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HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE BUTTER

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Homemade butter is surprisingly easy to make. With a usual recipe, you take multiple ingredients and make one thing with it. When making butter, you take one ingredient and make multiple ingredients with it!

Other recipes to try:

Churning homemade butter seems to be one of the picturesque memories of the old world. Back when people did much more for themselves at home.

Our ancestors had to stay very busy and if you wanted something special, you had to make it yourself.

Instead of an old fashion butter churn we are going to be using a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO MAKE HOMEMADE BUTTER

  • Heavy whipping cream
  • Salt (optional)

EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO MAKE HOMEMADE BUTTER

All of the equipment is optional as you could make butter using a whisk and a bowl. The only difference between them is the difficulty of making the butter, the amount of time it takes to make it, and how boujee you are.

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE BUTTER

  • First it is best to place all of the equipment that you will be using in the freezer so it is all very cold.
  • Ensure the cream and all utensils are very cold.
  • Begin whipping the cream with the whisk attachment.
  • Keep whipping!
  • KEEP WHIPPING!!
  • AND KEEP WHIPPING!!!

  • Once you start to see beads of fat coming together and buttermilk separating, you may switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment.
  • The paddle attachment will help to combine the globules of fat.
Remove butter from buttermilk
Squeeze out whatever butter milk you can
  • If you are going to use the butter right away you can use it now. This is very fresh butter.
  • If you want the butter to keep for a long time you will need to wash all of the buttermilk out of it.
  • If you want to make salted butter, you will add it now. Unless you are going to wash the butter then add the salt after the butter has been washed.

HOW TO WASH BUTTER TO PRESERVE IT

  • I didn’t wash this butter because I used it right away but washing butter is very easy. The reason for washing butter is because if the buttermilk is left in the butter, it will go sour quickly.
  • Put all of the butter in a bowl of ice water. Mush and massage the butter around in the ice water to expose as much of the butter to the ice water as possible.
  • This process does two things. The ice keeps the butter firm, and the buttermilk will leach out into the water. When the water gets cloudy you can change out the ice water and wash the butter again.
  • The more you wash the butter, the less cloudy the water will get from buttermilk. The cleaner the butter, the longer it will keep.

HOW LONG WILL BUTTER STAY GOOD FOR?

  • Butter will stay good outside of the fridge for around 2 days. We personally use it when outside of the fridge for longer than this but it is up to you. Just know if it has off smells or flavors, it is best not to use it.
  • If kept in the refrigerator, butter will keep for 1-3 months. If kept in the freezer, butter can stay good for around a year.

HOW TO CAN BUTTER

  • Another option to preserve butter for longer is by canning it. It is considered to be unsafe to can butter at home yourself but many people do it.
  • Butter must be canned in a pressure canner due to its low acidity. Canned butter is supposed to keep for up to 5 years!
  • I am not going to get too into canning butter here but you can check out this excellent blog post which goes in depth on the subject.

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH BUTTERMILK?

  • Don’t discard the buttermilk! This is the milky liquid left behind after the butter has been removed.
  • Cold buttermilk is one of the most delicious drinks in the world. Buttermilk can also be used to ferment foods, make bread, make sauces, and many more applications.
  • Fresh buttermilk will keep for 14 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.
Yield: 1 LB OF BUTTER

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE BUTTER

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE BUTTER
Prep Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 5 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 quart of heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt (optional)

Instructions

  1. Place all of the equipment you will be using in the freezer to cool it down. (optional)
  2. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the heavy cream until you can see fat globules and buttermilk begin to separate.
  3. Switch to the paddle attachment and mix it until the butter begins to stick together a little bit more.
  4. Get your hands dirty. Take the butter out of the buttermilk and compress it into a ball. Use it now or wash it.

To wash the butter place the butter ball in an ice water bath and massage the butter around in the ice water.

Change out the ice water as needed until all of the buttermilk has been worked out of the butter ball.

Now you may add salt to the butter if you want it to be salted.

Wrap the butter and store it in the refrigerator or freezer.

Notes

  • Keeping your equipment and ingredients cold is not completely necessary but it will be much easier to work with the butter at the end. Anytime you are working with dairy it is a good idea to keep it cold unless otherwise instructed by your recipe.
  • I used a stand mixer for this recipe but you can use anything you please. You may even use a whisk and a bowl. Anything that will agitate the cream enough to whip it.
  • If you are using the butter right away you don't necessarily have to wash it. However, butter will not keep for long if it is not washed because the buttermilk will go sour.
  • Don't discard the buttermilk! Fresh buttermilk is one of the most delicious things you will ever taste. It goes great in a huge variety of recipes and is also good for fermenting foods.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

32

Serving Size:

1 tbsp
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 102Total Fat: 11.5gSaturated Fat: 7.2gCholesterol: 30.5mgSodium: 1.6mgCarbohydrates: 0.01gFiber: 0gSugar: 0.01gProtein: 0.12g

Did you make this recipe?

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© Eligh Miller-Polivka
Category: DAIRY
Eligh Miller-Polivka
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