Raw butter help

[Mama~Love]

Hello all,

I've been making butter from raw cream for a few weeks now. I either use my Kitchenaid mixer, or just shake it. The kids love helping with that .

My problem is the butter has an off-taste and smell (like soured milk) within a day of making it. I rinse & rinse the butter until the water is clear, then press it between towels to get rid of the buttermilk. I switch towels frequently, until there's no more liquid.

I don't add salt, or anything else when I'm done. I also leave it on the counter to keep it soft & spreadable - should I put it in the refrigerator instead?

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Is that how it's supposed to smell/taste?

TIA!

[kbchavez]

I don't make my own butter, but I know the answer to this one! It's the lack of salt and keeping it on the counter. I buy unsalted raw butter, and it gets very cheesy quite quickly when I leave it out. I also buy salted raw butter, and it does not.

[Odilia]

I leave out a day's worth of butter at a time with no problems. I do usually salt my butter. Also, adding a capsule of vitamin E oil to your butter (either add it to the cream while churning or add it into the butter as you work out the buttermilk and water) will help it's keeping quality. I usually just do this with butter that I'm freezing when I stock up for the cow's dry time.

Usually poor keeping is a result of not all the buttermilk being washed out. If your butter tastes good initially but quickly goes rancid, I'd think that was the case. If it tastes off right away, though, there may be something in the cow's diet that's creating the off taste.

[Mama~Love]

Thank you for the help! I'll add salt & vit. E next time & see how it goes. I *thought* I was getting all of the buttermilk out, but I'll try harder with that too.