We recently purchased a milk cow from Amishville to aid in our milk consumption, which is huge when you add, milk, butter, cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, etc, etc, to the daily menu.  The cool thing about it is, that all can be made at home and is a fairly simple process.  Even if you don’t have a cow, the process will be the same for using store bought milk and cream.

So I will be doing a series of post in the future on creating these products in your own kitchen.

April is her name.  A Guernsey about eight years old and very gentle.  She waits at the gate every morning and evening for my husband to milk.  She doesn’t get tied off, he just dumps her feed on the ground and she’s as good as gold while he does his duty to fill the pail.  We bring it in and strain it through a very fine material and than immediately refrigerate it.

She’s not a huge milk producer but it adds up quick and keeps my containers and the top shelf in my fridge full as we rotate to use the oldest to the newest milk.  She does give a really good layer of cream, which I use a lot of for sweets as well as savories.  Not to mention butter.  Sweet, sweet fresh whipped butter.

I had kind of “got the cart before the horse” purchasing an authentic ‘retro’ Daisy Churn from a local antique store.  Kind of bought just because I’ve always wanted one and also because I was wanting a cow sometime in the future, oh and just maybe because I collect retro and vintage red kitchen items:-)

Anyhow, I filled it with about a half gallon of cream and churned for approximately 45 minutes (non stop), yes while I was browsing the internet with the other hand.  I love multitasking, ha!

The process is really intriguing to watch as the cream turns to whip cream and coats the inside of the jar and then as the jar starts to wash down and the liquid becomes clearer and thin like milk again and gets stiff to churn.

You will really think your never going to get no where with the churning, whether your churning with a churn or shaking the cream in a jar, but persistence pays off and right at the last minute or two of is when the magic happens.

Now to strain the buttermilk off and keep for delicious pancakes, biscuits, etc, and then washing the butter in a bowl running under cold water, squishing back and forth with a spoon till the water runs clear; turn the water off and continue squishing till the water that has pocketed within the butter has been found and released.  Add a pinch of salt, whip and store in air tight container.  Yield, about 3 cups butter for 8 cups of cream.

You will feel so accomplished and the taste is nothing like what you’ll find in a supermarket, except for maybe Melt Organic Buttery Spread :)

Homemade Butter

This is a great work out paired with some upbeat music. Think of it as an 'organic' Zumba!!!

Fat per serving: Don't Ask!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
  • pinch Salt
  • 1 quart Mason Jar & Lid

Cooking Directions

  1. Pour cream into the mason jar, securely fastening the lid and let sit till cream reaches room temperature.
  2. Then shake, shake, shake.
  3. Once the butter stage is reached, pour off the buttermilk in a storage container.
  4. Rinse the milk under cold water till the water runs clear while squishing with a big spoon, back and forth to help thoroughly clean the butter.
  5. Once water runs clear, turn the faucet off and continue squishing to release the excess water. Add a pinch of salt, whip and store in the refrigerator.

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