hurrah! i made butter! but how do i know if i washed all the buttermilk off?

[bluebell]

ooh it was so exciting to make butter today! it was my first time and i couldn't believe how easy it was. i used the food processer with the whiskers. i've been scared to try it for the last year! and it was the best butter i've ever had!
there didn't seem to be much buttermilk though so wondering if i blended it enough? i strained off what there was and then i poured cold water into the processor and whisked it around for a bit. then i got the butter and wrapped it in muslin and washed it under the tap. would this have got rid of the butter milk? it is quite a soft butter, even after its been in the fridge for a while.

next time i'll try cultured butter. but anyone know if i've done this correctly?

[AJP]

If you didn't get much buttermilk, and the butter is still soft after being in the fridge for a while, it's possible that you processed it long enough that some of the buttermilk got whipped back in to the butter. It's easy to do that using a food processor, because it happens so fast that it's easy to miss the point when the butter breaks and stop it before the buttermilk starts whipping back in. It just means your butter will be more wet (try melting some in a pan, does it bubble and sizzle longer than butter typically would?), and won't keep as long. So eat it up quickly.

Did you press it after you washed it, to get as much moisture out as possible? We do it in a bowl with a wide wooden spoon, some people roll it flat in a tea towel or muslin with a rolling pin (which can be a horrible mess if the butter's not cold enough, it squishes into the fabric).

Depending on how thick the cream is, we usually end up with at least an equal volume of buttermilk as the butter that churns out of it.

[bluebell]

Originally Posted by AJP

If you didn't get much buttermilk, and the butter is still soft after being in the fridge for a while, it's possible that you processed it long enough that some of the buttermilk got whipped back in to the butter. It's easy to do that using a food processor, because it happens so fast that it's easy to miss the point when the butter breaks and stop it before the buttermilk starts whipping back in. It just means your butter will be more wet (try melting some in a pan, does it bubble and sizzle longer than butter typically would?), and won't keep as long. So eat it up quickly.

Did you press it after you washed it, to get as much moisture out as possible? We do it in a bowl with a wide wooden spoon, some people roll it flat in a tea towel or muslin with a rolling pin (which can be a horrible mess if the butter's not cold enough, it squishes into the fabric).

Depending on how thick the cream is, we usually end up with at least an equal volume of buttermilk as the butter that churns out of it.

aah yes i think that it must have got whipped back in because i saw that it had seperated but i wasn't sure how long i should then continue to whip it so i whipped it for a while longer just in case! it is quite moist, i did squeeze it a bit in the muslin but it was making a real sticky mess so i stopped! we'll eat it quickly but i would like to try and make a harder butter next time. so do i stop whipping as soon as i see buttermilk? the cream was very thick before i started.
what do you use to make your butter? i would love to buy a churner but i can only find antique ones that look a bit rusty and seem to be more for ornaments than practical use. thanks for your help.

[AJP]

We just shake cream in a mason jar with a tight lid. Don't fill the jar more than half full, though, because sometimes the cream whips before it breaks and fills up the jar, you need to have enough room for it to still slap against the sides if that happens. It's very easy to see when it breaks if you do it in a jar. Sometimes the butter clumps together into one big ball, sometimes it's smaller pieces, but it's obvious when it separates. Sometimes it breaks into butter within about 10 minutes of shaking, sometimes it takes much longer than that (seasonal variation, but it's a mystery to me as to exactly why that happens). Then we dump it through a wire mesh strainer, and press the butter in a bowl to get the rest of the buttermilk out, working in some salt at the end. We have used the food processor, too, but I think we got a slightly lower yield of butter that way, and it's more to clean up, plus as you discovered it's easier to overdo it.

[avivaelona]

You actually can start with whipped cream if you made whipped cream for something and have leftover (as long as you didn't add flavorings or sugar or anything) We just put the whipped cream in a mason jar and shake, it goes very quickly that way.