Butter Homemade Cultured

 The February 2015 issue of Southern Living magazine had a recipe for making butter. After reading and thinking about it I decided I needed to try it.

 I am happy to report it turned out very well. The directions were clear and it was really quite easy to make. Much easier than churning butter in a glass churn that I remember doing as a kid. We didn’t do it often as there was a good dairy in our hometown and you could buy great butter from them.

 However, this is a cultured butter not a sweet cream butter, more on the order of Kerry Gold butter from Ireland. Lyle thought it was a lot like the butter his mother made and John thought the buttermilk was good.

 This made 17 ounces of butter and a pint of buttermilk and the cost the day I bought the ingredients was $5.10. That includes the butter and the buttermilk. Two for one in this recipe. If you like to try different things as I do, you need to try this at least once.

Fresh Butter and Buttermilk

4 cups of heavy cream (whipping cream works)

1 cup store-bought buttermilk

 Heat 4 cups of heavy cream in a saucepan over low heat until a thermometer registers 70°F. Pour cream into a large bowl and stir in the one cup of buttermilk. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours keeping it out of any drafts. (If you are not going to be using your oven this works well. I hung a towel over my oven door so I would not turn the oven on and forget it was in there.)

 The next day, process the thickened mixture in a food processor 5 to 8 minutes (mine was butter in 4 minutes, this will vary) until small bits of butter are forming. Pour through a fine sieve into a large bowl. Let stand to drain for 10 minutes pressing on it occasionally to drain well. Use the buttermilk at once or store in a glass jar with lid for up to 3 weeks. Run cold water over the butter in the sieve; squeeze to form ball. 

 Knead butter in ice water until water becomes cloudy. Drain, repeat until water remains clear. Knead in ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Shape into a disk; wrap and chill up to 3 weeks.

Do keep in mind that this butter has a tang to it which their recipe also says.