This is so easy and way cool - great science lesson for the kids if you've got them and way to really impress that woman who stays the night.
Buy some heavy cream or whipping cream from the store. Sterilize a glass jar and its fitted lid (empty spaghetti sauce jar, salad dressing jar, etc.) just so long as it's COMPLETELY free of food, has been scrubbed clean and has gone through either the dishwasher or a boiling water plunge. The jar should be completely cooled. It helps if the jar is clear, but it's not important to the process.
Pour enough cream into the jar to fill the jar no more than 2/3's full. Place the lid on the jar tightly and put the jar somewhere on your counter where there won't be sun or heat getting to it and where it can sit undisturbed for 12 hours - overnight works.
In the morning (or 12 hours later), grab that jar and start shaking it like you're trying to shake a ketchup jar so that ketchup comes out.
Soon it will be difficult to feel anything moving around in the jar (this is close to a whipped cream stage). Keep shakin'!
Soon after that, you'll feel a mass moving back and forth and if your jar is clear, you'll see that the whole mass resembles curdled cream cheese and kind of sticks together. Keep shakin'!
Very soon after that, you'll start to see a mass of butter forming in the middle and milk around it.
Keep shakin' for a little while longer, then pour off the buttermilk into a cup or small glass. It's yummy!! Either drink it fresh or save it in the fridge to use in baking.
Place the butter into a small bowl. The butter may still exude buttermilk - it will look like it's sweating. If your butter is doing this still, you need to shake it up for a little while longer or stir vigorously. Keep straining off the buttermilk.
You have sweet cream butter which may not look like store-bought yellow butter. If you prefer salted butter, lightly salt your butter and stir WELL. Put this on hot toast, warm muffins or fresh-made bread.
This butter is not suited for cooking with, rather dressing finished goods with. Remember to keep this butter refrigerated.
Total time: 15 minutes of shakin'.
Buy some heavy cream or whipping cream from the store. Sterilize a glass jar and its fitted lid (empty spaghetti sauce jar, salad dressing jar, etc.) just so long as it's COMPLETELY free of food, has been scrubbed clean and has gone through either the dishwasher or a boiling water plunge. The jar should be completely cooled. It helps if the jar is clear, but it's not important to the process.
Pour enough cream into the jar to fill the jar no more than 2/3's full. Place the lid on the jar tightly and put the jar somewhere on your counter where there won't be sun or heat getting to it and where it can sit undisturbed for 12 hours - overnight works.
In the morning (or 12 hours later), grab that jar and start shaking it like you're trying to shake a ketchup jar so that ketchup comes out.
Soon it will be difficult to feel anything moving around in the jar (this is close to a whipped cream stage). Keep shakin'!
Soon after that, you'll feel a mass moving back and forth and if your jar is clear, you'll see that the whole mass resembles curdled cream cheese and kind of sticks together. Keep shakin'!
Very soon after that, you'll start to see a mass of butter forming in the middle and milk around it.
Keep shakin' for a little while longer, then pour off the buttermilk into a cup or small glass. It's yummy!! Either drink it fresh or save it in the fridge to use in baking.
Place the butter into a small bowl. The butter may still exude buttermilk - it will look like it's sweating. If your butter is doing this still, you need to shake it up for a little while longer or stir vigorously. Keep straining off the buttermilk.
You have sweet cream butter which may not look like store-bought yellow butter. If you prefer salted butter, lightly salt your butter and stir WELL. Put this on hot toast, warm muffins or fresh-made bread.
This butter is not suited for cooking with, rather dressing finished goods with. Remember to keep this butter refrigerated.
Total time: 15 minutes of shakin'.
