Making Butter From Fresh Cow’s Milk

All that work for THIS???

My TINY amount of butter from an $8 gallon of milk~

I was SO excited to find a local source for fresh cow’s milk and grass fed beef the other day. I rushed over to meet the lady, and brought home my gallon of milk, ready to begin my adventures. I was sure I was going to have loads of butter, and cheese, and buttermilk from now on. On my way home, I proceeded to call everyone I knew who may have made butter in their life, to get pointers and tips. Only one person gave me anything worthwhile. Hmmm…we ARE a grocery store dependent society, aren’t we? Anyway, I got online and waded through 7.835million websites and articles on making butter. Who KNEW you could make it so many different ways? I finally decided on just trying it for myself, and figuring it out as I went.

First, I put the cream in the food processor, because that seemed like the easiest way I had read about. The directions said it would take 8 to 15 minutes….17 minutes later, and still no butter… I turned the noisy thing off, and put the cream in a lidded bowl. I shook that for about five minutes, but it kept seeping out of the edges. I trudged out to the building, in my pj’s, to get a large mouth canning jar, brought it in, put the cream in it, capped it, and shook for dear life. Seriously. If you want muscles in your arms, just make butter for a living. I kept shaking for what seemed like an eternity, until I finally thought: THAT’S ENOUGH! Surely it’s butter by now. I put it in a clean bowl, poured several bowls of cold water over it, salted it, and VIOLA! Butter! Albiet, miniscule amounts of butter..

Umm…So, here’s my theory: If you have a cow, and get fresh milk free, I say MAKE BUTTER! It’s healthy and free, for you. If, however, you are like me, and have to pay $8.00 a gallon for fresh milk, I say RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN TO THE STORE AND BUY ORGANIC! At least I know, that if I ever have to make butter out of milk, I can. But do I want to all the time? Not a chance! Unless, of course, I’m aiming for Schwarzenegger arms…………