Butter Making Questions

[haitimom]

So my dh got sick of hearing me complain about the cost of raw milk. That and my complaints while driving past the neighbors dairy,can I just say GAG. He bought me a little Jersey for our home use. I am now inundated with raw milk. I've tried making yogurt. The first two tries went to the piglets, cuz I burnt it. The third try didn't set firm but I still am working on it. Anyway I made three pounds of butter the other night. I tried and tried to wash all the milk out of it. It's been a few days and now it is smelling kind of soured. Is this "cultured". If it is how does anybody eat it? It was a tremendous amount of work to make the butter especially if it goes bad so quickly. hat am I doing wrong? TIA!!

[Attached Mama]

You can make the yogurt w/o cooking it - that way it won't burn and it will still have the good raw milk enzymes in it. Just heat milk with a scoop of yogurt til warm but not hot, then place in something about 100 degrees for 12 hours or so. It won't come out really thick. If you want it thick, I"ve found you have to drain it or strain it.

Did you refridgerate the butter? I've found if it's left out it will sour very quickly regardless of how well it was rinsed. It's still ok to eat, but I don't like the taste of it.

You are lucky to have a cow!

[haitimom]

I have read that it is best to make cheese with milk straight from the cow, before it has been chilled. I'm going to try this with the yogurt tonight. I did strain off the whey from two qts. to make a thicker yogurt. I gave the whey to the broiler chicks. I'm going to try to make a yogurt cheese with the three other qts. It gives alot of whey! I've already given some from the cheese yogurt to the pigs.
I have a almost a whole gallon of cream to make into butter. I'm kind of dreading the work. My dairying skills definately need to improve. Everytime I'm in my kitchen I think of women 100 to 150 years ago. The amount of physical work they did on a daily basis is mind boggling to me! I need to find out how best to store it and clean it so that it isn't ruined.

[Bensmommy]

Here's my experience:
Churn your butter, wash it well, and salt with sea salt. Pack the butter in small mason jars and freeze. Leave one jar out on the counter for use (keep the lid on to keep the air out) and when it gets low, get another out of the freezer to thaw.

My butter keeps VERY well this way; definitely doesn't get that parmesan cheesy smell/taste to it (which I don't like, but is still safe to eat). I'm pretty sure the sea salt helps preserve it also. It doesn't change the nutritive value of the butter to freeze it, so it's a win-win situation!

[haitimom]

Thanks Bensmommy,
I was wondering about freezing it. That is good to know. I was looking at getting a butter mold. Has anybody used one of these? If so does it help get more of the water out of the butter after washing it?