Saturday, September 8, 2012

From Cow to Butter (How to make homemade butter)


MayBelle the Milk Cow

This is our Jersey milk cow.  We got her in July and have milked her everyday since.  I am not sure I want to add up how many days that is....  She was purchased from a dairy farm because her production had gone down.  We get 4-5 gallons daily from her.  She is pregnant and due in February!  
We have a love/hate relationship.  I have had my knee kicked and my foot stepped on (while in flip flops)  She was kicking at flies...I happened to be in the way.

Milking
One of our daily chores.  Thankfully, we have a milker that will be here next week.  This should cut our milking time down by a significant amount!

Check out all the cream!!
This is one of the best parts.....waking up to see how much cream is on the milk.  We don't usually get this much, average is about a quarter of the jar.  When I saw how much cream there was I knew it was time to make butter!


Separating the Cream

We originally tried scooping the cream off with a spoon.  I saw online that someone used a turkey baster and this makes it so much easier!  

The Cream
Put in the Kitchenaid

I know, I know!  This isn't the old fashioned way....but I was in a hurry and had dishes that needed done ;o) If you allow your cream to rise to room temperature it should take about 5 minutes in the Kitchenaid.  If you have absolutely no patience **AHEM** you slowly crank it up to full speed...or pretty close to full speed all depending on how much you feel like wiping down your walls.

Whipped Cream

I have not stopped at this point yet.  You could add a little powdered sugar and have delicious whipped cream.  I am sure we will be doing this a lot in the winter for hot chocolate.

Turning to butter
This is when it starts to get exciting!!

The Butter & Butter Milk separated

It is pretty easy to tell when you have butter.  It will separate from the buttermilk and turn a nice yellow color.


Butter & Butter Milk

I have heard the buttermilk is delicious....I have not been brave enough to taste it yet.  I found an amazing recipe for buttermilk pancakes HERE.  Although they look delicious they sound like a lot of work...but SHEESH.  If I am going through the trouble of making delicious fresh butter and buttermilk why not spend extra time on amazing pancakes right?!?  Or at least bribe my husband into making them!!

Buttermilk squished out

There will still be some buttermilk left in your butter you will need to rinse out.  You can put cheese cloth in a colander and then press the butter while rinsing with cold water.  I have also used my hands and cold water and this has worked fine.  You can then add a pinch of salt and mix up.

THE FINAL RESULT!

Homemade butter!!  This can store in your fridge for about a week from what I have read.  It never lasts that long around here though.  

Have you ever made homemade butter??  And yes, buying cream from the store and making it still counts!!



4 comments:

  1. Okay, that's awesome. I so totally want to try it. And I've got a fantastic recipe for red velvet cake that uses buttermilk. Mmm....

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  2. Great, my husband said he always used to take the cream off the top and drink it from his uncle's farm when he was younger. He said that was the best part.

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  3. amazing... i would love to see it in person.... to see the processing of making a butter from cow :) homemade is healthier i think

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  4. This is fantastic. I am going to pin this for future reference for when we venture out from goats and chickens to getting a cow! juliean r

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