I found this recipe in one of my favorite gardening magazines, Organic Gardening, and decided to try it out for my Guerilla Dining Dinner Party at Pocket Square Farm (see August 25th post). The result was insanely delicious and oh so simple. Hard to believe but true.
Homemade butter has an altogether different texture and much fresher taste than even the most expensive gourmet butters available from pricey markets such as Whole Foods or Bristol Farms. Sprinkle it with a little kosher salt and spread it over a warm, crusty handful of straight-from-the-oven french bread... Mmmm! (Beware, this can become addictive.) Here are the simple steps.
Home "Churned" Butter
Ingredients
Organic cream or organic whipping cream with a butterfat content of at least 35 percent
(Any amount of cream you wish; I used a pint here.)
Salt to taste
Very cold water, for rinsing
Directions
1. Pour the cream into the bowl of your electric mixer and turn it on to medium speed. Blend it as if you were making whipped cream; it will begin to form stiff peaks.
2a. Leave the mixer running and walk away to do something else or take a short rest. Really!After about ten minutes your cream will magically transform into butter, changing from white to yellow, separating into butter and buttermilk. You will know it's done when the steady whirring sound of the mixer changes to a thump, thump, thump as the butter hits the side of the bowl repeatedly. Head back to the kitchen for the next step!
2b. Or, alternately, if you don't have a stand mixer, pour a small amount of cream into a jar with a tightly sealed lid and hand it over to a busy 5-year-old with energy to burn! My son (who thinks outside the box on most occasions) decided to try making butter his way--holding a canning jar of cream between his feet while he jumped on a trampoline in the back yard about 200 times. (Of course! What other way could there be?) His end result was the same as mine, only he burned about a hundred calories in the process and I burned... well... never mind.
Mason's trampoline-butter-churning technique.I do not recommend you try this at home!
When the mixer makes a thumping sound, the butter has separated from the buttermilk.
3. Turn off the mixer (or extricate the sealed container from your child) and carefully pour off the buttermilk into a container with a lid. Store the sealed buttermilk in the fridge and use within two days to make old fashioned buttermilk pancakes or biscuits!
4. With your lump of butter still in the mixing bowl, use a spatula to press it down and squeeze out any remaining liquid (you are basically kneading the butter). Add about 1/2 cup of very cold filtered water to the butter in the bowl to rinse it, and the pour off and discard the cloudy liquid. Repeat several times until the liquid coming off the butter runs clear. This is called washing the butter, and it keeps your end product from spoiling.
5. Pack your fresh butter in a container with a sealed lid. You may either salt it now (I recommend kosher salt) or wait until use... or don't salt it at all if you prefer!
4. With your lump of butter still in the mixing bowl, use a spatula to press it down and squeeze out any remaining liquid (you are basically kneading the butter). Add about 1/2 cup of very cold filtered water to the butter in the bowl to rinse it, and the pour off and discard the cloudy liquid. Repeat several times until the liquid coming off the butter runs clear. This is called washing the butter, and it keeps your end product from spoiling.
5. Pack your fresh butter in a container with a sealed lid. You may either salt it now (I recommend kosher salt) or wait until use... or don't salt it at all if you prefer!
Your home "churned" butter will keep for one week in the refrigerator or [supposedly] up to six months if frozen--though I can't vouch for the later claim because mine never lasts that long!
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