13 July 2012




I've just made my first ever batch of... 

BUTTER

:)

We buy raw cow's milk and for ages I've been keen to make my own butter.

Finally I plucked up the courage to do it.

I separated the cream from the milk and let the cream sit at room temperature overnight. This is to let the bacteria do their thing, whatever that thing is.

Then in the morning I poured the cream into the big bowl of my nan's ancient mixer.




Poor old Beater did his best, the cream made it to whipped stage but wouldn't go any further. And Beater was getting hotter and hotter. 
So, for fear of blowing up a much loved possession, I switched to the food processor.

Luckily I had read about this on a new-found blog





Yay! It worked.
The butter separated from the buttermilk.




Next I washed the butter under cold water and kept squeezing and squishing it with my hands until all the buttermilk was gone.
That part was awfully hard work!




The butter is lovely and creamy but I forgot to add salt. I'm sure it won't matter.

And of course I had to try it straight away on some yummy wholemeal bread I'd made the other day. 
I wish I could say that I'd made the raspberry jam, but it's shop-bought.
I will save my jam making attempts for summertime.




Next on my list is to make yoghurt.


:)




5 comments:

Jane Robertson said...

Niki, the finished product looks truly delicious. It looks much nicer than the hard butter we buy in supermarkets or the pale margarine. I'm glad the mixer survived. That was one thing my mum would have liked but never got (a mixer).

What was it like without salt? I'll be interested to know which you prefer. I like things salted but realise my taste has changed and I probably prefer less salt now than I once did.

Unknown said...

I did a comparison. My unsalted butter has a slight buttery taste. But when I tried the salted butter from the supermarket blah! it was so strong. It was yucky! No wonder Amber doesn't like eating it. Then I tried unsalted supermarket butter and there was barely any taste at all. I wonder how much salt they add to butter. It says to put flaked sea salt with homemade butter. I think it needs a wee bit, because when I had it on my bread I noticed there was something missing. But then my tastebuds may just need to adjust.

Pukeko G said...

Well done .. I can tell the milk lady you have succeeded. :)

Ang said...

Well done! I've made butter before when we were getting raw milk (we aren't now because too many of us are dairy free now for me to be bothered!). It was super hard work and I got very little butter from a large amount of cream, but it tasted SO SO good!

dkm said...

Looks delicious. Next you'll be selling it. Wish I could order some! The saltier the better for me and lucky to have low blood pressure.

Your butter post inspires me to get back to that goat farm post I've promised about cheese making.

Grandchildren have moved in. Almost no time for blog posts. But soon!