DIY Butter

trentwiggly · July 2013

Quite possibly the best tasting butter, ever.

You'll need:

A jar with a tight fitting lid
A marble (or another agitator that will help whip that butter faster--not necessary but helpful)
Heavy whipping cream
Kosher salt to taste

Fill the jar only a little over half way with the cream and your salt, don't get greedy with how much cream you add because the cream will expand before it contracts into buttery goodness. If you are paranoid about the marble chipping the jar hold off on adding it just yet. Put the lid on the jar and shake. Keep shaking. Hand it off to the kids to shake. Shake that sucker. The cream will get thick (um, whipped cream?) so add your marble now if you didn't before. Keep shaking.

Within 15 minutes (usually) you will have what seems to be a solid mass in the jar. Keep shaking until it separates into:

BUTTER

and

whey

Dump out the whey in the sink and plop the butter in a dish. Fish out the marble with a spoon. Lick the spoon. Best butter ever! Think of all the wonderful things that beg for a slap of your butter. Cooked veg? check. Bread? check. Coffee? check. The possibilities are endless.

Just resist the urge to suck the butter off the marble or...well...you could swallow it.
Well, at least it is lubricated.

youknowmynamelookupthenumber · July 2013

Do this but don't throw out the whey! Keep that part and use it in any recipe that calls for buttermilk!

Also, you have to rinse your butter or it will get rancid quickly. Take ice water and pour it in the butter and mix it around then drain it. Repeat that several times before you store the butter in the fridge.

NaomiJFoster · July 2013

Ha ha. This is a staple activity of every preschool classroom. I've been doing it for about 25 years, as a science experiment with my 3 year old class. My favorite thing though, is to add a drop of honey.