It’s too windy to work outside this afternoon. I tried to plant garden, but kept loosing my balance because the wind was blowing so hard! So, I ended up in the house, not knowing what to do because my plans weren’t working out. I know, that’s a weird situation for a mother of several to be in. Yes, there are lots of things I should be doing, but when you have your mind fixed in one direction, and that direction changes, it takes awhile to redirect. Anyway, I finally remembered that I needed to make butter. Then, when I was most of the way through the process, I decided this might make a half-decent topic for a blog post, so you get pictures starting partway through. I love that cow of ours–she gives us so much!
I started with all these jars full of cream. Sometime this morning or early afternoon I pulled them out of the fridge and put some yogurt in them, then left them on the table to warm up.
Step 1: Pour 4 cups of cream in the blender jar.
With our cream and my blender, I run it at 1 till the cream whips.
The cream whips so thickly that I have to break the airlock.
Whipped cream!
Then, I pulse it on and off for several minutes, till the butter starts forming. Otherwise, it will just airlock again.
Once the butter is separating, it won’t airlock anymore, so I run it on 3 for another minute or so, till the butter and buttermilk are separated.
I press the butter to one side and pour off the buttermilk, then scoop the butter out. Time elapsed since putting cream in the blender? About 2-3 minutes!
Time to wash the butter. If I have a smaller batch, I can use the butter paddle; with this size batch it’s easier to use my hands.
First, I press out all the buttermilk I can.
Then, run water in and work it around and through the butter (remember, oil and water don’t mix) to get the rest of the buttermilk rinsed out.
Good enough–this is the fourth rinse.
Add salt; I think I used about 2 Tablespoons here.
Work the salt through.
Put it in a container!
The final results–a quart and a half of buttermilk to make into biscuits, scones, pancakes, etc, and about 5 pounds of delicious, cultured, Jersey butter!
And, one more reason to love the cow–the cheese! As you can see, it’s popular for snacks.