Make Your Own: Butter
We’ve been getting raw milk (also called Real Milk) from a local farm for a few years. Actually I should say that we’ve been getting raw milk from our cow for a few years. The sale of raw milk is illegal in Ohio, so we participate in what’s called a “Herd Share” program. We bought a cow and we pay the farmer’s to take care of it for us. It’s legal to drink raw milk if it comes from your own cow. This milk is as fresh as you can get, we pick it up the day after it’s milked, it’s unpasteurized and unhomogenized. Since it’s not homogenized the cream rises to the top, it’s also called cream line milk. If you look closely you can see the cream line in the milk on the right.
We pay about the same price for our organic pastured milk as we would for organic milk from the store. We are happy knowing that the farmers that take care of our cow are getting a much better wage for their work than from an organic dairy. It is really delicious milk, it’s hard to explain; but it tastes like milk, unlike the white liquid you buy at the grocery store. It’s fresh and delicious and slightly sweeter than grocery store milk. It’s also wonderful because I do not have lactose intolerance problems like I do with store-bought milk.
Making butter is super easy, all you need is cream and a jar. Of course you can make it in the mixer or the blender, but I prefer to make mine the old fashioned way. I simply shake the cream in a jar until it’s butter. It really doesn’t take long, between 10-20 minutes depending on the cream, temperature and how good of a shaker you are. I prefer to make mine in half gallon jars, but you can use quart or even pint, although the more cream you use the bigger you final batch of butter will be. Fill your jar 25-50% full of cream, I try to keep mine around 40%. The more cream you have in the jar the longer it takes to form butter because there’s less movement of the cream. I also like to keep the cream at about 50-60 degrees to make butter. If it’s too warm the butter will be kind of a whipped butter and it will be more difficult to rinse and knead later on.
While shaking you’ll notice the cream turn from liquid to whipped cream. It will become harder and harder to shake as it gets thicker. Eventually you’ll notice that it will break, this happens when the butter separates from the buttermilk. You’ll definitely notice the difference in sound at this point. As you are shaking, notice the color of the cream as well, it will start to turn more and more yellow as the fat molecules group together.
It will now be easy to shake and you’ll notice the butter will start clumping together. I like to rinse mine when it formed marble sized pieces. Pour the buttermilk out of the jar, but keep the butter in. Make sure you keep your buttermilk, it makes great pancakes, muffins or biscuits. Add some water back into the jar and shake again, do this two or three times until the water is just about clear. Empty butter into a strainer to strain off water. Transfer the butter into a bowl and knead with a spoon until it form a ball, you’ll notice you’ll be working water out of the butter. If the butter is too soft put in the fridge to harden a bit before kneading.
You can add salt to your butter if you’d like, I prefer to keep mine unsalted and sprinkle some salt on my bread after buttering. Homemade butter is really tasty, it has a different taste than store bought butter. I sometimes let the cream sour a bit before churning to make a cultured butter, this only works with raw cream though, you’ll have to add cultures to store bought cream if you want cultured butter. The first time I made butter I was amazed at the color, the stuff I buy from the store is almost white, as you can see mine is very very yellow. This is because the cows we get our milk from are pastured.
We’ve been making most of our own butter since we started getting raw milk. It has become part of our weekly routine, we make about a pound and half of butter each week. Around the holidays I sometimes have to buy butter from a local dairy because I don’t have enough to make all the holiday goodies. Making butter is a great hands on educational activity to enjoy with your kids as well.
Have you ever made butter? Do you prefer butter or margarine?
Filed under Going Local, How-To's, Make Your Own, Meat & Dairy | Comments (61)
I wish I could find a cow relationship like that around here! Your butter looks wonderful. And oh how I would love to have that fresh buttermilk for baking.
.-= pam´s last blog ..Garden Tuesday – Winter Herbs =-.
to pam's comment
http://www.realmilk.com/real-milk-finder/
to Terry's comment
i worked at a farm which had a herd-share program. the real milk sold very fast!! when i no longer worked for them i still bought their whipping cream and made butter from that.. what a treat! yes..
to annie's comment
we drink raw milk also that we get weekly from our local farmer when we are in the berkshires. however when i do make butter i buy an organic pasteurized cream because for the gallon and 1/2 raw milk that i get i didn’t think i could get enough cream off of the top to make it worth making butter. i am going to look into this more though -you’ve inspired me!
how long do you find that butter from raw cream lasts? that is the one problem i have with making my own with pasteurized cream – it doesn’t last very long at all before it develops an off smell, about a week or less.
to tigress's comment
My raw milk butter lasts for quite a while, I often let the milk sour a bit before making butter so it’s cultured butter. I find that it lasts on the counter for a few weeks (although we keep our house fairly cold). We generally use it up within a week though, so it doesn’t generally make it too long. Adding salt should help the butter last longer as well, I’ve read it helps preserve it. I also make ghee with extra butter, which lasts much longer than regular butter since the milk solids are removed (more on that tomorrow).
to Susy's comment
My mother’s family got raw milk from a neighboring farmer when she was growing up, and did make butter. I am not sure of the method – i.e. if they used the shaking method you do or an up-and-down churn. But either way, it is completely different experience I’m sure from the store-bought kind. They’d then clarify it, so it could be stored at room temp for quite a while.
I don’t eat butter because I am lactose/casin intolerant. It doesn’t matter if its local milk, raw milk, or “store milk”. Just doesn’t agree with me.
.-= Mangochild´s last blog ..Spotlight: 2009-2010 Dark Days Challenge Week Seven =-.
to Mangochild's comment
I make butter for the first batch of fresh peas from the garden every year. But I cheat and use a hand mixer.
Apparently, butter making is a standard home ec. lesson in all the schools around here. My husband remembers making it in the jar in elementary school. I think that’s awesome. Because who would love shaking the butter out of cream more than hyperactive kids?
.-= kristin @ going country´s last blog ..Just a Thought =-.
to kristin @ going country's comment
How long do you find your milk lasts? Since we’re new to the whole raw milk thing, I’m finding around a week is about it. Was curious what your experience was. I think ours is homogenized too….
.-= Sherri´s last blog ..raw milk =-.
to Sherri's comment
Our raw milk lasts for a long time, since it’s not pasteurized it sours instead of going bad, so it just becomes cheese. We’ve had milk in the fridge for 3-4 weeks without it going bad or souring.
There is another local dairy we get pasteurized milk (but not homogenized) from on occasion (during the dry times at the farm) and it goes bad rather quickly since there are no natural cultures left in it. Usually about a week is the limit for that milk.
to Susy's comment
That explains it then. I know this farmer also sells butter, so my guess is we’re getting the homogenized milk and he’s using the cream etc. to make the butter. thanks!
.-= Sherri´s last blog ..raw milk =-.
to Sherri's comment
Oh wait – my comment doesn’t really make sense now that I re-read what you wrote.
Anyway – I’m finding ours is souring today and we bought it last week. Of course they only deliver the milk to town once every 2 weeks so it could be sitting there for a few days before we get it too….
.-= Sherri´s last blog ..raw milk =-.
to Sherri's comment
Hello. Im recently new to drinking fresh cows milk (raw milk) i bought half gallon glass jars, i have 5. So thats 2 1/2 gallons of milk and it will last for us (me,hubby and 3 boys) bought a week or lil more…Today was the first time i made butter with the cream like she did in this blog! Super easy! But whenever we use the milk we always shake it good before pouring… (when not saving the cream).
to crystal's comment
Fresh-made butter is amazing. It’s definitely one of our favorite activities around here. We now swear off margerine and purchase sweet cream butter only if necessary for recipes. We don’t currently have access to a sharing program, so for now our butter is made from store-bought organic cream.
.-= Jennifer´s last blog ..Pensive days =-.
to Jennifer's comment
How much butter does one batch of cream make? I’m going to have to find some raw milk to try this! Thanks for the lesson.
to Renee J's comment
It depends on the fat content in the cream. In the spring when the grass is nice and green I get about a pound of butter from a little less than a quart of cream. Later in the summer/fall when the grass gets dry, I get less butter from the cream.
to Susy's comment
I grew up on raw milk. We had a cow that we milked twice a day. We made butter and yogurt all the time. I loved the taste of it and it was always so pretty in the fridge. Oh, how I miss it.
.-= Teri´s last blog ..5/365 =-.
to Teri's comment
I am so jealous. I saw an old fashioned glass butter churn. Think large mason jar (gallon) with wooden paddels inside and a crank handle on the top. $75 and I think it would so be worth it, but I could always just shake the butter.
I saw your milk in glass jars and it inspired me to ask my milk man if I provided the jars if I could get my milk in glass. NYS says no. Here he would have to have a sterilization facility to ensure that the glass jar was clean before he put the milk in, so I keep everything in plastic. I wonder if I could participate in a herd share and then get my milk in my glass jars and raw….
Something to talk to my Milk guy about. At any rate I had planned to ask him this weekend if I could just get a box from him weekly. 2 gallons of milk, 2 pints of cream. 1 pint for butter and 1 pint just because. Then of course I will need 2 dozen eggs from him and semi regularly cheese.
Anyone know why they can make raw cheese, but I can’t buy raw milk?
Thanks for the post.
.-= Tree´s last blog ..A Green Triad of Arrows =-.
to Tree's comment
Our farm had the same issues with glass, most people get the milk in plastic gallon jugs. I wash my own jars and take them to the farm the night before they fill them, then I pick them up the next day. This way I can get my milk in glass jars and they don’t have to spend money on plastic jugs. We do get our dry season milk in plastic jugs frozen.
In Ohio it’s the same with raw milk cheese, it has to be ages at least 60 days though. I think that it has something to do with the bad bacteria being gone after so many days. I haven’t really read up on it too much.
to Susy's comment
I just bought the half gallon glass jars from Walmart. So whenever we need milk we take our own jars to our milk guy. I wash them in dishwasher when empty and hand wash the lids.
to crystal's comment
I am lactose intolerant (I can eat some dairy, as long as I do not over indulge, I stick mainly to cheese. I still use butter too, margarine is just vile to me. I however use lard in my pie crusts and such instead.) I have made butter but with store bought cream. I wonder if switching to raw milk would make a difference for too? I think you can only sell it in WA if it is labeled for animal use only…
.-= Jaspenelle´s last blog ..2010 =-.
to Jaspenelle's comment
The raw milk really makes a huge difference for me with the lactose intolerance. It was our dairy farmer that told me that she quit having lactose problems with raw milk.
I can’t drink regular milk or eat regular butter/cheese, but I have no problems at all with the raw milk/butter/cheese. I still don’t overdo it though, I try to keep my milk/dairy intake below a certain level, even with raw products.
to Susy's comment
I also live in WA and it is legal to buy and sell raw milk for human consumption here. There are some dairies that do co-op style drop points for the milk. If you do an internet search you should have luck finding a raw milk source…good luck!
to katie's comment
We have a milk man that brings us 2% from a local dairy… But when I was in the health food sotre the other day I noticed they sell “raw milk” from a guy in town who brings it in the their store. This may sound like a stupid question…but… is “raw milk” whole milk? Hmmm… now I want to go buy some so I can make a batch of homemade butter. Thanks for the post :)
to Mavis's comment
Our raw milk is whole milk, you can probably get skimmed raw milk, but most people that drink raw milk want whole milk since they want the healthy milk fat. We skim some of our cream off, so the milk we drink is probably 2% or 3%. I would love to drink whole milk and buy cream just to make butter, but then my diary bill for the month would be pretty high, so I’ll keep skimming some cream for now and drinking the 2% milk.
to Susy's comment
this is so great…I’m going to look into “Herd Share” in our area…that is a great idea! And the butter looks so beautiful…thank you for sharing!
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Stack of library goodness. =-.
to Michelle's comment
We had butter this way for years — A friend living nearby had a small herd of very productive Devon cattle and he kept a fridge full of gallon jars of raw milk with deep cream lines on his front porch. Everyone would bring a couple of bucks (this was a while ago!) and put them in the coffee can and take a jar.
We would just shake every other jar until the butter appeared; it was all we needed.
The mighty milk rulers put him out of business even though no one ever got sick from milk from there.
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to risa b's comment
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Marisa McClellan, mark mile. mark mile said: Make Your Own: Butter: We’ve been getting raw milk (also called Real Milk) from a local farm for a few years. Act… http://bit.ly/8ROufP […]
to Tweets that mention How to make butter at home | Chiot’s Run — Topsy.com's comment
We have good success with cows milk for butter, but goats milk has been a challenge. Temperature seems to play an important part in the process. Have you noticed this?
.-= alan´s last blog ..A long break =-.
to alan's comment
Yes, the closer to about 60 degrees the cream is the better the end result. Sometimes I let the cream get warmer and I end up with a kind of a whipped butter, which I do like sometimes because it’s easier to spread and doesn’t harden as much. It also has a higher buttermilk content though, so it sours more quickly. I sometimes put the cream back in the fridge for a few minutes in the middle of churning to keep the temp down. If you start with too cold of cream it has a tendency to leak from the jar, has something to do with the expansion from heating. I’ve learning the tell the correct temp based on feel, I know what kind of butter I’ll end up with by how cool/warm the jar feels.
to Susy's comment
going to have to look into a herdshare in our part of ohio. We used to make our own butter growing up and my mom had a glass jar with paddles and a crank handle on top…worked great for after dinner chats and “passing the jar.”
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..what is a memory? =-.
to Rachel's comment
Yes, sometimes I make butter while we’re watching TV or a movie and Mr Chiots will take a turn churning (although he’s got a knack for grabbing it right before it breaks so he only has to churn for a minute or two).
to Susy's comment
I just started reading your site and was able to found raw milk in my area. We are going Saturday to visit the farm and sign up. Im looking forward to making butter now when I bring it home.
to Jessica's comment
I haven’t made my own butter before, but I certainly want to, and I have the basic know-how.
I do have a question for you that I’ve sure you’ve heard time and again, though, regarding your raw milk. I know that the health of the cow and the care of the farmer play a big part in it, but do you never worry about food-borne infections from a lack of pasteurization? I just got in a bit of an argument about it with my biologist roommate, and though we did come to the agreement that it’s probably necessary on a large-scale industrial setting, bacteria in milk is still a concern even on a small scale. Have you ever had problems from drinking raw milk?
.-= Ria´s last blog ..Ways to reuse worn out clothing. =-.
to Ria's comment
I have no concerns with our raw milk because I know the cows are pastured and well cared for. The milk is tested regularly to make sure there are no contaminants.
I would, however, never drink raw milk from a farm that confines their cows, no matter how small or organic the farm is. I would not drink milk from cows that are fed soy meal, corn meal, or any other kinds of byproduct food. I will only drink milk from cows that are able to roam around and live as nature intended them to live, eating grass. The farm we get our milk from even lets their cows go dry in the winter, we have 3 months with no fresh milk, they give us frozen for that time.
This website has a lot of info on Raw/Real milk and why it’s healthier to drink unpasteurized unhomogenized raw milk.
http://www.realmilk.com/what.html
to Susy's comment
I just discovered I can get milk from a farm about 70 miles away from my house, and I’ve been DYING to make homemade butter.
Any thoughts on how this butter freezes? I usually stock up on extra butter (you can never have too much, right?) and keep it in the freezer just in case. I would think you could do the same thing with homemade butter and let it thaw in the fridge for holiday baking projects.
to Carter @ The Kitchenette's comment
I’m glad you asked this question. You can freeze homemade butter, make sure you get as much of the water/buttermilk out during the kneading process. You can also make ghee to preserve it, which is my favorite way. I’ll be talking about how to make ghee tomorrow.
to Susy's comment
So cool and inspiring! Thanks for the great tutorial. I am going to do this.
.-= dig this chick´s last blog ..hump day nuggets: the new year =-.
to dig this chick's comment
You are so inspiring! Check out my recent post – i tried your method with the little bit of cream i had skimmed off my last gallon of local raw milk. It worked like a dream! Who knew it could be so easy!?
Thanks sooo much for this post. I love making more and more things myself, without the purchase from a grocery store.
.-= Miranda´s last blog ..More Raw Milk Projects =-.
to Miranda's comment
Great job, loved the photos. You’ll be making butter all the time now! I agree, I love being able to make things for myself so I don’t have to run to the grocery all the time. I think I only went to the grocery store 10-12 times all last year.
to Susy's comment
Wow, A very inspiring post. You take beautiful pictures. I’ll be looking into finding my own raw milk. I’m not a huge dairy person. How long does your fresh butter last?
.-= Foy (Cook. Garden. Write. Repeat)´s last blog ..Santa Fe Corn and Black Bean Soup – Recipe and Instructions =-.
to Foy (Cook. Garden. Write. Repeat)'s comment
If you salt it, it lasts longer (I generally don’t though). I usually keep mine on the counter and we eat it within the week (we eat a lot of butter). Sometimes I keep it in the fridge if I get ahead on butter making and I’ve kept it in there for a month. It freezes well also for long term storage or you can make ghee as well, which keeps for a long time (if you can make it last, we eat that up as well within a month or two).
to Susy's comment
I don’t know if you keep up with comments to old posts or not…. but I wanted to report to you my success with raw milk and making butter!
I can drink raw milk!!! I was so nervous to try it. I’m not that huge of a fan of drinking a glass of milk by itself, but using milk to cook with and such is something I do a lot. I’ve gotten used to it, but some people who eat my cooking say that the lactose free milk I use adds a sweetness to the dishes that in many cases is not wanted. I love that now I can use real milk. And after reading about the way massed produced milk is created on the blog The Food Renegade, I’m glad to have this option.
Anyway, I did attempt to make butter. But had to fight my dh for the cream! He loved the raw milk! I don’t think I did a great job of skimming it and really didn’t try to get it all. I made about 1/2 cup of butter! It was sooo fun! And EASY! I will definitely be doing it again. (And my daughter is intrigued. I promised we’d make some for her this week.)
to Seren Dippity's comment
[…] food. Our pantry is filled with dry goods, home canned items, and spices. We make our own pasta, butter, cheese, bread, granola bars, salad dressings and try to stay away from food that contain long […]
to Make it from Scratch « Not Dabbling In Normal's comment
One more butter question from me:
The raw milk i get is in plastic milk jugs- this means it’s in a receptacle with a teeny little opening. Do you have any ideas on how to get the cream out? What I’ve been d oing is sucking it off the top with a baster. This SEEMS to work – but i’m also skeptical that it might just be sucking whatever liquid below it up, including the milk. I’m testing this theory in the fridge presently.
If only i could find a huge gallon sized ball jar!
.-= Miranda´s last blog ..New Receptacles, New Kitchen Layout! =-.
to Miranda's comment
We used to get our milk like that and I used a small iced tea spoon with a long handle that fit just into the opening. I now get my milk in half gallon ball jars. Our frozen milk is in gallon jugs and we thaw and then pour into half gallon jars, it’s so much easier to get the cream off. I can use a small gravy ladle and it’s much quicker.
to Susy's comment
[…] we have enough, we simply shake the jar until it become butter. (for a step-by-step process read this post on my blog). We have a constant supply of fresh raw butter which we enjoy on just about everything […]
to Sunday Photos…Home Creamery « Not Dabbling In Normal's comment
[…] from Chiot’s Run. Make Your Own: Brown Sugar Make Your Own: Baking Powder Make Your Own: Ghee Make Your Own: Butter Make Your Own: Preserved Lemons Make Your Own: Ketchup Make Your Own: Sauerkraut Make Your Own: […]
to A Few Resources for the Real Food Challenge « Not Dabbling In Normal's comment
i also have lactose intolerance that is why i always avoid dairy products.””~
to Amy Morris's comment
[…] starter and some freshly ground whole wheat flour, along with some buttermilk leftover from my butter making, eggs from the local farm. We topped them with some homemade butter and some local maple syrup […]
to Overnight Sourdough Pancake Recipe | Chiot’s Run's comment
[…] here. Pastured butter and ghee is our biggest source of fat. We make some of our own butter (here’s a how-to if you’re interested), and source some from a small local dairy. I also make my own ghee, I have directions on my blog. […]
to Sunday Photos…Healthy Fats « Not Dabbling In Normal's comment
I would love to pick your brain about how to take our raw milk and turn it into all kinds of products for our family. Our cow is due to deliver at the end of this month/beginning of August. I’m more excited about what to do with the milk than the pending birth itself! I have so many questions and don’t know where to begin!
to Leigh Linder's comment
I’d highly recommend getting this book from the library: The Home Creamery or The Complete Guide to Making Cheese, Butter, and Yogurt at Home: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply (Back to Basics Cooking). This book also has a section about home cheese making (including a raw milk version with a homemade starter from raw milk) along with tons of other great info: The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!
If you’re making raw milk yogurt make sure you only heat the milk to between 90/100 to preserve the goodness of the raw milk. At the farm we get our milk from they add the yogurt cultures right to the milk when it comes from the cow and is still warm. The main thing to do is to experiment – you may make a bad batch of cheese or something every now and then – but if you have chickens you can feed it to them. Eventually you’ll develop a work flow and a set of recipe that work for you and the amount of milk you get from your cow.
to Susy's comment
Hi Suzy!
I feel like my eyes have just been opening in the last couple days! Before last week, I had no idea what raw milk was or the wonderful benefits of it! I live in NE Ohio also and am very interested in joining a herdshare program. How did you find yours? Could you tell me any more information about it?
Thanks!
Julia
to Julia's comment
I’d suggest heading over to RealMilk.com – they have a great list of dairies. Ask around, you’d be surprised how many people do it but keep it under wraps.
to Susy's comment
I make my own butter all the time. I get the cream from a local dairy that delivers. How cool is that? Then, I make ghee. Then I combine the ghee and virgin coconut oil for one of the healthiest fats you can get your hands on.
But, if your cow is pastured, technically isn’t even the raw milk pasture-ized? :) Sorry, couldn’t resist.
to Big Dave's comment
Hello!
I have a question. I recently bought a cow and now receive raw milk from the cow every week, much like you! I decided to try to make butter so I ladled out the cream and put it in the stand mixer with a little salt. I put on the whisk attachment and started the mixer as fast as I could without it splashing everywhere but nothing happened! The cream never turned into whipped cream and I’d say it has been about twenty minutes and it is still completely liquid with a few lumps floating on the surface. I just don’t understand what the problem could be and I stumbled across your website while searching for an answer. You have so much experience! Any idea what may have gone wrong? I didn’t really think it was possible for cream not to turn into butter when whipped.
to Allie's comment
It can take a really LONG time in a mixer, it’s much, much faster to make it in a mason jar with the shake method. I tried making in the mixer once and gave up after about 40 minutes, put it in a jar and finished it that way. Also, don’t add salt until after you’ve rinsed the finished butter.
to Susy's comment
Hello Susy — Wonderful information, so knowledgeable, thank you!! Susy, I have a question: We had been purchasing raw butter from a local farm. A couple of weeks ago, the butter supply was sold out. So we bought a container of fresh raw cream, went home, experimented somewhat gingerly with half the container, made a delicious batch of butter. Now, we still have left over cream. I want to make some more butter, this time with some yogurt to culture it (I’ve read that cultured butter has very dense flavor), but the two-week old cream smells sour… Is it still usable? ,If so, and if it’s somewhat sour, would culturing enhance or detract from the flavor? I’d so love to read your thoughts, Susy. Thanks in advance!!
to Carolyn's comment
If the cream was raw then yes it’s ok, it’s just real sour cream. Still usable for butter, you may or may not like the flavor, but it will still be good for baking either made into butter or used as sour cream in baking.
to Susy's comment
Used a drink dispenser to drain the milk off the bottom..worked wonderfully
to Karen's comment
I want to say big thanks for sharing this! Im new to drinking fresh cows milk (raw milk) and I LOVE IT! I had always thought cows milk was sour well goodness wished id known sooner the truth! Its sooo good and sweet! Im 32yrs old and i think i eat more cereak now than i did as a kid! Anyways tonight i made butter for first time! It was super easy. I just used a pint jar sjnce it was first time, i had 2 full jars of milk in fridge and some in another so i got bout half a pint jar of cream . Mine was more whipped then firm like yours but it turned out pretty good. Next time i will try a bigger portion.
to crystal's comment