Butter... I made it!!!

This is probably one of the things that I have meant to add to my bucket list... but havn't... yet.

But when I finally get around to adding it on there (along with a ton of other ideas brewing in my head)... I can check it off as completed! Like a to-do list where you purposely write something you have already done... or something like "write out to-do list" so you can check it off right away...

Also... did you know there is a movie about Butter?  (and that my computer told me that I just spelled "movie" wrong... And that the only spell-check options listed are "move" and "moving"... and that now I am questioning my ability to spell "movie")

Nope... still looks wrong... silly brain... letting the computer spell check get to me...

Anyway.. back to the Butter... (seriously though... there is a movie called "Butter"... it popped up as a search result when I typed "butter" into google.... See.. here is the IMDb)

Did you know that you can make your own butter SUPER EASY?  (and have a little arm-workout at the same time?)

Here is what you need... Heavy Whipping Cream (30% M.F. or higher is better)

M.F. means "Milk Fat" (just in case you were wondering)


A jar... I used a 500 ml Mason Jar... I wouldn't go much bigger, or you will have a hard time holding it to shake it

and arms to shake the cream in the jar with...

And salt.. if you want... completely optional... the other 3 things you definatly need.

So... Step 1:  Pour cream into the jar... DO NOT fill it up... or else you won't have room for all the sloshing and you won't get butter despite your best efforts... Fill it about half way... That will leave enough room for the buttermilk and the butter to separate from each other.

Step 2: Put the lid on... and make sure it is on good, and sealed.. or else you will have a mess to clean up

Step 3... Shake the heck out of the jar... If you use the same size jar as I did (and same amount of cream) then you get a pretty cool sound for about the first 4-5 minutes when the cream hits the top of the lid... Keep shaking... switch hands, use both hands... just keep shaking the jar

Eventually you will have whipped cream (you could totally stop here, add a little sugar and throw it onto some berries if you wanted... but then you wouldn't get butter... you have to keep shaking for butter to happen)

That cool sound I talked about? It will stop, the jar will be white and you will feel like nothing is happening (this is the whipped cream stage)... Keep shaking we are almost there...

Soon it should sound like there is sloshing going on in there again... Shake a little more.. about a minute or two.. and you can see the buttermilk has finally separated from the butter...  Look, I even used the video of my iPhone and managed to upload it here for you:

So now... You are going to need a few more things..

A fine-mesh strainer, a spoon... and a bowl.

Open your jar... see what it should look like:

Pour the buttermilk through the strainer and into the bowl (or down the drain if you don't want to bother saving it)

You will (probably) need the spoon to get the butter out of the jar.. Now what you want is to get as much of the buttermilk out of the butter as you can...

Push (gently) against the mesh to help coax the buttermilk out.

From about 1 cup of cream, I ended up with just under 2/3 cup of Buttermilk

Once you are happy with your butter, put it in a small dish... This is where you can add some salt if you want, mix well, and then cover and put into the fridge to let it set up a bit.

Happy Butter-making.... I think I am going to go and make some fresh biscuits to go with my fresh butter... (the temperature inside my house is already 34 C anyway... why not turn the oven on!)

(also.. I apologize for the quality of the video... I will try and do the you-tube link next time I do something like this instead of uploading from blogger...)