Healthy & homemade..
In our house, we look for all the opportunities to make room for our favorite guest at the dinner table- BUTTER! This being said we have it stock piled in our freezer and lathered on just about everything, one of our favorites being homemade bread.
After all it is a health food. It’s actually true! Butter is a healthy source of: saturated fat (that has a protective effect against heart diseases and stroke), Vitamins- A, D, & K-2, and rich in fatty acid (oleic acid) which pretty much makes you a genius…and butter addict.
The human brain is nearly 60 percent fat. Fatty acids help your brain’s ability to perform and for those of you with a mom brain like me, we should be lathering in a butter bath if that’s what it takes.
It’s all about the cow baby!
I’m going to get cow nerdy on ya here, hang with me, this is the entire reason we bought the breed of milk cow that we did!
We have a very generous and creamy cow on our hands here at the farm. We milk a Jersey cow, known for their high butter fat compared to other dairy cow breeds. Their smaller frame makes them easier to maneuver and cheaper to feed since they can efficiently turn feed into a few gallons of milk and distribute the remaining energy to their 900lb. body, compared to the large frame of the commonly recognized Holstein cow at 1,500lbs.
That black and white spotted breed is the face of a picturesque farm & even given the honor to be an emoji on cell phone devices today. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture, 93% of all American dairy cows are Holstein. Commercial dairy’s are looking to maximize milk production and holsteins will give them just that, producing 8+ gallons of a milk a day compared to the Jersey friend maximizing at 6.
Holsteins may produce more milk, but the Jersey cow will produce more dense milk. Their composition of the milk they produce are different and farmers are paid more for the higher butter fat. Jersey’s have such a complimentary size and well rounded milk composition that makes them an excellent breed if you are looking to experiment with making butter, cheeses & yogurt.
Is homemade butter cheaper?
I often get asked if making my own butter is cheaper than store bought. Here’s my plea—
If you have access to bulk cream, raw milk, or non homogenized milk, you will most likely be able to cost effectively make your own butter cheaper than store bought. However, if you don’t- from my basic research, buying 1qt. (32oz.) of heavy whipping cream ($3.12), will yield you around 1lb. (16oz.) of butter ($2.98).
There may only be a few cents or a few dollars difference or maybe you found a hella good sale on cream- but regardless by the time you pencil in the time to make it, not to mention the cleanup, the convenience of that prepackaged butta will be more cost effective.
Not all butter is created equal..
Store bought butter is sold cheaper than the cream you can buy to make it because commercial factories in the USA are legalized to dilute butter with water to the minimum fat content (80% in the USA)- which is why store bought butter is much harder than creamy homemade.
Commercial butter is also mass-produced from pasteurized and homogenized milk- while still beneficial, the high heat and pressure processing, depletes many of the enzymes and nutrients but still far superior to other vegetable oils.
My favorite part about our homemade butter with milk from our cow is the rich deep yellow color it takes on- this is due to our milk cows diet that consists primarily of fresh green grass. Cows on pasture consume a high volume of beta carotene from the fresh grass in their diet, compared to the traditional grain fed dairy cows we have in the U.S.
How to make homemade BUTTER!
1. Take milk out & Skim off the Cream
Start with the cream at about 50-60°F to make butter- too warm, the butter will be more difficult to rinse, too cold, the fat will have difficulty consolidating.
- I use a turkey baster
- SKIP THIS STEP- if you are using homogenized milk or cream.
2. Pour Cream into mixing bowl
I use my KitchenAid Mixer with the whisk attachment to churn our butter. You can also use a food processor or blender!
3. Turn mixer on to a medium speed
I keep mine at a speed of 4-6. This process can take anywhere from 20 minutes-1hr depending on how warm or old your milk is.
The cream will gradually get thicker and thicker and turn into whipped cream!
4. Place a towel over your mixer
This process can be quite messy so I would recommend covering your mixer with a towel!
5. Rinse your butter in a bowl with ice and cold water
Press all of the solidified butter pieces together into a ball, remove from buttermilk and place in the ice water. Press butter many times in the water to remove the buttermilk residue coating the butter- that will spoil the butter more quickly. You can save the buttermilk for pancakes & baking!
6. Salt your butter
Salt will add flavor and preserve it by drawing the water out, prolonging the shelf life. I don’t have a suggested amount, I just salt the outside of one side & that seems to be enough for our taste.
7. Form butter into a ball to serve or freeze!
Freezing: Wrap your butter in wax paper and place it inside a freezer safe plastic bag for storage or freezer safe container. Butter will keep for up to a year in the freezer.
That’s it! I hope I have you all buttered up to give homemade butter a try in your home!
Homemade Butter
A quick and easy way to make homemade butter at home using raw or store bought cream!
Materials
- Cream (Raw or Store Bought)
- Salt
Tools
- KitchenAid Mixer
- Freezer Container (Optional)
- Bowl & Ice Water
Instructions
- Take milk or cream out to warm on counter. Skim off the Cream if using raw or non-homogenized milk
- Pour Cream into a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment on the mixer
- Turn mixer on to a speed of 4-6
- Place a towel over your mixer (this part can get messy!)
- Form butter pieces into a ball, squeeze and rinse in a bowl with ice & water to remove the buttermilk residue.
- Flatten butter into a round disk shape and lightly salt one side. Salt will add flavor and help perserve it, prolonging the shelf life.
- Form butter into a ball to enjoy now or place in wax paper and a freezer bag or freezer tight container for enjoying later.
Notes
- Cream should be 50-60° to make the ideal butter consistency. Too warm will be hard to rinse, too cold will make it difficult to form together.
- Homemade butter will be softer than store bought- commercial butter producers add water to their butter to make it firmer.
-Save your buttermilk for pancakes & baking!
-Butter will freeze for up to a year.