I Love You Like Butter

I'm not one to complain about the weather (I simply don't see the point of it), but the cold has left me knocking around this house looking for something to do. And I don't mean cleaning.

Nothing more dangerous than a bored woman, a half litre of whipping cream and a Cuisinart.

It was on sale.

I've seen eight-year-olds shake cream into butter, so I thought it might be something I could manage. There is a small problem with shaking things when you get past a certain age, however, so I decided this might be a job for my trusty Cuisinart. My machine is ancient and the only blades I have left are a metal one and a plastic one. I decided to use the plastic one as it seemed closer in intent to a nubile milk maid armed with a butter churn.



Well, within 3 seconds I had beautiful whipped cream. I stared into it's glossiness and considered pavlova instead. But NO! I was on a mission. I covered it up, turned that baby on and waited (see: poured tea and added a splash of milk). Tea poured, there was this god-awful sound from my Cuisinart and I pulled the plug from the wall. This is what I saw:

What? Hey!

So that's what they mean by 'breaking'. You know, the more I play with milk and cream, the more I love the sciencey stuff of it.

At this point, I thought it might be time to do some reading. I'm glad I did. Apparently, if you do not get all the liquid out of the butter, it can go rancid very fast. So I poured out the liquid (buttermilk! and I thought it only came in 1L containers at the supermarket) and, well, washed my butter.

Buttermilk. Might have to make biscuits.

The Great Unwashed

Washing the butter (but not the sink)

 At this point, I understand the way old expression that the best butter maid had cool hands. Thank goodness it occurred to me that warm water would take all my butter down the drain with it. I tried using a spatula, but it was awkward for me so I used my hand. I kneaded the butter like I would bread in order to get all the buttermilk out. It took very little time.

I got the last of the water out by pressing the butter between two sheets of parchment paper.

Your own butter requires a pretty bowl, too.

Now off to the local antique market to see if I can find any butter molds.

Check out: New England Cheesemaking Supply Company for a really interesting read about all things butter.