Yep - real butter. From real cream. Surprisingly, it was pretty simple. I read an article about making butter in Mother Earth News' Guide to Real Food All Year and was intrigued.
I've been rather obsessed with my food lately. Where did it come from, what were the animals fed or how was the produce grown and how was it processed. It's crazy how much disconnect we have as consumers regarding one of the most important things we engage in - eating and nourishment!
Many people have no idea what goes into getting food to their table. The industrialized food system is so large and strong that it has become very difficult to control. The average dinner on your table will have traveled 1500 miles to get there, and with the centralization of raising and processing, we have lost much of the ability to buy fresh, local food. Thankfully with farmers markets and the CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture), it has become a little better.
Anyway, back to the butter :). So after reading the article, I was on a quest to get the tools and ingredients necessary to do this. I needed heavy cream, so after three attempts (they kept running out before I got there) at the farmers market I was able to purchase some. You can actually just buy heavy cream at the grocery store, but IMHO that defeats the purpose. Now I needed a churn. In the article they had an old fashioned crank style churn like the one on the right, but they said you could use a food processor or any container that would hold twice the amount of cream to account for expansion and good space for whipping.
I thought those crank style churns were very cute, so I tried to find one. I checked ebay, craigslist and a few more sources. Not much luck finding one that was inexpensive (cheap) and worked! I did find them available at Lehmans.com, but they didn't fall into the cheap category - they were about $150! So I decided to try something else. I had on hand a large plastic container that I thought would work, so I poured the cream in - it was sooo thick and creamy, and started shaking. And shaking. And shaking! About 10 minutes later it was almost to whipped cream stage and my arms were killing me! Then I thought, maybe my KitchenAid mixer would work - don't I use it to make whipped cream! Duh! I poured it into the mixer and within minutes it was butter! And buttermilk, the byproduct of making butter. So now I had about a pound of butter and a cup and a half of buttermilk - I felt so accomplished!
I'm not sure of any cost savings with making your own butter. I do know that it's not too difficult and I know what's in my butter this way. And I got buttermilk to bake with or make pancakes. All in all I think those things add value along with the fact that now I have a new skill :). I do still want one of those cute crank churns! Oh, and some butter molds :).
Next on the list of skills to learn - making a good sour dough loaf!
What new things do you want to learn?
Blessings,
Mamawizzy
Many people have no idea what goes into getting food to their table. The industrialized food system is so large and strong that it has become very difficult to control. The average dinner on your table will have traveled 1500 miles to get there, and with the centralization of raising and processing, we have lost much of the ability to buy fresh, local food. Thankfully with farmers markets and the CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture), it has become a little better.
I thought those crank style churns were very cute, so I tried to find one. I checked ebay, craigslist and a few more sources. Not much luck finding one that was inexpensive (cheap) and worked! I did find them available at Lehmans.com, but they didn't fall into the cheap category - they were about $150! So I decided to try something else. I had on hand a large plastic container that I thought would work, so I poured the cream in - it was sooo thick and creamy, and started shaking. And shaking. And shaking! About 10 minutes later it was almost to whipped cream stage and my arms were killing me! Then I thought, maybe my KitchenAid mixer would work - don't I use it to make whipped cream! Duh! I poured it into the mixer and within minutes it was butter! And buttermilk, the byproduct of making butter. So now I had about a pound of butter and a cup and a half of buttermilk - I felt so accomplished!
I'm not sure of any cost savings with making your own butter. I do know that it's not too difficult and I know what's in my butter this way. And I got buttermilk to bake with or make pancakes. All in all I think those things add value along with the fact that now I have a new skill :). I do still want one of those cute crank churns! Oh, and some butter molds :).
Next on the list of skills to learn - making a good sour dough loaf!
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| Finished Product |
Blessings,
Mamawizzy
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