Homemade Butter
I now own part of a cow. Make that part of eight cows, actually. It’s called a cow share or milk share, and what it means is that, although the sale of raw milk is illegal in Michigan, as it is in many states, by signing a lease that gives me part ownership of the eight cows on a nearby farm, I get a gallon of raw (unpasteurized, non-homogenized), organic milk every week.
My parents think I’m nuts. “You’re drinking unpasteurized milk?” they said in disbelief, their voices tinged with worry, when I told them. I understand their worry – they are Baby Boomers, born during the decade following World War II, when agriculture was becoming a mass industry, pesticide use was booming, and animals had begun to be raised in feedlots rather than green pastures. Industrially raised dairy cows were (and still are) often disease-ridden, and pasteurization was the only way to be assured safe milk.
But slowly, things are changing. The number of small family farms is on the rise, as is the number of farmers’ markets and co-op farms or CSA’s (CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture). People are deciding that local is better, and are starting to forego the supermarket in favor of fruits and vegetables grown without pesticides, and animal products from pastured animals who are treated humanely and kept hormone- and antibiotic-free.
There are a number of great resources out there that explain why raw milk from pastured cows is better for you than pasteurized milk (try Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, Real Food by Nina Planck, and The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid). I won’t get into the nitty gritty, but suffice it to say that pasteurization kills most of the vitamins and enzymes that make milk beneficial, including those that enable the absorption of calcium.
A steady supply of safe raw milk means more than vitamins and enzymes, though. It means the possibility of things like homemade yogurt, creme fraiche, butter, and even cheese. I figure that if I don’t have to buy organic butter, yogurt, and sour cream at the market because I’m making my own, I’ve more than gotten my money’s worth (the raw milk is about $6 per gallon, but that includes about 24 ounces of cream). This week, my goal was homemade butter.
It’s surprisingly easy. No old-fashioned churning necessary (although I suppose you could if you wanted to). All you need is a food processor, a wire mesh strainer, a bowl, and a wooden spatula.
Homemade Butter
You will need 16-24 ounces heavy cream. You can use store-bought whipping cream if you don’t have access to cream from raw milk, but I suggest you buy organic, or what’s the point? Oh, and ultrapasteurized cream won’t work – flash pasteurization changes the molecular makeup of the milk, and it can’t be used to make anything else.
Pour cream into the bowl of a food processor with the blade fitted inside, and turn on the lowest setting. It will take about 10 minutes for the butter to form. You can watch as the cream turns into whipped cream (at about 5 minutes), and then suddenly, you will see the butter take shape and separate from the buttermilk (at about 10 minutes – see photo, above). If you like, add a pinch or two of salt at this point, and process briefly to incorporate.
Pour off the buttermilk into a jar, and let sit out, uncovered, for 4-8 hours to sour. Use in pancakes, biscuits, etc.
Pat the butter solids into a ball using a wooden spatula or butter paddle, and place in a mesh strainer (or wrap in a piece of cheesecloth and tie the ends with string) and run under cold water until the water runs off clear. Place in a bowl, and using the spatula, press firmly and repeatedly to remove all remaining liquid and air bubbles, pouring off whatever water is squeezed out by the spatula. Press into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
24 ounces of cream yields about 2 cups of buttermilk and 1 cup of butter.
