I Never Knew Anyone Who Made Butter

But now I do. Part of the joy of raw milk is that gloriously thick layer of natural cream that floats to the top. Depending on the breed of cow, the cream is more in abundance. I found a farm close to home that has Jersey milk and I got my first gallon on Saturday. Jersey cows produce the most milk fat -- the perfect cow for butter production. Why make butter? Blame the eat local challenge and my quest for "local" food. I normally eat Smart Balance -- processed and shipped from who-knows-where. Olive oil is good too - but where does that come from? So I decided to try to make butter. Mother Earth News promised it would be easy -- and it was. Just like it says in the link, after 40 minutes of shaking the milk fat in a jar, I had creamy butter. It was so good I wanted to eat it like pudding. Here is a really good pictorial of the process, although this guy uses some sort of churn. I used a jar like recommended in Mother Earth news and it worked fine. Some articles use food processors and mixers on low using the dough attachments. The jar was good. The only thing I didn't do was let it set on the counter for 12 hours like Mother Earth news recommends to allow the cream to form acid (sour) to flavor it more. I like my butter fresh tasting, so I only left it get to room temperature. Simply delightful... and easy. If you use raw milk, this is a must do.