Making your own butter is not hard, even if you don’t have milk animals.
Butter can be made from cow, goat and sheep cream which comes from their milk.
You can also buy heavy whipping cream at the store and make butter from it.
If you are using raw or home pasteurized milk instead of store bought, the easiest way to separate the cream from the milk is with a cream separator. However if you do not have one, the other way is to sit the milk in small containers such as canning jars in the refrigerator, once the milk is cooled. The cream will slowly rise to the top. This process can take several hours to overnight. Use a spoon to dip the cream off. You will not get as much cream, but you will get some.
To increase the amount of butter, feel free to add store bought heavy whipping cream to the cream you skimmed. You will get some milk in the cream you skim as well. Leave it in the cream. It will not hurt anything and will make the butter easier to churn.
Regardless of the type of cream you use, the easiest way to make butter is to use a standard kitchen blender.
Sit the cream you are going to use on your kitchen counter about ten minutes before you intend to churn it. The warmer the cream, the easier it will turn into butter.
When you are ready, put the cream into the blender and turn it on. If there is too much cream and not enough milk the blender will have trouble churning it. Simply add more milk to solve this problem. The butter should float freely in the liquid.
Once the butter is made, remove it from the blender with a spoon. The remaining liquid is buttermilk. It can be strained and put into a glass jar for use in biscuits, breads, pancakes or other recipes that call for buttermilk.
Once the blender is empty, rinse it with cold water, put the butter back in it and cover the butter with cold water. Blend briefly, dump the water off the butter and repeat.
Continue this process until the water runs clear. The more of the buttermilk you can remove, the longer the butter will last. When you are satisfied that the butter is clean, add salt to taste. You can also add herbs at this point.
Mix well with a spoon to distribute the salt and herbs. When you are satisfied that the ingredients are well distributed, put the butter in a covered container in the refrigerator and use as needed.
You can also form the butter into balls, wrap them in clear plastic wrap, place them in a freezer bag and freeze them for up to six months.
