Homestead Chore # 7- Makin' Butter

I've been making butter for almost 4 years now. We got our Jersey right at 4 years ago this coming May. It wasn't an easy process to begin with but as the old saying goes, *practice does make perfect.* So onto Farm Chore # 7. Hope you enjoy!

I had 1&1/2 gallons of cream to use for makin' butter on this particular day. As you can see, I use my blender to make the butter with. My deepest desire is to get an electric daisy churn so I can use a gallon of cream at a time to make butter instead of using the blender which only allows me to use 2 pints of cream at a time. 

2 pints of cream poured into the blender. Set at high speed until you get to a whipped cream stage. About 2-3 minutes, sometimes longer depending on how cold the cream is to start with.

Whipped cream stage.

Another view to show just how thick it is before it turns into butter.

We now have butter!

Butter floating in the blender with buttermilk.

I then drained the butter/buttermilk into a colander.

I have just *washed* the butter which means pressing it under cold water until all of the *buttermilk* is gone. I do this by hand but it can also be done with a spoon on a plate.

Pressed and washed butterball.

I got 8 butter balls about 1/2 a cup each from the 2 &1/2 gallons of cream that I started with.

This was the butter after I mixed salt into it for salted butter.

Another view. If this were butter made in the spring/ summer, the butter would be more golden yellow. This being made in the winter with just hay for feeding the cows, it is a paler yellow. The flavor however is still awesome! Very creamy!

I then measured the butter into 1/2 cups which equals 1 stick of butter, wrapped in plastic bags and tied with bread ties. They are then frozen to be thawed as needed. I ended up with about 2 1/2 lbs. of butter.

The whole process took about an hour and a half from start to finish. When I get the daisy churn, it will cut that time down because I will be able to use a gallon of cream at a time. I think I'm gonna start pricing again today!

Happy Homesteading!

May GOD bless!

Amanda

Matthew 6:33

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