Small Calamities

August 22, 2008 (0) Comments

August 21, 2008 (0) Comments

August 14, 2008 (0) Comments

Your Calamities

Homemade Butter
March 2, 2008 | permalink

I made butter yesterday.

I didn't do it all Olde Timey style, like with a churn (not that I don't want to- I just don't have one. I bought one on Ebay a while ago, but I got stiffed). I have a small food processor that it turns out is the perfect size for a pint of heavy cream.

Making butter is really simple, and I have done it before, though not for a very long time. I had kind of forgotten how it all worked, and how cool it is to see the transformation happen. And it is, of course, way tastier than what you are getting at the grocery store. I highly recommend you give it a whirl.

Butter from the Blender

• 1 Pint Heavy Cream
• Salt to Taste

Blend the cream on high in your blender or food processor. In fairly short order it will become whipped cream. Nothing will appear to happen for the next 5-10 minutes- just keep blending. The volume of the whipped cream will begin to slowly decrease, and you will feel, rather than see, the solids start to collect into butter. Shortly after this, and very quickly, the cream will collapse and separate into butter and buttermilk. (mmm... pancakes, anyone?)

Strain the buttermilk into a container and discard or refrigerate for later use.

Take the mass of butter and rinse under cold water, gently kneading with your hands, to rinse out any large pockets of trapped buttermilk. Transfer the butter to a bowl and add salt, if desired; I used about half a teaspoon, and I found it to be a little less salty than store butter. (Salt will also make your butter keep longer). Now would be the time that you should add any other herbs or flavorings that you might desire, in lieu of (or in addition to) the salt.

Using a rubber spatula, work and smear the butter against the sides of the bowl until all the buttermilk is extracted and the salt (or whatever you ended up adding) is thoroughly mixed in.

Place in a covered container, refrigerate, and enjoy!

One pint of heavy cream yields what looks to me like a little less than a half a pound of butter, and around 3/4 cup of buttermilk, more or less.

Posted in Recipes & The Home Front
Lay Down Your Weary Tune was the last entry.
How Did We Get This Far? is the next entry.