butter up!

Today, in efforts to distract myself and in preparation to brandon's return home (and to add to my jam collection in the freezer) I am making some organic butter.

Normally I would never undertake anything so crafty in the kitchen (as I am known to lead normal recipe's to culinary disasterpieces within hours, while stringing behind a kitchen full of casualties.)

BUT this is EASY.

Recently (because brandon's been getting his hobby farm magazine) I subscribed to organic gardening (which is fabulous and amazing and awesome for anyone who is remotely interested in plants or animals or food.

Inside the feb.march issue is a recipe for homemade butter and some ideas for spiced butters, cheese butters, dessert and fruit butters and much more.

All you need is:

(for best results)
Organic cream with a butterfat content of at LEAST 35%
(one quart of cream will yield you one pound of butter plus two cups of buttermilk)
(which is great to cook with)

Most organic creams and heavy whipping creams work well.

AND an electric mixer.

and an appetite for good butter.

Pour the cream into a bowl and set the mixer on medium speed, and begin to blend as if making whipped cream.

The cream transforms first into fluffy cream "pillows" and then stiff peaks.

these break down into soft cottagecheeseylike curds as blog of butterfat seperate from the milk.

the butter begins to stiffen and clump together and the watery milk pools in the bottom of the bowl.

THIS SHOULD TAKE YOU ABOUT 10 MINUTES (WHAAAT AWESOME)

at this point, stop the mixer, carefully pour off as much milk as possible and refridgerate it.

Use a rubber or stiff metal spatula to press the butter to squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible.

Add about 1/2 cup of ice water
to the cutter and use the spatula to kinda rinse the butter, pushing all the liquid out and repeating (with fresh ice water each time) until the water is nearly clear.

This is called "washing" and it will keep the butter from spoiling.

Continue kneading the butter against the side of the bowl until all the liquid has been pressed out. You can salt the butter and freeze it or you can wait until you USE the butter to salt it (preferred)

I would invest in some sea salt, the flavor is really strong so you only need a little bit and you can mix it in or just leave it on top.

Pack the butter in containers and cover.
wrapping the butter in parchment paper looks nice PLUS the butter WONT STICK to parchment as it does to plastic wrap.

For storing first wrap in parchment, then foil to make it airtight.

The butter will keep for up to one week in the fridge or SIX MONTHS if it's frozen (so be sure to date your foil wrapping)

AWESOME HUH?!
I'll let you know how mine tastes...


<3

ps some compound butter additions you can put in your organic mix are

-lemon zest and snipped parsley
-snipped fresh thai basil, chopped garlic and chopped, drained pickled ginger
-crumbled feta cheese and chopped kalamata olives
-grated parmesan cheese and fresh basil
-ginger and sesame oil
-cilantro, lime zest and asian hot sauce.
-coarsley ground black pepper and sea salt
--orange zest, chopped fresh or dried cranberries and fresh sage
-chopped pecans and honey
-orange zest, maple syrup and blueberries


YUM!
these make great gifts and you can add fresh and dried fruits into the softened butter too.

post note:

I DID make this today, and it turned out fabulous! BUT here are some important after-thought-tips.

1. try to buy an organic or heavy whipping cream- if the cows were GRASS fed, the butter will be YELLOW naturally because of the chemical process that occurs in grass fed cows. (grass is better for cows than corn because they are grassland animals... they were never meant to eat corn and the only reason all the cows we have now (almost) are (force) fed corn is because it is CHEAP and convenient for the farmer. which is ridiculous. (soorry getting off my soapbox.)

2. i couldn't figure out the milkfat content of the whipping cream i bought, but it turned out alright anyhow- if anyone knows how to tell the milkfat content (i looked on the ingredients and stuff but nothing was labled as such) let me know! (i think i learned this in women's health once upon a yor but i forgot. because im an old soul. :]

3. i own a cuisineart mixer which (to my idea) does not have a "medium" setting. the thing just goes from out of control to out of controller.
so, if you have a modern mixer, prepare to have cream "whipped" all over your kitchen (which you may or may not have just cleaned for brandon's homecomming. so much for that) (phew) and all over yourself. THE TIME IS NOT 10 MINUTES, IT TOOK ME 20 MINUTES AT LEAST. but DONT GIVE UP. keep going until the buttermilk begins to seperate from the butter, you will see it happen because (the butter will get distinctly yellow-er) the milk liquid will fly up into your face as you peer closely at the bowl! (maybe you are smarter than i am...)

4. prepare a LOT of ice water, to wash this stuff takes a while and try to use a METAL spatula because the rubber ones aren't hard enough to press out all the liquid. i even took some in my hands and squeezed out the very last bit. the butter gets hard and it is AWESOME.

5. you might want to buy some parchment AND string- because duct tape and tape and any other form of stickyness you generally have around the house doesnt really work since parchment paper is A NO STICK paper.
dughr.

the end!
i had some toast with sea salt and the homemade butter and my strawberry jam after and it was VERY rewarding.

my thighs are calling out for an encore.