Now I am hooked on making my own butter. I probably won’t be able to make it all the time, but when I do have the opportunity… I’ll for sure do it again, again and again!
sound bite:Since man began to make and use butter, he made it from ripened matured cream — sour cream. A change to unsoured or sweet cream butter came only during the 1940’s. The reasons for the change were purely technical. Machines work most economically and profitably when they run permanently. Buttering machines were constructed that transformed sweet cream endlessly into butter. Sour cream at this time resisted this process. You had to fill the churn with one batch of sour cream, finish buttering, clean the churn and start again. Thus, for purely technical reasons, people became used to sweet cream butter. –The Case For Butter
What motivated me to finally do it? Well, I have to give 90% of the credit to my good friend, Diana. She made her first batch and posted it on her blog. The 10% I give to the family who gave me a 1/2 gallon bottle of fresh cow colostrum for free! I’ve known for a long time that making butter has gotten much easier to make in our modern world, but I was afraid to go for it. Muchas gracias Diana for the motivation!
sound bite:Colostrum is the first milk of mammals. Like human colostrum, colostrum from cows is rich in immune factors, antimicrobial fatty acids, vitamins and minerals–all necessary to protect the calf from infection and insure adequate growth during infancy. Colostrum has a long history of use in the practice of medicine, especially in Ayurvedic medicine, and has been successfully used to treat a host of chronic diseases including allergies, autoimmune diseases, respiratory ailments, digestive disorders, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, gout and depression. In fact, colostrum is said to be the perfect anti-aging food and has been used in expensive spas for years. -Wise Traditions
I let my cream mature for a week on my counter in a mason jar covered with a paper towel (you can use a cloth napkin). By the end of the week the cream was thicker and had a wonderful cheesy smell. I stored it in the fridge overnight before making the butter. I did two batches because I had over a quart of colostrum/cream and had a liquid limit line on my food processor.
I place my cultured cream in the food processor fitted with a steel blade and process till butter forms. It took about 15-20 minutes, but be careful not to let it go too long or it will all melt and turn into a creamy glop.
Then I strained it to separate the buttermilk and butter. Save the buttermilk in a glass jar… it makes a killer dessert.
Transfer the butter to a bowl and press out the buttermilk with a spoon (save the buttermilk). Wash the butter by adding a little water and pressing some more. By this time I put the butter in the fridge because it was getting too soft. After I let it harden up a little, I finished washing the butter till the water stayed clear. I added Celtic Sea Salt (about 1/2 tsp.) and mix it in.
Form butter into a ball, pull it out of the bowl and pat it dry with paper towels. Place the butter in a crock or container (butter may be frozen for long-term storage).
sound bite:Why Is Butter Better?It protects against us against heart disease, cancer, arthritis& osteoporosis. It strengthens our immune system, thyroid gland and gastrointestinal health. It ensures healthy growth and development for children. Provides quick energy and weight loss.Butter is a rich source of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, CLA, glycospingolipids and cholesterol…What?! Cholesterol is an anti-oxidant?! Yes, indeed cholesterol is a potent anti-oxidant that is flooded into the blood when we take in too many harmful free-radicals, usually from damaged and rancid fats in margarine and highly processed vegetable oils.3 A Medical Research Council survey showed that men eating butter ran half the risk of developing heart disease as those using margarine.
I was wondering if this might be done with human milk? It would be nice if my babies could get the benefit of culturing as well as breast milk.
jubies33 – I have no idea if breastmilk will work or not, but my only concern is that it will go bad faster and our breastmilk is very close to goat’s & sheep’s milk. I learned that making butter out of goat’s milk is a very difficult and long process. Our breast milk is a very different from cow’s milk.
Yes, breastmilk is amazing and I am grateful that I am still breastfeeding my 1 year 4 month old baby. If you are still breastfeeding you can simply mix it will regular raw milk if you like you kiddos to drink it.
Thank you for stopping by!
We raise dairy goats and have recently found a milk separator that works easily on goat milk. I think your readers would love to know about it.
Below is a link to a video on how it works. We’re in no way connected with this business but are delighted to finally be able to separate our milk and want to share it with others who have goats.
We were amazed at how thick the cream ended up being when we first saw it used at a friends house. It was like marshmallow cream and was hard to scrape off the spoon… so good on strawberries though, it never diluted out like normal milky cream does!
When used to make butter there wasn’t really any water until a tiny bit the next day. I’ll be using ours to make cultured butter like you’ve written up here.
The machine with the butter attachment isn’t necessary to make the butter, just the separator one. I’ve heard reviews that the butter attachment is difficult to use and clean and since we know it works without that’s what we’re choosing for our family.
We also make cheese, yogurt, icecream and milk kefir so we’re thinking of the exciting possibilities for extra thick and creamy from the starting point.
The video has two addresses to contact to purchase from the poster. One of her shops (the eCrater one) lists the machines at a cheaper price than the other (the eBay one) – just so you’re aware.
The separator has a dial so you can choose the level of separation ie skim or 2% etc.
http://slavicbeauty.ecrater.com/
Last Maxim – THANK YOU for sharing this information with us! I will for sure be checking out those links. Hey, would you be interested in coming here for a week or 2 and teach us more on the ropes of caring and raising dairy goats?! ;o) That would be a priceless thing for us. We are very slowly learning… haven’t done much. Right now we have 2 does and one buck, but haven’t done any breeding. Don’t know where to start with that. Our goats are mix breeds, so I don’t know when their cycles usually begins.
Anyway, thanks again and I will be keeping this in mind for the future!!
Last Maxim – THANK YOU for sharing this information with us! I will for sure be checking out those links. Hey, would you be interested in coming here for a week or 2 and teach us more on the ropes of caring and raising dairy goats?! ;o) That would be a priceless thing for us. We are very slowly learning… haven’t done much. Right now we have 2 does and one buck, but haven’t done any breeding. Don’t know where to start with that. Our goats are mix breeds, so I don’t know when their cycles usually begins.
Anyway, thanks again and I will be keeping this in mind for the future!!