I made butter!!

[FirestarterKY]

I'm planning to get a Jersey milk cow soon and decided to go ahead and try to make butter with a churn I bought last year.
Went to amish and got milk, let it sit out and clabber and poured it in my churn and churned for about 3 hours.
It was only one gal of milk but I got about 1 1/2 sticks of butter out of it.
Then of couse I got buttermilk and made the BEST biscuts and bread from that.
I'm just as tickeled as I can be!
There's one more thing I'm not dependant on the stores for. YOO HOO!
Now, to learn cheese.......
Any hints you all have or advise, glad to have it!

Take care!!!!!!!

Karen

[Shamrock1121]

You must be using a dash butter churn to take so long. :o You don't mention it, but did you separate the cream from the milk before making butter?

If you have a stand mixer, you can make butter in it in a fraction of the time and dishwasher clean-up.

To make it with the mixer:

Pour cold, heavy cream into a chilled mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on the lowest speed, and then slowly turn it to high speed. You let the cream go through the stages of whipped cream, stiff whipped cream, and then finally two products - butter and buttermilk. Turn the mixer to slow again. When the separation takes place, pour off the buttermilk. Clean the butter, etc....

You can also make butter in a food processor or a blender. You could have made it faster in a 2-quart jar with a tight-fitting lid with a marble inside. Chill the jar and marble in the refrigerator before using it for 2 cups heavy cream. Shake it. In about 15 minutes it will be thick whipped cream and another 15-30 minutes should get you butter and buttermilk.

We used to use 35mm film canisters to let kids make a little butter during demonstrations at our local museum. We also used a Dazey Churn and let the kids take turns cranking the churn. MUCH faster than a dash churn.....

What are you using for a cream separator? Or are you just skimming it off the milk?

If you make butter once a week from the cream you accumulate during the week, it gives the cream time to "ripen", which really adds to the flavor and it's also easier to whip than fresh cream. You don't have to clabber it if you use the older cream. You'll also get a little more butter from older cream than fresh.

A quart of heavy cream should make about one pound of butter and about 1/2 a quart of buttermilk.

Are you making both sweet cream and sour/cultured cream butter?

Be sure to wash the butter well. If you leave any milk in it, it will cause the butter to spoil.

I just wish I lived close enough to trade you a loaf of 100% Whole Wheat Bread made with freshly-milled flour for some cream.... :D

-Karen (also)

[sbemt456]

You all may already know about making sweet butter, but I have made it in the blender. Just chill everything well and put the cold fresh cream in the blender, and as was said you get whipped cream first then butter. You dont have to clabber the milk which makes clabbered milk butter, we like it from fresh cream better, I dont have that tart flavor.
My mother got really mad at me when I made sweet cream butter, she said I was wasting good cream till she saw the butter come to the top of the milk.
Keep Churning!

[bookwormom]

you do not need to work the whole gallon firestarter. At my home we always let the milk clabber in milk pots, had no refrigerator. My grandmother ran her index finger around the rim of the pot, tilted it a little and the cream would slide into a special pot for cream. No skimming with a spoon needed. With refrigeration you can accumulate several days worth of cream before you churn. I never heard of anyone churning for three hrs. we had a handcranked, wooden churn, it took about half an hr, 45 minutes if memory serves me right. I am partial to sour butter, that is what I grew up with. can't wait for my little cows to calf and hope to milk them.

[aprilconnett]

I am so jealous. Obviuosly, I can't have a cow in the traile rpark, but on top of that, it is ILLEGAL to buy raw milk in NC. :'(

april

[FirestarterKY]

All I had was my hubbys Grandma who hasnt much memory left.
LMAO!
No, I used the whole milk, why I guess it took three hours!
And ya, I used hte old 5 gal churn, with the wooden lid and cross bar on the stick.
No one told me to lift the cream off!
Live and learn......
LOL!
I figured it was suppose to take that long listenign to all the old tales of "churning forever".
Hey Karen!.....can you tell me how you freshly mill your own wheat flour?
I'm a bread maker too.
I love to make bread!
Thanks for all the helpful tips you all gave!!

Karen (Irish also) :)

[Shamrock1121]

Hey Karen!.....can you tell me how you freshly mill your own wheat flour?
I'm a bread maker too.
I love to make bread!
Thanks for all the helpful tips you all gave!!

Karen (Irish also) :)


I mill flour with a getting-kinda-old, used a couple times a week, Whisper Mill (now called a Wonder Mill). You can see more information about it at: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/whisper_mills_grain.html

I also mill a large variety of grains/seeds/beans into flour, not just wheat.

-Karen

[taynormom]

Shamrock , can you tell me about your grain milling. ?
I would love to grow my own grain and make flour. Do you grow your own grain too ?
Congrats on your butter Firestarter :D that is my dream too. The price of butter ,flour and rice is just getting out of hand :-[
thanks for any info you can give me
taynormom

[taynormom]

woops my bad
i just saw the other thread on the how that was posted ::)