So I've been making my own butter for awhile now, but once in awhile, I splurge and buy cultured butter. Cultured butter has a stronger flavour than regular butter due to being cultured with active bacteria (similar to yogurt) and has a distinctive, sharper taste than regular butter (it can be used just like regular butter in cooking and baking though). Cultured butter has a longer shelf life than traditional butter. This type of butter really popular in Europe (in fact the kind I purchase here in Canada is called "European Butter") but luckily with a little Flora Danica (bacteria) and a few inexpensive supplies, you can also make it in your own kitchen!
The folks over at The Cheese Maker recently sent me a few of their kits to try out and needless to say, their cultured butter kit was the first one I wanted to check out! The other day my friend Kate came over to make butter with me and we used their kit to make this recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 L Whipping Cream
- 1/8 tsp Flora Danica
Other Supplies you will need
- Curd Draining Bag, Nut Milk Bag, or Cheesecloth
- Kitchen Thermometer
(all of the above products can be found in this kit)
Directions
First start by bringing your cream to room temperature (about 60-70 degrees - use a thermometer to test this), then add the Flora Danica.
Mix the cream and Flora Danica well, being sure not to whip any air into it.
Let the cream sit at room temperature for 20-24 hours.
As you can see, the cream will start to thicken slightly.
Right before you are ready to make butter, place the cream in the fridge until it reaches a temperature of 54 degrees.
Either using a stand or handheld mixer, whip the cream for approximately 10 minutes . You want to whip the cream past the point of whipping cream, until the cream starts to separate into butter/buttermilk (I can usually tell when it's finished because my mixer starts splashing cream up at me!). Here's a picture of what your separated cream should look like:
As you can see, you don't have to do too much straining - the mixer does a nice job separating the butter from the buttermilk.
Infact, most of the butter collected on my whisk attachment making straining a breeze:
Strain cream through curd bag or cheesecloth squeezing as much of the buttermilk out as possible. If you leave too much liquid in your butter, it will spoil faster. You can usually tell you've gotten all of the buttermilk out when butter starts straining through the bag instead!
It's important to have cold hands for this step, so I usually keep a ziplock baggie full of ice nearby to cool down my hands. Here's a picture of Kate straining the butter:
Press your butter into a dish and pour the leftover buttermilk into a separate container. You should get equal parts butter and buttermilk.
That's it! Pretty easy, huh?
The folks over at The Cheese Maker offered to send one lucky reader a Deluxe Cultured Butter/Buttermilk Making Kit! This kit is a $39.99 value and contains everything you need to get started! The only thing you have to supply is the cream.
Deluxe Cultured Butter/Buttermilk Making Kit
They also offered to give the first 10 people to purchase the Deluxe Cultured Butter/Buttermilk Making Kit a 50% off coupon! At the time of checkout, be sure to enter the code JAXDBK
Good Luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Enjoy!
Wow! That looks amazing. Maybe I'll get my kids involved as a sort-of science experiment!
ReplyDeleteI've never made butter before, nor have i tried cultured butter. This intrigues me.
ReplyDeleteI would try butter!
ReplyDeleteI would eat in on fresh homemade bread!
ReplyDeleteI love buttermilk, I especially like to make biscuits and banana bread using buttermilk. This kit sounds great, I had never heard of this item.
ReplyDeleteMy kids and I enjoy making pretzel rolls and raisin bread. I would use the butter for that,.
ReplyDeleteLove3570@aol.com
I would love to spread some wonderful homemade butter on warm toast.
ReplyDeleteI would put it on bread.
ReplyDeleteI would make butter! -Katharine Davis
ReplyDeletepancakes or biscuits :D my favorite things with buttermilk. Oooo or waffles
ReplyDeleteI'd use the butter to make an omelet.
ReplyDeleteOften times recipes call for buttermilk and usually I don't have any handy. This would be a great way to have it available when I need it. I love to make sodabread around St. Patty's Day, I need buttermilk for my recipe.
ReplyDeleteI love baking, so I would use both items in cakes and pastries.
ReplyDeletejennylovesjeff (at) hotmail (dot) com
I would use my homemade butter to spread on homemade bread!
ReplyDeleteI use butter in all my cooking!
ReplyDeleteI would bake with it!
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to try Homemade butter... Would be soooo good on Homemade bread!
ReplyDeleteI cook and bake at home every day. And I love making my own staples like creme fraiche and butter. this would be great to have.
ReplyDeleteI would use homemade butter in and on everything I already do. I use butter for practically everything. :)
ReplyDeleteI'd use this for bread.
ReplyDeleteI'd use it for quiche
ReplyDeleteI would use the butter to put on some noodles with a little bit of salt and garlic.
ReplyDeleteLaurie Emerson
lauraemerson17 at yahoo dot com
I would slather some of that butter on a hot piece of bread.
ReplyDeleteeverything I could
ReplyDeleteThis looks like fun! I love making flavored butters with spices or herbs from my garden, and bet they'd be even better with homemade butter.
ReplyDeleteI would use the buttermilk for baking and put the butter on everything that needs butter. Buttermilk biscuits with homemade butter...yummy!
ReplyDeleteI'd use both of them for baking.
ReplyDeleteI'd make buttermilk biscuits and spread the butter on them while they're hot!
ReplyDeleteI wanna make paneer!
ReplyDeleteI'd use my homemade butter for cooking, but give the buttermilk to my Dad who LOVES it!
ReplyDeleteid use the butter on my english muffins :)
ReplyDeleteI would use it with homemade biscuits.
ReplyDeleteI would use the buttermilk to make fried chicken.
ReplyDeleteI would use the buttermilk to make buttermilk biscuits
ReplyDeleteI'm doing more and more homemade cooking, and also prepping, so you know this is on the checklist! Now I need to learn how to raise chickens and farm some land!
ReplyDelete