Making Butter the Old Fashioned Way

Did you know that butter has “natural flavoring” added to it. What is natural flavoring? It is an added flavor concentrate called a starter distillate.   Starter distillate is made from the bacterial fermentation of skim milk or non fat dry milk. Basically, it is added partially as a preservative (it contains citric acid) and also to give your butter a more “buttery” flavor.

But I want to know why store bought butter needs a more “buttery” flavor? I have made butter at home and it tastes like….drum roll please….butter. Without the extra “natural flavoring.” I am really not keen on added flavors and preservatives in my food. So, if you are interested in making your own butter, here is how to do it.

How to Make Butter
Ingredients:
Cream

We use the cream from our raw milk that we buy from Freedom Hill Farm.

Raw Milk

The darker yellow milk at the top is cream. We just pour this off into another jar. Now it’s time to shake, shake, shake. You need to shake the cream until the butter starts to form.

Butter Separating

Once you notice those little yellow globules forming, shake some more until they start to congeal together.

Next, scoop out the butter into a bowl of icewater and squeeze/mash. This is necessary to wash the remaining buttermilk out of the butter. Otherwise, the butter will go bad faster.

Squeezing out the Buttermilk

I use a spoon and keep pushing the butter against the sides of the bowl. As the water clouds up, I pour it out and add more ice water until the water starts to run clearer.

Butter in Ice Water

After the water starts to get clearer, I form the butter into a ball (makes scooping it out of the water easier) and put it in a glass bowl.

Butter

You can either keep it in the refrigerator (make sure you use it within a week or add salt to make it last a little longer) or freeze it and thaw it out when you need it.

Yum…delicious, homemade butter for your fresh homemade scones…uh oh…better get that scone recipe up tomorrow for everyone!