How to Make Homemade Cultured Butter - Three Different Ways
The perfect experiment to involve your kids. The difference between butter and cultured butter means the enzymes have not been completely destroyed by ultra pasteurization. Most kinds of milk you will find at the grocery store are ultra-pasteurized. This in itself is not a bad thing. The main reason is population safety.
With that said, we are going to make some excellent butter using ultra-pasteurized whole milk as well. This is what most people will be able to find at the grocery store. Spoiler alert, the butter turns out almost as good as the cultured butter.
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The reason I brought up involving your kids is the process of converting whole milk whipping cream into butter is a great culinary experience.
The separation of milk fat from the buttermilk takes around 12-15 minutes. But what is most interesting is there comes a point where your thinking, did I do something wrong, why hasn't it turned into butter yet. Then all of a sudden the buttermilk pulls away from the milk fat. At this point you pretty much have butter. You still have work to do to make sure the butter tastes good and will store in the refrigerator.
Making cultured butter you have two options.
- Mixing the cultured heavy whipping cream with kefir and move forward with the standard steps on the recipe card below to make butter.
- Mixing the cultured heavy whipping cream with kefir, yet placing it into a glass vase or preferred container and cover it with cheesecloth, and store in the back of your refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. This process allows the probiotics/live cultures in the milk to ferment. This will enhance the flavor profile of your butter.
What is Kefir Milk?
is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt that is made from kefir grains. Traditional kefir is fermented at ambient temperatures, generally overnight. Fermentation of the lactose yields a sour, carbonated, with a consistency and taste similar to drinkable yogurt.
Homemade Whole Milk Heavy Whipping Cream Butter
We are going to be using 3 cups of whole milk heavy cream, but that's not it. You could just use the 4 cups of heavy cream plus one teaspoon of kosher salt. But here at Butter-n-Thyme, we bring the flavor, so we are adding another cool ingredient simple to Kefir but easy as pie to find. The ingredient is 1 cup of sour cream. The sour cream isn't ultra-pasteurized and rounds out the flavor you would come to expect and want in high-quality butter.
Traditional Old School Method for Making Butter
Take a jar with a lid, add heavy cream and some salt, but do not fill all the way to the top. You need room for the heavy cream to be shaken. Then shake, shake, shake until your arm falls off. The butter fat will separate after while. This is labor intensive, yet a rewarding culinary experience.
Homemade Cultured Butter - Three Different Ways Tested
Suggested Equipment
Ingredients
Cultured Butter
- 1 Cup Kefir - Cultured Whole Milk Plain, Unsweetened, Live Active Cultures
- 3 Cups High Quality Whipping Cream Not Ultra Pasteurized - non-Pasteurized s best
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt Use ½ teaspoon if using table salt
Easy Homemade Butter
- 3 Cups Heavy Cream - Whipping Cream / you can use ultra pastrerized heavy cream
- 1 Cup Sour Cream Do not use low fat or light
Instructions
Cultured Butter Method
- Measure out the Kefir cultured whole milk & whipping cream and pour it into a container. NO salt yet. You add the salt after the 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator I like using a glass vase.
- Place a piece of cheesecloth over the top and secure with a rubber band.
- Place in the back of your refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Making the Homemade Butter
- You can use a blender or KitchenAid mixer with the whip attachment. Blender: Easy, yet the butter will be pure white KitchenAid: Takes a little bit longer, but the longer process creates a more yellow hue butter.
- Mix the 3 cups of heavy cream and 1 cup of sour cream and use whichever device you like.
What to Expect And Watch For While Making Butter
- The first thing you see happen is the heavy cream will whip and get thicker. This stage will happen for a while. You might even think it will not become butter, but it takes a moment.The process is splitting the buttermilk from the milk fat.Once the fat separates from the buttermilk you know. The fat will stick to the KitchenAid whip attachment. You will need to mix on a high setting.
Video
CJJ
HELLO CHEF I AM NEW TO YOUR WEBSITE AND AM GOING TO ENJOY ALL THE CUISINES MY QUESTION CAN I USE THIS BUTTER FOR BAKING - THANKS
Steven Pennington
Sourcing high-quality ingredients will be the key to success. You certainly can use this recipe for butter for baking. Please make sure to do a good job cleaning/rinsing the butter from the whey. Squeeze out the milk/whey from the butter. Allow the butter to set up in the refrigerator for a few days before baking would be my suggestion. You could try using it sooner to test.