[Dana]

I've been thinking about trying to make my own butter for a while, and yesterday, Ruhlman posted his experience along with some seemingly good instructions. I know where I can get some organic cream and yogurt, although not locally farmed. I'm going to give it a shot. Anybody else?

[Marlene]

I can certainly get organic buttermilk, but yogurt culture? Is that just yogurt?

[Dana]

Looks like it - just make sure it doesn't have any stabilizers in it. Can you get any organic yogurt or maybe greek yogurt?

[Marlene]

Dana, on 02 March 2010 - 11:15 AM, said:

Looks like it - just make sure it doesn't have any stabilizers in it. Can you get any organic yogurt or maybe greek yogurt?

I should be able to get both organic cream and greek yogurt at Whole foods. I will take a look tomorrow when I go there. This project will likely be for next week though.

[Marlene]

there is also this excellent post by Dave, on making your own butter

[Dana]

That is a good post by dave. I probably won't get to it till at least late in the week if not next week. So many projects, so little time.

[James]

I would like to try this, except that UHT is the only cream available here.
There is yogurt culture (make your own)in the health food or bulk stores (a packaged powder like dry yeast),
most tub yogurt and creme fraiche is dead, too. I'm sure Dave makes his own.

Until I get my sources straightened out, I'll stay with the mildly cultured Lactancia from Quebec, or PC Normandy.

edit:I couldn't find yogurt starter today, so a good natural tub will have to do.
There is no creme fraiche near me, so I'll have to try this with UHT stabilized cream and a few T's of yogurt to start it.
I'm thnking about using Dave's whisking method, in front of the TV.

This post has been edited by James: 02 March 2010 - 05:58 PM

[Dana]

I made butter over the weekend!! First I started with 2 cartons (4 cups) of Horizon Organic cream. I added 1/3 cup organic greek yogurt (which is delish by itself) and mixed it up well, letting it sit on my counter. From 9:30 Saturday night ( shows how our Saturday nights go around here - we make butter till 5 pm on Sunday. The directions said that the cream would get noticeably thicker. Well, it didn't. Maybe a little thicker, but not much. I decided I was tired of looking at the bowl sitting there, and that I'd give it a go to see if I could get butter. I poured it in my KA and, starting slowly, then beating faster, I got stiff peaks, then it began to look grainy. I slowed the KA way down and the buttermilk broke out!!! It worked, it worked!!! I then rinsed and rinsed and rinsed with ice water (cold butter gets pretty stiff) till the water was clear, then I salted it. An as I am prone to do, I think I oversalted, but it was good anyway. I took some over to my friend Carol, and she and her hubby ate it on their potato and steak for dinner. I toasted some of the dill bread I'd made yesterday, and slathered some on. Delish, and the whole process was very satisfying. I'm going to try it again soon.

[Matthew Kayahara]

Sounds great, Dana! I've wanted to make my own butter for a while, but haven't gotten around to it, because Dave said (in the thread Marlene linked to, above) that using yogurt as a starter culture might taste strange. Sounds like I've got no excuse now. I guess I just need to track down some good, flavourful cream.

Dana, on 08 March 2010 - 09:39 AM, said:

( shows how our Saturday nights go around here - we make butter

Welcome to the club! There should really be a support group for this problem...

[Marlene]

Our Saturday nights really aren't all that different. I picked up yogurt culture the other day and organic cream. Due to time constraints this weekend, I may have to wait till I get up to the cottage and do it up there.

Well done Dana! I bet it tasted great!

[Dana]

Yes, it's really good. I just had some more on toast...

[Corgi Man]

Dana, is it noticeably better than any commercial butter (foreign, organic, local small batch, etc.) than you've had? Is it something you'd make again? Is it worth the effort?

[Dana]

I'm not sure if it's signifigantly better than, say, Lurpac, but it has a fresh, clean taste. It was very satisifying to make - I'd like to find some old butter molds. I'll definitely make it again. It really wasn't a big effort at all - rinsing and kneading the buttermilk out of the cold butter was the hardest part, and you could probably do that on low in the KA. I did it by hand, but the deal is - It was fun!!! And now I can say, "hey, I made the butter"!!