Butter me up

[welsh wizard]

Hi all, I wonder if you can help me - again........

My other half better known as "yes dear" would like to try her hand at making butter. I know the basic principials which I learnt in school as I still have them scratched on my slate, but does anyone have any advice?

Do they still make / sell butter churns?

Cheers WW

[aris]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/recipe_butter.shtml

[Rik vonTrense]

Hi Wizz......

they do indeed.

Lehmans in the States make non electric stuff for the Amish community and they certainly make butter churners.

http://www.lehmans.com/

go to kitchen and then dairy.

.

[welsh wizard]

Hi and thanks Aris and Rik.

I knew the site would come up trumps, as always.

All I need now is a b****y big yolk (if thats how you spell it) and two big buckets and get her up the field to the cows. Well it will taste so much nicer wont it? Thank god she dosent read this..........

Well time to go, I have a day off and I spend far too much time on this site as it is, so it seems as if I am to be dragged into Hereford to look for some new curtains - oh please..........

Rik, I managed to get hold of some rennet and I have got all the bits together so this week as well as sorting out a pig I will be starting the cheese.

Cheers WW.

[jenny_haddow]

Hi WW

Ascott Smallholdings do stuff for butter and cheese. www.ascott.biz.

You probably aren't too far from them, they are between Welshpool and Oswestry, they have a shop for smallholders. Wish I was still over that side, I go up and check it out.

Cheers

Jen

[Rik vonTrense]

Ask old Phil...he may have a second hand one.


http://www.ascott.biz/item914.htm


But a food processor is just as good if you have one....depends how much butter you want to make.

[Wohoki]

I made some ONCE using a big bowl and a balloon whisk (Boxing day morning. No butter, but half a gallon of double cream. Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh went my arm )

[Oddley]

WW Show the wife you love her, get her a yoke, two very large buckets and this...

HERE.

[welsh wizard]

Sorry Oddley I know she is a strapping girl but I think even she could not manage to carry that up to the cows - I'll ask her when she finishes rodding the drains.........

Hereford time is nigh...........

Cheers WW

[welsh wizard]

Sorry Oddley I know she is a strapping girl but I think even she could not manage to carry that up to the cows - I'll ask her when she finishes rodding the drains.........

Hereford time is nigh...........

Cheers WW

[dougal]

Butter making.
Its easy enough with power.


The thing to be aware of is that from fresh cream (must be whippable, don't waste your time and energy with single) you will make 'sweet' butter with a very (unsurprisingly) "creamy" taste.
The point is that for a more "buttery" taste, you have to make "cultured" butter.
This means a bit of fermentation somewhere, and explains the references you may come across to "ripening" the cream. (And why the flavour strengthens if you manage to keep your homemade butter for a few days.)
You'll get a better 'butter' flavour if you use (at least some) cream that is just 'on the turn'. I'm sure there are other means of getting a controlled amount of 'ripeness' (fermented culture) into the butter.

I'm just introducing the subject, because I'd like to learn what methods others might have used successfully (or not) to make "cultured" butter...

[welsh wizard]

Spot on Dougal.

Very interesting post - we live and learn. Oh well she will now have to shake the cow to get the cream, its never ending.........

Cheers WW

[Rik vonTrense]

CHURNING BUTTER:
In "olden times," farm families would let freshly milked milk sit for half a day and skim off the cream which had risen. This cream would be set aside in a cool place, around 50-60 F. Each milking's cream would be added until several gallons had accumulated. In the meantime, naturally occurring bacteria in the cream would cause it to slightly sour. This souring increases the efficiency of churning. The accumulated, slightly sour, cream would be churned at the optimum temperature (approximately 58 F) such that the butter was firm enough to separate out, but soft enough to stick together into a mass. The butter was removed, washed in very cold water to remove the remaining milk, and salt worked in to preserve it. The remaining liquid after the butter was removed was called buttermilk. I call it "old fashion buttermilk," which is slightly sour, has the consistency of milk, but is slightly paler. It has flakes of butter floating in it. Commercial manufacturers sometimes add colored "butter flakes" to imitate the old fashioned buttermilk. However, the two products are very different, cultured buttermilk being thick and tart, old fashioned being thin, and slightly acid, depending on how sour the cream got before it was churned.

with acknowledgements to Professor David Fankhauser.



.

[dougal]

...The remaining liquid after the butter was removed was called buttermilk. I call it "old fashion buttermilk," which is slightly sour, has the consistency of milk, but is slightly paler. It has flakes of butter floating in it. Commercial manufacturers sometimes add colored "butter flakes" to imitate the old fashioned buttermilk. However, the two products are very different, cultured buttermilk being thick and tart, old fashioned being thin, and slightly acid, depending on how sour the cream got before it was churned.

with acknowledgements to Professor David Faunkhauser.

Rik, its Fankhauser !
Link here
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Ch ... ing_butter

And without getting into misunderstandings about different buttermilks and scone-making, I believe deliberately adding some "Cultured Buttermilk" (as can be found in some, if not all, UK supermarkets) is one means of making a 'cultured' butter.

[moggy]

Just wanted to say, I gave butter making a go in the food processor and was amazed at how easy it was to do. I also didn't find that it was particularly "creamy" tasting at all, added a little salt to it and found it tasted very similar to any that I had ever bought.