Jam & Bread - Part VI

Part VI - Butter

Yes, this is the grand finale and I can finally move on from Jam and Bread.  What better to serve with jam and bread than a little homemade butter.  Someone told me that making butter was easy, but I didn't really believe it.  I did a little reading and found a post on Southern Plate where Christy Jordan explains making butter in a mason jar was a task to keep her occupied as a child.  I couldn't believe that all you had to do was put heavy cream in a mason jar and shake to get butter. 

I was happy to have Christy's description of the different stages the cream goes through before it makes butter.  I started out by filling a quart jar about half full with heavy whipping cream.  I sealed it up and started shaking.  To begin with, it is just cream shaking in a jar, no surprises. 

Little by little I noticed that the liquid coating the inside of the jar a little more, so that I couldn't see as much light coming through it.

 The cream continued to get even thicker, until it didn't really seem like anything was shaking around in the jar.  I opened it to peak in and see if this meant I had butter.  Instead it looked like the jar had been filled entirely with shaving cream.  I was a little nervous that nothing else would happen since shaking it didn't really seem to mix it at all.

 

After what seemed like several minutes, I started to see clear patches on the jar again.  Not long later the whole thing seemed to form a lump.  It looked like I was shaking a block of very soft or fluffy cream cheese.  I opened it thinking that I had butter, but it was more like sugarless whipped cream still.  It certainly was not dense enough to be butter.  My mom was helping me shake and just couldn't imagine that anything more would happen.

 It is a little hard to see, but after a bit more shaking, liquid started to seep out of the mass and the color of the solid, turned to yellow.  When I finally decided to be done, there was a blob of butter in the jar, surrounded by rather thin buttermilk.  How cool is that?

 The last step was to pour the contents of the jar into a strainer to drain off the buttermilk.  I did save it, but this may become a perpetual project.  I'd need to make biscuits with the buttermilk, probably run out of butter, and need to make more, starting the whole thing over again.  A vicious cycle.  I put the butter in a bowl and started adding Fleur de Sel, flaky french salt, to the butter a little at a time to get salted butter.

I can see why making butter is a good project for keeping little hands busy, but I would recommend smaller jars for kids. The butter was by far the easiest item in my jam and bread marathon to make, and it really was fun to do. 

I started with grape juice, made jelly (lots of jelly), needed some bread to put it on, so I made dough, baked it, and topped it all off with a little homemade butter.  So there you have it, Jam and Bread! 

Part I – Grape Juice

Part II – Grape Jelly
Part III – Jelly Update

Part IV – Refrigerator Roll Dough

Part V – Bread
Part VII - Bread Update (Potato Water)