cultured butter

Remember last year when I started making our butter in the blender?  Well, lately I'd been wanting to try to make cultured butter, so Moonpie and I gave it a shot last night.

When you culture butter you allow friendly, beneficial  bacteria to grow in it, making it easier to digest and healthier for your body.  It's the same idea as yogurt- only it's delicious butter!  I would love to get to the point where our family consumed probiotics in every meal, and not through supplementation.  Rather, through whole, fermented foods made right in our kitchen.  So far this morning we have  lacto-fermented granola, cultured butter, and fresh made yogurt ready to go!  This makes me excited!

If you look back at the steps to make butter that I posted last year, there is an extra step in culturing.

After pouring the raw cream off into a quart jar, I added 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt, covered the top in cheese cloth, and let it sit out over night (more like 12 hours).  The next morning I didn't have time to work on it, so I put it in the refrigerator until I had time the next evening.  I let it sit out to around room temperature (which is around 65 right now- it's the warmest I could get it!) and then picked up at step 2 (in the original tutorial).

This butter doesn't taste much different than our regular home made butter.  It's just as delicious as ever!

*Notes for next time:  I think I will leave the cream out for about 24 hours next time instead of the 12 that I did this time.  I would like a little more sour next time with more beneficial cultures.  I realize that trying to culture anything in  my chilly kitchen right now is a difficulty.  Just ask my sour dough starter (that never started).

I'm linked up on GNOWFGLINS Twister Tuesday!  Check out some other great traditional recipes!

making butter

lately we have been enjoying the taste and experience of making our own butter. since we live in the year 2010, butter making is super easy. easier than loading up the kids and heading to the store. trust me!

we use raw milk from a local source. i buy a gallon specifically for butter/yogurt making. see in the picture below the distinction between the cream and the milk? typically, if i were going to drink it, i would shake it up to mix it all together. but for butter, i need that cream.

1) i slowly pour the cream off into a jar. i let the jar sit out to warm up a bit (room temperature is nice, but not necessary).

2) after the cream is a nice temperature, i pour half of the quart jar into my blender and set it on a medium speed. on my vita-mix it is set on 4. by the way, you don't have to use a fancy blender to do this- any will do.

3) pretty soon (about 5-8 minutes) the butter begins to separate from the milk. it looks kind of clotted (see picture below).
4) in the above picture you can see the solid separated from the liquid. i stop at this point and pour off the liquid into another jar. this is buttermilk. do not pour it down the sink! i use it for corn bread or pancakes. yum!

5)after the liquid is poured off, i give it another spin on the blender on a low speed. by this point it looks nice and smooth. a little more buttermilk will have seeped out, so i add that to my jar. next, i add cool water and pour it off. i do this over and over until the water runs clear. the less buttermilk that is left in the butter, the longer it will last.

6) after the water runs clear i put it in some cheese cloth to drain a bit more. while this is draining i start on the other half of my cream. i just do the whole process over again!

you'll notice that the butter is yellow. that's because it is from nutrient dense, grass fed, raw milk! no food coloring used here!

7) when i'm all done, i spoon it into a little glass bowl that has a lid and place it in the refrigerator.

that's it! super yummy butter, with little effort!

if you'd like to read up on the benefits of raw butter check here.