This is my week of learning how to use whole milk products ~ oh the joys of the expanding waistline! This is the only milk that myself and one daughter can drink without having tummy aches or staying close to a bathroom. ha ha.
First things first, butter. Just take cream and shake. Easy enough.
Once whole milk has settled, you see an obvious line of cream on top and milk on bottom. Just use a ladle to carefully get your cream. Glass jars are a must if you don't want your milk going bad. I remember Mom sterilizing all her jars with boiling water.
Girls insisted we "shake it the old fashioned way as it is more rewarding"...Mei started out excited.
Still excited...
Passing the jars around, a little excited ~
Now not so much!
We gave up after over 30 minutes of arm numbing shaking. I poured the bubbly brew into the blender and in 2 minutes...butter!
The foamy-type butter curds float to the top, ladle them out with a slotted spoon into your cheesecloth. You can also just pour the blender full into a cheesecloth-lined colander that sits in a bowl. Then your buttermilk ends up in the bowl and butter in the cloth. If you don't have cheesecloth, use a sheer curtain or sheer material, even nylons? Keep the watery stuff, it is your buttermilk and makes lovely muffins or biscuits. Put in a glass jar and refridgerate.
Press this with your slotted spoon and soon you'll have a nice blob of butter to squeeze out!
This is when you could salt it a little. Some add cinnamon, or herbs for speciality butters.
This is when you could press it with a pretty mould, etc. I made one blob in the shape of a heart.
This is unsalted.
Watch for the next post on mozzarella cheese making, yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese etc.
Use the buttermilk to make blueberry muffins for a recently widowed neighbor.
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