If you recall, last week when I showed you how to make mozzarella cheese, I mentioned that if you’re making it from raw milk, you skim off the cream and save it to make butter. HERE is one way to make butter!
Fill your food processor 1/3 full of heavy cream. Be sure not to fill it more than 1/3 full…it will probably not turn into butter if there’s too much in the container.
Turn your food processor on high…and then flee the room. (It’s really loud and annoying!) The food processor will whip and whip and whip the cream until it turns it into butter. It should take somewhere between 8-15 minutes.
Once the fat has been “pulled out” of the cream, it should look something like this…and you can turn off the food processor.
Pull all the solid pieces and squish them together.
Place the solids in to a clean bowl.
Run some clean COLD water into it.
Clean the butter with the cold water by squishing it with a wooden spoon until all the liquid comes out of it. Repace the cold water 2-3 times as you clean it.
Squeeze the excess water out of the butter and shape it with your hands.
Ah, look…a lovely little butter ball.
You can add salt to the cream if you want salted butter…this will also be a preservative, making the butter last longer.
OR…if you don’t have a food processor and want to have a little family fun…put your cream into a jar and shake it like crazy. Pass the jar around, and take turns shaking it. (I’ve tried shaking it all by myself once when no one was around to help…and I thought my head and arms would fall off from shaking the jar so much all by myself. I don’t think I ever got butter out of that jar.)
Have you ever made butter before? Isn’t it COOL to see the butter form out of the cream!?
I LOVE how with just one little gift from a cow (or goat or whatever) you can make SO MANY great yummy things!
P.S. Even if you don’t have fresh cream…go buy some heavy whipping cream at the store and try making butter. It’s just…cool.
Next week…RICOTTA CHEESE! :)
(Join us Saturday for the little Green Project!)
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This post is linked to Frugal Fridays.
What's Cooking says
Funny, I’m posting the very same thing tomorrow morning! We love making butter! We don’t “wash” ours though. We use it as is. Saves time and work! =0)
D. says
Doesn’t it spoil and get a stinky smell??
Merrilee says
I have made butter, but only in a baby food jar. I had leftover heavy cream & wanted to show my kids (kind of) where butter came from. They enjoyed spreading it on bread. Your post makes me want to go out & make mozarella and butter myself. But, alas, I don’t have access to raw milk. :) Thanks for sharing!
Jen says
I’ve read that when using the jar method, you can add a clean marble to speed things up. Haven’t had a chance to try it yet.
Merry Jo says
I’ve done that many times. I refrigerate the jar, lid, and marble for a few hours to speed up the process. One time, however, my husband was helping out by shaking it *hard* because I had to make several batches quickly, and believe it or not, he sent the marble flying right through the side of the jar! That was a messy lesson to learn! :)
D. says
It doeesn’t really matter how hard you shake it. The point is just to keep it moving at a steady pace. You can also have kids roll the jar carefully on the floor with their feet, too. We use two marbles because that’s how I first learned to do it in the 2nd grade! My teacher had us making butter, cottage cheese and all kinds of other stuff, but that was back in the early 1960’s. They would never teach kids about healthy stuff like raw milk (and all the things you can do with it) these days. Not in public schools, anyhow. Some inner city kids today don’t even know that milk comes from cows. Nor do they understand that goat milk, camel milk and donkey milk are close to human breastmilk. Sad what kids don’t learn these days.
Shawna from McKinney Texas says
As a child of the 60’s as well (who also had a Martha Stewart type mother), I too made butter, cheese and so on in school. It wasn’t until I married in 78′ that I learned about donkey milk being used as a sub for breast milk. My husband wasn’t able to tolerate ANY form of milk, his mother wasn’t able to breastfeed so they gave him donkey milk and he thrived.
I don’t think that it’s only ‘inner city’ kids that are not being taught well, schools across the U.S.A. are falling apart, not because of poor teachers, or low income status, but because the government has tied the hands of the teachers. All school boards are concerned about is passing the state T.A.S.K. tests, not what will help the children learn AND grow.
D. says
I didn’t say inner city kids weren’t being taught well, I said I don’t think many of them even know where milk originates. Most farm kids, at least, know where it comes from. Our educational system is a disgrace.
Christina says
I have been fortunate enough to have my son in a Classical Christian School, and I was thrilled when they made butter in class. What a neat idea! I think it’s right up there with having a school garden that is actually used lunches. I agree that there is much to be desired in the school system in this country. It’s unfortunate. Had I not found the school he’s in now, I would have homeschooled him. That has always been a temptation anyway. I was homeschooled myself, but my husband was a little hesitant. Anyhow, I hope that this school continues learning (and doing) handon things like making butter. Cheese would be fun to make, also. Maybe I’ll suggest it.
June says
I have made butter with my preschool class many times. They love it!
FishMama@LifeasMOM says
Love it! I’m going to have to check out your mozzarella. Wow! You’re amazing.
Amy says
We made butter at our Thanksgiving Celebration field trip. The kids made it with containers. I think the trick was that you had to let the whipping cream sit out at room temperature for 8 hours before you made the butter.
http://thehouseofshelbys.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksgiving-celebration-stations.html
Nessa says
Wow! I am so impressed! i’ve never made butter in my life! Now I must go check out the cheese!
Cassie J. says
We’ve done this with our kids at Wednesday night church. They loved it. Our pastor dropped by our class and loved it also. It takes a long time to shake the jar but it’s well worth it.
Becki says
My family makes fresh butter every Thanksgiving. While moms are busy in the kitchen, it is the kids job to shake the cream (then we they get bored, the Dad’s step in). That way everyone has contributed, the kids are out from underfoot and we get a special treat.
Rachel Going says
You know what, my mother made our butter when the cream had turned to buttermilk or something like that I think. It was my job to shake the quart jar, and in about 20 minutes there it was. It looks just like yours did in the food processor. I wish I had raw milk to make butter now, it was so yummy on hot biscuits and pancakes. I also wish I could ask my mother how she made her butter…well, I know she had me shake the jar! Thanks Laura for your awesome blog.
Lorrie says
I have a silly question. It looks like you have the same food processor that I do. How do I make it stay turned on? When I use mine I have to hold the lid in the on position for it to work. Thanks.
Terri says
I am going to make butter this weekend. Your directions made it look so easy. I will have to use whipping cream as I cannot get raw milk. I enjoy your blog and love trying new things. Thanks for all your easy instructions.
Erin H. says
Wow. I thought this would be a heck of a lot more difficult than just turning on the food processor. What do you do with the remaining liquid once you have the solids out and before you rinse it? Does the process change at all if you use whipping cream? I don’t have access to raw milk.
Rebecca says
I’m wondering the same thing?
Erika says
Me too! Me too! Want to know what you do you do with the leftover liquid! Thanks for the great post!
Laura says
You can use the leftover liquid to mix in pancakes or another baked item and it works great!
Donna says
I’ve made it out of store bought cream and it is FUN and YUMMY!
The lady that I bought the milk from the other day said that she heats the cream for 15 seconds, then places it in the fridge. Once its chilled she takes it back out to come back to almost room temp. before making butter. But she hand shakes or churns. I bet with the food processor you wouldn’t have to do all of that would you?
It looks soooo yummy!
You must NEVER leave the kitchen?
D. says
I can’t imagine why she would heat the cream, but then again if you’re already using a pasteurized product from the store, rather than raw cream, it really wouldn’t matter because there’s nothing “live” left in it anyhow.
The trick to making butter is to keep everything ice cold just before you start the process, no matter which way you do it. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer with the whipping attachment (like a beater) and usually 2 cups of real, raw cream. It takes about 20 minutes to see the yellow butter separating. You can save the skim milky looking stuff (buttermilk) and use it for baking (pancakes, muffins, cakes, etc.)
Phyllis Woodis says
I have just learned to make butter from an aunt and uncle who have made it for years. I am learning that if you don’t wash it and press all that water out it will turn rancid very quickly. You will know by the smell that you have done it wrong – believe me:) Also, my uncle made a small paddle out of wood – it’s awesome – that helps you press out the water:) Phyllis
D. says
Yes sirreee, it does get stinky very fast. Use ice cold water to rinse the butter until the water rinses clean. Blot off the pat of butter and wrap it in parchment paper and freeze it if you aren’t going to use it right away. Even if you decide to use it the same day you make it, you still need to refrigerate fresh butter. It doesn’t last long. I always add a dash of celtic sea salt just before the end of the mixing process, before I pour off the buttermilk. Some people knead the sea salt into the finished butter — I think either way is acceptable.
Sara says
This looks wonderful. Maybe I should try this since I am making fresh homemade bread today! Thanks for sharing!
Trudy Burnett says
Hi Laura,
I’ve not written before. I’m new to this whole blog thing. I have really enjoyed yours. I’ve wanted to chirp in lots of times but haven’t. But I just had to this time! In response to the comment earlier about adding a marble, don’t do it. Years ago during one of our homeschool moments, Little House on the Prairie project, my girls were making butter in a glass jar that I had put lots of glass marbles in and they were shaking away and the glass jar’s bottom broke off and all of that cream went flying all over the kitchen! Oh what great home school memories, loved them, (not the mess) My kids are in their 20’s now and we’re empty nesting. So I’m getting my “fixes” through you ! Thanks
D. says
Laura, the jar doesn’t have to be shaken hard. Stress that point to your class next time. It isn’t the velocity of the shaking, it’s the length of time that makes the butter. It will take between 20 and 30 minutes no matter how hard you shake it. It just DOES.
This point is hard to drive home to people.
Yes, the marbles are necessary because they act as the beaters (like on your mixer).
Kasey says
Really I wish I could be more like you! Very neat. Also, I never did thank you for your response to my comment in the Salmon Patties entry. Thanks for taking the time to send the email to me!
Sonja says
We made our butter yesterday out of the cream from our first two gallons of raw milk. It took forever (made it with my kitchen-aid) I think because the cream was very cold. Next time I will leave it out on the counter for a while and it should go faster. Just got done putting my very first quart of homemade cultured buttermilk into the fridge too. Thanks for all your help!
D. says
The cream needs to be cold, so does the bowl. And “took forever” . . . what does that mean? Is 30 minutes forever or is three hours forever? If it took more than 30 minutes (for about 2 cups of cream) something else was wrong.
Kama says
Wow, I’ve never seen anyone make butter before. Your site looks really interesting. I’m glad that google reader recommended it!
Shanon L Fowler says
I remember my mom making butter from fresh cows milk when I was a kid. YUM!!
You always do such fun things & include us!! THANKS!! :)
Kate Ambrose says
I love making butter. I worked at a 19th century living history museum and spent many days churning butter the old fashioned way. It’s a lot easier your way, that’s for sure!
We’re just starting to finally find a source for raw milk in our area (it’s “illegal” in Indiana, unless you own part of the cow), so I’m excited to be able to try some of your ideas for fresh milk!
Emily says
hi- first found you during the sourdough starter posts. and have read through that several times. just came back to read it again and found this – making butter. Another blog had a post about making butter and I remember them telling us to let cream or milk come to room temp first – process goes quicker. From your post, looks like it works either way and it is just a time thing. WHAT fun. So I need to stop by more often and see what else you are making – I am new to this blog thing and just getting the hang of it (I think). Gotta go read about the cheese. thanks for the Butter bit. Fabulous. Emily
EllaJac says
I haven’t made in in a while, but…
I get black-market jersey milk, and especially in late spring I’ll skim the cream, save it up, and put it in my big ol’ gallon jar churn.
It comes to butter, fine, but I can rinse and press and wash that butter forever, and *still* there’s moisture in it, and *still* it eventually ‘sours’ a bit. I know that’s the ‘cultured’ part, but CAN you get rid of it, or do I just need to change my taste habits??? :S
Thanks!
Runningamuck says
I’m kicking myself HARD because I just tossed a bunch of heavy whipping cream in the trash because I hadn’t been able to use it up before it went bad. I’m part of a food co-op and we had a ton of it one week to take home. I could have made BUTTER!!! And saved even more money… above and beyond what I was already saving with the co-op. Dang it! Now I’ll be praying we get some more this week so I can try my hand at this. =0) Thanks for the great tip.
D. says
If the cream you tossed was from raw milk, it doesn’t “go bad”. It simply sours. Only pasteurized milk goes bad and rancid and putrifies and gets tossed. Real raw milk just sours and can be used for myriad other things. If you have kids, you can mix some raw milk and raw cream together, add a little raw cocoa (not dutch processed junk) and a little rapadura or some sucanat and make chocolate milk – they won’t even notice if it’s a little bit sour and when it sours it has many more good things in it for your tummy.
Never toss naturally soured cream or milk, if it’s froma raw source. You can always do something with it!
Webkatalog says
Really great post, well written, concise and comprehensive. Thank you.
Jessie says
OOh this looks fun, I’ll have to come back. I’ll link you on my blogroll so I don’t forget. We seem to have a lot in common. Four kids (my youngest is a girl though), love the Lord, enjoy different projects that are considered “lost arts” like cheese making for you and sourdough for me most recently. Anyway, I’ll be back!
Jessie
Courtney says
I just made butter using this method, and it was easy! I love it! :)
tarena says
Laura,
What do you do with the leftover liquid in the processor? Is that whey also?
Laura says
No it isn’t whey…I guess it would be considered a form of buttermilk. I usually water my garden with it because I hate to just dump it down the drain!
Cristy says
You could also replace the water in your bread or pancake recipe with it!
D. says
Or if you have animals, they love the leftover buttermilky stuff and it’s just as good for them as it is for you. ;->
Nancy from Mass says
We make butter every Thanksgiving and Christmas in quart size mason jars. Everyone moans about having to shake the jars, but they love the end result. I’ve never rinsed mine before…i usually just squeeze the liquid out before putting it in the bowl.
There are 2 things I make with extra heavy cream: butter and homemade ice cream.
I wonder if this can be done in a blender instead of a food processor?
Michele says
I just tried that – my blender started leaking and spewing milk after
about 6 minutes – not long enough to do anything.
Laura says
When I’ve tried to make it in the blender, it just turns into whipped cream but it never makes it to the butter stage. I WISH it worked. :(
Kim says
I use the blender and it works great.
I put it on for about 20 minutes.
As soon as it starts to turn to butter I turn it to the lowest setting.
Otherwise the butter gets really mixed in with the “buttermilk” and
you have to let it sit to separate out again.
Ami says
Thank you for your tip! I made butter successfully last November, but the couple times I have tried since then, it’s just turned to hot frothy cream. I followed your advice, really watching to see when the clumps of butter separated out, and then turned it to low. I’m so excited, especially since my cream has been very heavy lately. I think I’m going to yield about 1/2 pound butter from each gallon of milk, and that’s without completely skimming all the cream. Thanks so much for helping fix my problem!
Jennifer says
When our family homeschooled we used a series of books based on Core Knowledge…”What my _ Grader needs to Know” We had a lot of fun with it. When I went back to work, we were blessed to be able to enroll our boys in a local public magnet school that was themed “A Core Knowledge Education” encorporates all major subjects including the arts into the teaching theme.
After a few weeks of learning, our 3rd grader had a “Colonial Day”. The students dressed up in clothing from that time. They had different stations to rotate through. The students participated in a skit, did art work, danced to colonial music, made homemade candles, an old-fasioned tablet, using a feather pen for calligraphy AND yes, home-made butter in baby food jars, it seemed like they shook it forever…but there was a song they sang that was common for colonial children to sing as they helped make the butter…I wish I could remember it…thanks for the memories…Our youngest is 9 and was only 2 when we did that & we’ve moved out of that area. I think we need to revisit that fun.
Kim says
I just finished making butter from the cream of this week’s milk. We normally use the food processor but I had so much cream, I used the blender this time. it worked fine. I guess I’m kind of lazy though, I pour the whole thing through a cheesecloth draped bowl, squeeze the butter (solids in the cheesecloth) over the bowl until it’s not dripping, then wash it out in a bowl of ice water (still in the cheesecloth). I haven’t had any problems with it going rancid though
Anne says
I had a question, Laura. How do you know how much heavy cream there is on top? I see it seperate at first, but once I start trying to skim it off, I don’t see it anymore. I am just guessing how much more to skim. Any suggestions?
Laura says
Every cow produces a different amount of cream in their milk. It sounds like the milk you are getting doesn’t have much cream if you start to skim and it seems to disappear on you. You may want to ask your milk source about that. I usually get about two cups (maybe a little less) off a half gallon jar.
Lenore says
Wow I just made my first batch of butter with my 10 year old grand daughter. We had a blast and it came out soooo good. We used the whipping cream. I just left the carton out on the counter for a half hour. We used a 15 oz shaker cup and also a Ziplock plastic container with the screw on lid and filled them about 1/3 full. It sure didn’t take very long at all of shaking before it started getting thick and barely shakable. I was afraid I was going to end up with a shaker of cool whip…but suddenly it just started getting thin again and wha la…I opened it up and there were my chunks of butter. We rinsed it and I hope I did it well enough. Guess I will find out soon huh? We got 1 small tub of butter out of 1 quart of the heavy cream! It took us 4 times of shaking in the smaller 15 oz containers but it was still fun.
Michele says
Do you have to use glass jars to make the butter as glass baby food jars are no longer available? Can you use plastic?.
Laura says
I don’t suppose you have to use glass. You can always use larger jars, like a jelly jar.
Br. Emmanuel Taylor, OP says
If I use raw milk do I need to pasturize it to make the butter?
Laura says
No, you can use the raw milk and make raw butter no problem!
D. says
You don’t make butter out of milk. You make butter out of cream.
Rodna says
QUESTION? Would you end up saving any money making your own butter this way if you had to buy the cream?
I am pretty unfamiliar with how much cream costs, but the cheapest I can get butter around here is $2.50 for 4 sticks.
It really adds up though as we use butter for everything practically it seems.
Would this be a money saver as well?
Thanks.
By the way, I just found your site and love it!!!
It is a big help to me.
Laura says
Thanks for your encouragement about my site! :)
It all depends on your sources for cream and butter. From my source, it is cheaper to buy premade butter from my milk/cream suppliers than to buy the cream to make it myself. So at this point, that is what I do. This is for raw, grass fed butter.
In general I think butter is cheaper to purchase than the cream to make it, but it really does depend on your source.
D. says
No, it’s not usually a money saver, but most of us who make our own butter aren’t looking to save money, we are looking for a good product and we know what’s in it and how it was made.
Jessica Crites says
I make my own butter and I love it :) We only drink fresh cow milk from the farm so I use the cream from that to make my own butter then use the leftover buttermilk for making biscuits. I also take the cream and make my own sour cream. I can’t wait to try to make ricotta cheese.
Rodna says
I can’t wait until I get cows! lol
becky says
Can I use the liquid left in the bowl after I pull the fat away? Is this just skim milk?
Laura says
It’s kind of like skim milk and you can definitely use it for cooking/baking!
Jessica O. says
The left over is a true form of buttermilk if you do not add water into it – when we make butter we take the butter out of the buttermilk when it is done making butter, pour off the butter milk and save for baking and then do the water rinsing step…then use the
buttermilk for pancakes and such…so yummy!
Kacy says
Made some this morning, thanks to leftover cream from Easter. Can’t wait to try it on some toast at dinner :) Thanks for sharing this! I would have surely thrown out the cream had I not run across this.
You rock! :)
Maria says
We have a milk cow, and i make butter alot, but not this way, it sits in a churn for a few days, that way i get butter and buttermilk. Cant make it fast enough around here.
Kim says
Wow!! I would love to try that sometime!! I bet it tastes so good, too!! I never knew that making butter was that easy. Thank you!!
Jenifer Parker says
My friend Linda used to make this with the pre-schoolers at church (Mission Friends) and they also got to make other ‘treats’ plus biscuits. We really never thought the biscuits would rise with so many little hands taking a turn at (kneading) LOL but they rose magnificently.
Soccy says
I really want to try this. We just got our first gallon of raw milk. One question though: How much cream yo make a pound of butter? Thanks. Love your blog.
Laura says
I guess I’m not sure of exact amounts. It takes quite a bit of cream to make a whole pound of butter – maybe a quart, or even more?? Wish I knew exactly. I guess I’ve never really “measured”, but just used the cream I had to make a ball of butter. :)
Michelle says
We have just found a raw milk source and I would love to make my own butter. I tried to skim off the cream with a ladle into a separate jar, but it seems as though there is still some milk mixed in as I let it set overnight and still see a small bit of milk at the bottom of the jar. Do you have another method that works well to skim the cream off? Thanks!
Laura says
I do just like you do, with a ladle. I’m not sure of a better method?
Tonya says
I tryed making the butter I am new at this I got a jersey milk cow and started milking and was thinking of things to do with the heavy cream.. My question is, My butter didnt get as firm as yours showed in the picture.. It was more of a spread. What did I do wrong?
Laura says
Sounds like yours still had too much liquid in it that needed to be “churned out” with a wooden spoon. Hopefully it still tasted good though!
Stacy Makes Cents says
I look forward to trying this when I have some fresh cream!
Savannah says
okay i see that some of your recipes either call for heavy cream, or light cream, how do i make both? :)
Laura says
Sometimes I say “heavy cream” or sometimes I just say “cream” – I mean the same thing in both situations. I either use the cream that has risen to the top of the raw milk, or I use store bought cream that is labeled “heavy whipping cream”.
Savannah says
So what you call “heavy cream” in these instructions is just the cream scraped off the top of the milk? i am using raw milk too.
and what is the difference between heavy cream and light cream?
Laura says
Yes, just the cream taken off the top of the raw milk. I don’t really know what light cream is – I’ve wondered that myself when I see it at stores. Isn’t cream just cream?! :)
Savannah says
yes! lol thankyou very much you are so helpfull
Savannah says
okay a few more questions,
i noticed your buttermilk instructions on another page, but isnt the “liquid” left over in the food processor, buttermilk?
i want complete raw buttermilk with no starter kit, so is that buttermilk and is it safe to use as is for any recipe that calls for buttermilk?
and how long does the ball of butter last with salt in it?
and how long would my buttermilk last?
Laura says
Yes, technically I guess the liquid leftover from making butter is buttermilk. But it is very watery, which is different from the thick, cultured buttermilk I like making separately and using for baking.
You could instead use the watery buttermilk, but it will be a little different in recipes. I don’t have lots of experience with that type of buttermilk and baking, so I can’t tell you specifics.
I’d say the butter with salt lasts 2-3 weeks, maybe longer?
The watery type buttermilk would probably last 1-2 weeks, not quite sure on that one!
Lisa P says
OK. I have to respond here. I JUST learned something. If you CULTURE your cream before you churn it, you end up with REAL buttermilk. I never knew this before.
Sit your cream on your counter. Pour in a little buttermilk or something to start the culturing process. I suppose you could just wait longer until it sours a little on its own. I waited about 12 hours. (I was using pasteurized heavy whipping cream. And, since it isn’t raw, I wouldn’t leave it too long.)
It seriously took like two minutes or so to whip into butter, cutting the time DRASTICALLY. I looked into my bowl and there were the clumps of butter and this THICK, white buttermilk that smelled really sweet. The butter was tasty as well.
Good luck!
s.krishnamurthy says
we want to make large qty butter from cows milk your advise please
regards
s.krishnamurthy, BANGALOR, INDIA
Katelyn says
I have been doing this a couple time now, and wondered what on earth to do with the lovely left over liquid, so I did some research… it is buttermilk! Did you know this?? :)
Laura says
I’m a little unsure on this myself. It is buttermilk, but it is much thinner than what I use as regular buttermilk. I use it in baking in place of milk after I have made butter.
Katie says
There are two different types of buttermilk, the kind that comes from making butter and cultured buttermilk, the kind that you know from purchasing in stores. The buttermilk made as a result of making butter is excellent in home-made pancakes and biscuits. Hope this helps!
Sarah says
I was wondering if anyone knows how to make honey butter???? Oh and thanks for the awesome tops with using the butter milk after I hate to see any part wasted:)
Janet says
I have found that if you put 1T of buttermilk into 4C of cream and let it sit for about 24 hrs. it makes wonderful cultured butter and the cultured buttermilk left behind is great! Just like the store bought!
Atom&Yves says
Katelyn, I used the ‘shake in a jar’ method and was taken by the appearance of the leftover liquid when the ball-o-butter had formed. It looked like whole milk, so I tasted it. It had so much more flavor than store-bought Vit D whole milk, I drank the whole thing. I’ve heard the liquid can be used to make pancakes, biscuits and more.
Katelyn says
After I found out what it was, I started saving it in a bottle in the fridge and make biscuits with it when I have enough saved up. I love the “use the whole cow” mentality, or in this case, all the cream :)
Brittany says
I read the salt preserves it longer but do you know how long the unsalted butter would last? maybe as long as the cream would last?
Laura says
I would say unsalted would probably last about two weeks.
Crickett says
You can leave it out for about a week without it going bad. It will stay in the frig for about 6 months and the freezer a year. If you have a butter crock, it will keep butter for up to 30 days without requiring refrigeration. All that is require is cold, fresh water to perform its magic……at room temp.
Katelyn says
I’ve also noticed when I do remember to add salt to the food processor, it seems to make the butter form up a bit faster, and when I don’t add salt (because I forget) the process takes longer and my food processor actually quits on me! Has this happened to anyone else?
Coriena says
Am wondering how much salt to cream? Also will this butter freeze,
and is the left over cream after the butter is taken out the first
time.. is that now skim milk?
Jennifer says
I am not sure about how much salt to add to the butter, I would say add to taste. But I freeze store bought butter all the time with no problem with it once it’s thawed.
Holly says
Awesome, it is so easy!!! and tastes way better than any store bought butter out there…I’m and going to attempt the mozz. cheese next but you can’t beat homemade butter especially knowing it is this easy…
Rocky says
Being raised on a dairy farm all of this is what we did everyday. Kinda fun to do it sometimes know.I have frozen the butter it came out like fresh made.
Anita says
I’ve just found your website…love it. Seriously love the idea of whole food my kids will love.
We homeschool too, and did a unit on the “Little House” books. It was a blast to make butter with the kids. Here’s a tip that makes it loads of fun for a group of kids. Let them shake the jar while jumping on a trampoline…also works for making ice cream. We had butter and ice cream and the kids had a fun work-out!
Theresa says
When we make butter we use an old fashioned butter churn!
This is how we keep the children occupied on rainy days during re-enacting season. One person would not want to do this it is a lot of work.
Sally at { with eager v} says
Hi there! I have been here many times, but happened to catch on to this pin from Pinterest. What caught me was the firmness of the butter ball (tee hee hee! that sounds so silly to me!)
I have made milk from our raw cow’s milk shares many times, but the flavor rarely meets my standards. I am letting it set out a la Weston A Price/culture standards, or at least I was. I am not ready to go along with cultured butter, though, no matter how much healthier it might be. Sigh…
But the thing is, is that I just can’t seem to get all the milk out! I use out Hamilton Beach food processor and once it’s got that first “milking” as we call it, we pour that out and save it, then begin adding cold water (we don’t use ice, becuase we don’t make ice) to work in with the food processor. I have begun going that several times until is runs pretty clear. Still, I have never been able to actually form the ball in my hand. I will admit to doing it once, naively thinking that it would just … happen! Guess how that turned out! lol! I have used paddles and bamboo flat spoons to try to squish it out, but I just. can’t. get. it all out!
How do you get it to that point?
Laura says
Yes, I have a hard time getting all of the water out too. I usually find that working it with my hands works best for this.
Amber says
I am having trouble with the liquid part too. my butter was so soft I
lost a lot of while trying to squeeze the water out. I used the jar
shaker method, tried a blender but the cream was getting very hot and
so was the blender. Not sure what I am doing wrong.
Suzanne says
I have found that the temperature of the cream really determines if you end up with soft butter or hard butter. Let it warm up a bit on the counter before processing it, but do not let it get too warm or it will be soft. Hope that helps.
kentucky Lady 717 says
I made this butter today, used my mixer…took me a little over 10 mins…..I did not run cold water over the butter, I just kept mashing the butter against the bowl,until I got all the water out….then salted it and put in a container…had some today with my dinner on rolls and it was really good….I have a good cup of milk left from the butter, which I will use in my cornbread tomorrow….
My question is, why do you have to wash the butter ??? I didn’t and it came out fine……
Melanie says
I have heard that the butter doesn’t last as long if you do not rinse it, beause the “buttermilk” makes it spoil faster. It’s not harmful, it just doesn’t keep as long.
LindseyforLaura@HHM says
It gets all the water out of it when you wash it.
kentucky Lady 717 says
Sorry I meant to say I just kept mashing the butter against the bowl, until I got all the milk out…….
Shea says
Has anyones butter come out sour? We have grass fed cows (they mostly free range off our land but are supplemented with a bit of hay). I’ve tried making butter several times over the year but the butter has a wierd distinctive sour smell and flavor. This being made with fresh raw milk. I’m not sure if it makes a difference but I was taught to but the cold cream in the butter mixer and then set that in a hot water bath and then blend for 25 min or so. I wonder if that has anything to do with the smell/flavor? That is really the only difference from what you are doing. What do you ladies think?
Jamie Garcia says
My butter doesn’t break unless it’s cold. Breaking is what it does
suddenly when the fat separates from the buttermilk.
Here are some helpful sites:
http://www.cheesemaking.com/Butter.html
http://familycow.proboards.com/index.cgi
I’ve also been told by my father that if the cows are eating certain
types of weeds it can make the milk taste nasty for a bit until
it’s all out of their system.
Karli says
Just made homemade butter for the first time and also my first real “wholesome/homemade” food product… OMG it was AMAZING! I’ve never been happier to have my hands covered in butter :P
Amanda says
Is there any other way to shape the butter other than a ball? Just curious if anyone has shaped it differently. If a recipe calls for a certain amt (tbsp) of butter, do you just sort of wing it?
LindseyforLaura@HHM says
You could probably shape it however you want. It doesn’t have to be a ball. :)
I would use a liquid measuring spoon to measure it out. Just make sure to pack it in.
Kathy tennyson says
Do I use cold cream or room temp?
Laura says
Either one, but I do find that room temp works a little bit better.
carole says
yay!! I did it!! i did it!! :-) super fun and since i only had about a cup of cream, i did it by hand in a jam jar and got a little tricep exercise in, too ;-)
thanks so much!!!
Paula M says
I just made my first pound of butter in the food processor. Using a quart of raw cream was too much for my machine and the buttermilk all leaked out. Oh well live and learn. It was fun. I’ll definitely continue to do this since I can get raw cream from organic grass fed cows. What a difference. I grew up on Land O Lakes since 1955 who new it was garbage and full of GMO’s, chemicals, and artificial colors.
Frannie says
I am *so* glad I found your site!
In the process of making butter!
Frannie
Annie T. says
Old post, I know, but I wanted to share my favorite butter making method… I do almost the same thing, but in the high speed Vita-Mix. It takes about two minutes, or less, depending on how much cream you use.
Then to clean my lovely butter, I pour off the buttermilk and add a pint of so of *cold* water and whirl that around for 30 seconds or so. Drain off the water and repeat a couple more times, then scoop it out and work/knead the rest of the water out and salt it.
I can make up to a quart of cream into butter this way, in about ten minutes. :)
Doug Wilson says
Laura,
Could you do this using a whip attachment on a KitchenAid?
Doug
Laura says
I would imagine this would work, but I don’t have a Kitchen Aid, so I don’t have experience to answer for sure!