Thursday, February 17, 2011

it's like butter

(Well... it is butter.)

We recently found ourselves with a half gallon of organic cream and the usual amount of energetic children. Making butter is a much-loved game for the kids. We fill mason jars just under half-full with the cream, and the children begin dancing about with the jars, shaking and rolling them back and forth.


After a while, it turns to whipped cream.



Keep shaking, and soon it feels as though the contents of the jar are no longer liquid as the cream sticks to the glass. Shake a little more, and the buttermilk begins to separate from the butter.




When all the buttermilk has released, it is poured off to save. The ball of butter is removed from the jar and rinsed in cold water, working the butter with a spatula to remove all the buttermilk that may be trapped in the pockets.


Fresh buttermilk is sweet and can be enjoyed plain, or it can be cultured by adding a small amount of plain yogurt and leaving to stand at room temperature for a few hours.



We shape our butter into sticks and store them wrapped in parchment paper,



or season with salt and garlic powder to enjoy with our bread.

A delicious fix to the age-old problem of eager children and excess cream.

6 comments:

jessi said...

I think I kind of hate you. I'm a bit slow on the whatnot so I had to go back through the blog a bit but yeah, I think I kind of hate you. Why do you and your family have to be so awesome?

Amanda Greco Holmes said...

Oh no, Jessi. Be kind! You know where to find us and you're always welcome if you want to come play...

denise said...

I don't think my kids have ever had the patience to make all that butter! We've tried in the past and I always have to help them.

Amanda Greco Holmes said...

This was definitely an off-and-on all day kind of project, shaking a little bit at a time as they felt like it and putting it in the fridge (when we remembered to) in between times. I did find a jar of very warm, partially shaken cream on the bookshelf later in the day... oops! And this did require a certain amount of mama help, but I was happy to oblige. The bigger kids had more success on their own with the small, jelly-sized jars.

Anonymous said...

That picture of Charlotte is beautiful! All of your photos are awesome - you talented, wonderful mama... XO Kathleen

Shu Han said...

that sounds like so much fun! i wish i could come across a whole gallon of cream too ): oh, just in case you want some ideas for all that butter...

http://mummyicancook.blogspot.com/2011/03/make-your-own-flavoured-butter.html