Making Butter ~ It's SO Easy!

I have been a HUGE butter fan for many years.  It started out at the realization that margarine was a manufactured chemical, whereas butter was made from milk.  Much more natural!  Then, I started using lots of butter because I loved the taste so much better than margarine.  But, we were still buying it in the store and it was not organic, nor was it from grass fed cows.  It was just, you know, butter.  From a store.  :)

Not long after that, my husband was diagnosed with high cholesterol and we switched back to margarine because of all those commercials telling you that margarine has less saturated fat, blah blah blah.  Or rather, we tried the supposed heart healthy smart balance type butters and margarines.  But, it just didn't fit into my brain quite right that these chemically made products could possibly be better for him (us) than something made naturally.  So, I quickly put a cabosh on that idea and embraced the fact that we were butter eaters and there was no going back.  Incidentally, when his next work up came around a year later, his cholesterol had dropped by more than 50 points!  Now, I doubt that it was ALL because of butter, but my point was that butter was not the culprit of his high cholesterol.

I'm here to tell you, that butter is a health food.  It is not to blame for heart disease, blood pressure, cholesterol, making you fat, and on and on and on.  Butter, is high in vitamins A, D, E, K, and Calcium.  It's rich in anti-oxidants, selenium, lecithin, and lauric acid.  The saturated fats found in butter even have strong anti cancer and anti tumor properties!  And finally, the cholesterol found in butter is exactly what children's brains need to grow healthy. (http://bodyecology.com/articles/benefits_of_real_butter.php#.Udb7a_mgWph)

So today, I'm going to show you just how easy it is to MAKE butter!  I highly, highly, highly, (oh wait, did I say HIGHLY) recommend that you use raw milk from grass fed cows.  Always, really. But especially for your cream in which to make butter.  Raw cream is by far the most superior of all creams, in my opinion.  Not only in taste, but also in nutrition and health benefits.  I will not go down the rabbit trail of preaching to you all the devastation that pasteurization does to our milk.  So, just know, that I HIGHLY encourage you to use raw milk. :)  However, if you are unable to obtain raw milk, please find some Organic, preferably Grass Fed cream to use.  If all that fails, use what you can find.  :)

Now, there are about as many ways to obtain your cream from your milk as there are people on the planet.  So do it however it works for you.  MY system is to pour our milk into one of these bpa free plastic dispensers as soon as I get home from the farm.

On my gift wish list is one of these.  A glass 2 tier dispenser with metal spigots on them.  However, this little plastic one will have to do for now.

It is extremely handy for the kids to get milk as the heavy glass jars we had been using previously made it a hold-my-breath-and-pray-they-don't-drop-it experience several times a day.  So, this is wonderful!  Surprisingly, we actually go through less milk this way!  I'm not sure why exactly, but it's true.

Anyway, the cream rises to the top and as we drink the milk off the bottom, all the cream is saved for last.  In the picture below, you can see the line of cream on top that has separated from the milk.

Then, when we get down to just the cream, I pull it off and put it in a glass jar until I can get around to making butter.  In this time, if there is any milk left, it will separate again and you can see how much cream to milk you have.  As shown in the picture below.

Next, I use my little mini food processor. I pour in my cream up to the 1/4 L line plus 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt.  You can salt to taste, there's no magic amount.  :)  There's not even any reason to measure anything if you're making unsalted.  Just put your cream in and let it spin!

I've also used my blender before to make butter, though it didn't work out very well.  As you make butter it goes through different stages of thickness and at one point it gets a whipped butter consistency and my blender couldn't handle it.  It just spun and the butter-in-progress was not moving and clung to the sides.  So I ended up having to move it to my food processor anyway and having more to wash.  :)  So I just go straight to the food processor now.  Another great option is to use a hand held stick blender too.  I've used that several times as well, but it's currently designated for skin care products only and until I get another one, I won't be using it for food stuff.

ANYWAY!  Where were we?

Oh yes, we just poured in the cream.  Ok, so now stand there and hold the button down for about 10 minutes until it gets a good bounce.

As you see at the end of the video there, when it's bouncing, you have now successfully made butter.

Scrape together all your butter pieces and put them in your container you want to use to store it in.

What you have left, is buttermilk!  You can then use that for all kinds of stuff!  It is full of probiotics and SO good for you!  I use it to mix into our eggs, mashed potatoes, you could put some in a smoothie.  Just about anything.  And of course, you could use it for things like biscuits and pancakes too!  (though we do not since we are grain free)

There ya go!  Raw, fresh, grass fed, organic butter.