will go bad quickly. If you want to salt it, do it after you've rinsed the butter (if you add too much salt, you can rinse the butter with water again). That's it! It's really easy. If you chill the mixing bowl the process of making butter takes about 15 minutes. If the bowl is at room temp, it's more like an hour. Of course you can also make butter by shaking cream in a mason jar (only fill it half full with cream) but it's kind of tiring (may be fun for kids though).
Let me know if that doesn't make sense
) Is butter just the milk cream? nothing added at all?
