I love cooking and good health, I also love homemade foods. A quick trick I found that is healthy for me and easy to do, is to make my own butter. There are many health benefits to doing this. The biggest health benefit is that homemade butter isn’t processed and overly salted. Unlike most store bought butters, homemade butter doesn’t have a huge amount of chemicals and in my opinion, it tastes better. The process of making your own butter can also be a lot of fun. There are two different ways you can make butter. One takes less time and is done with an electric mixer, while the other you do with a jar and your muscles.
Method One, with a mixer:
Ingredients and tools:
-Medium sized mixing bowl. (Glass or plastic)
-16 ounces of Heavy Cream
– ½ teaspoon of salt.
– Some sort of strainer
-Electric Mixer
First off, pour all of the Heavy Cream and the salt into a mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on to a medium speed and mix the heavy cream. You’re going to continue mixing the cream and salt until it looks like scrambled eggs which can take close to ten minutes. Soon after the cream and salt look like scrambled eggs, you’ll notice that a fluid begins to appear. This is what makes buttermilk. You can either strain the liquid out and keep it for other recipes or just throw it out. After straining the liquid, take the butter into your hands and massage it into a ball under cold water, until the water runs clear. After the water is clear the butter is ready to eat or refrigerate. This is the method I normally choose to do.
Method Two, jar and marble:
Ingredients and tools:
-A medium sized glass jar
-Either 8 ounces or 16 ounces of Heavy Cream
-1/4 teaspoon to ½ teaspoon of salt
-A marble
-Strong arms and patience.
I wouldn’t lie to you, this method can be very time consuming and tedious. If you have young children running around with nothing to do, this is a good project for them. First, pour the heavy cream, salt and marble into the medium sized jar. Next, shake in various directions until the contents become firm and in the shape of ball, this can take up to an hour depending on the speed of the shaking. The marble is used so you can tell how the heavy cream is thickening. The less you hear from the marble, the sooner the butter will be done. After the butter has formed into a ball, you can both drain the remaining liquid, and keep it for cooking or you may through it out. Finally, massage the ball under cold water until the water runs clear. Your fresh homemade and healthy butter is ready to be eaten or refrigerated
