Do I Need a Churn to Make Butter? Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-foo

[hawgrider]

I gotta try this soon as we have leased a cow and are getting raw milk now......... the way it was meant to be.



I love butter made of cream from cows raised on pasture. I can’t find it in stores without spending a fortune, so I want to make it at home. Do I have to purchase a butter churn to do so?

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/do-i-need-a-churn-to-make-butter-zm0z15fmzsor.aspx#ixzz3QD7Ky4xB


Here is the other link - http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/homemade-butter-zmaz09jjzraw.aspx#axzz3QD7BBICz

[Dwight55]

In a one word answer: No, . . . fresh butter can be "churn not required".

As a kid, . . . we bought Gurnsey milk for 10 cents a quart, . . . and it was 5.3% butterfat, . . . and her name was Pet.

One of my "household" chores was to make butter. Mom would take a quart jar and fill it about 80% full and hand it to me with a smile on her face.

I'd go into the living room, . . . turn on Howdy Doodie, . . . and start shaking the quart jar.

Somewhere before Clarabelle came on during the last half of the show, . . . the cream would be well shaken and be like whipped cream.

Then all of a sudden, . . . it would just "jell" so to speak, . . . and all the little fat thingys would come together, . . . and I'd have a blob of butter in the jar, . . . along with some "leftover" that mom pitched.

That was the best butter I've ever eaten.

Mom's biggest problem back then, though, . . . was keeping me out of her cream. She'd put it in a jar and do her best to hide it in the fridge, . . . but if I found it and she was not watching, . . . I could drink the whole thing, . . .

May God bless,
Dwight

[Inor]

I am interested to hear more about leasing a cow. How does that work? Does the cow live with you or does it live somewhere else? At the end of lease, do you get the beef too? How much milk do you get for your lease? Do you have to milk it?

Mrs Inor wants to get goats for milk, but I hate goat milk. Getting a dairy cow is not practical because one cow gives far more milk every day than we can use in a week. But if we could get just a portion of the milk, maybe I could dissuade her from the goat idea.

[hawgrider]

I am interested to hear more about leasing a cow. How does that work? Does the cow live with you or does it live somewhere else? At the end of lease, do you get the beef too? How much milk do you get for your lease? Do you have to milk it?

Mrs Inor wants to get goats for milk, but I hate goat milk. Getting a dairy cow is not practical because one cow gives far more milk every day than we can use in a week. But if we could get just a portion of the milk, maybe I could dissuade her from the goat idea.Well the gooberment forbids raw milk its generally not legal. They want to pasteurize the hell out of it. So there is a way around it. At least in Mi. We have to "lease" a cow. There is a local farmer who offers lease a cow so basically for a fee we must buy at least one gallon a week under the lease. We are allowed up to 2 gallons a week under one lease so My oldest daughter and us split a lease she gets a gallon and we get a gallon. Its cheaper than buying so called organic milk at the store which is still pasteurized. So now my grand kids and us get milk the way it was meant to be. I don't think there is a specific time length on the lease or a contract so to speak but its a way around the gooberment restrictions. If you want I can find out more details from my wife as she is ram rodding this project. So yeah once a week on Tuesdays she goes to a secret location to wait for the milk delivery. The guy is mostly on time. It works out pretty good. We just have to watch for the black helicopters trying to bust the real milk drinkers. LOL

[Inor]

Any info you have would be great! How did she find the farmer? In other words, how does one go about setting this whole thing up? (The wheels are turning fast in my fevered brain on this one!)

I am thinking raw milk would be WAY better for making cheese than the pasteurized stuff we are using now...

[hawgrider]

Any info you have would be great! How did she find the farmer? In other words, how does one go about setting this whole thing up? (The wheels are turning fast in my fevered brain on this one!)

I am thinking raw milk would be WAY better for making cheese than the pasteurized stuff we are using now...Yes we are now making our own ranch salad dressing... Awesome and making our own mayo even more Awesome. Plus all the kefir milk stuff we makes is better too.

Ok I'll ask her when I get home tonight for some more info.

[hawgrider]

Any info you have would be great! How did she find the farmer? In other words, how does one go about setting this whole thing up? (The wheels are turning fast in my fevered brain on this one!)

I am thinking raw milk would be WAY better for making cheese than the pasteurized stuff we are using now... Just did a quick search this is one example of how it works there are different deals out there but this is a example-
http://www.hicksorganicfood.com/cowlease.html

I called her (wife).... I was reading the link I just provided and..... I think its the guy we get it from lol I waiting for here to call me back.

[hawgrider]

Ok yep She said that is where we get the milk there is a contract for one year check out the webpage Inor all the details are there.

http://www.hicksorganicfood.com/cowlease.html

[MrsInor]

We are not getting a cow. If there is a place here to lease a cow - fine - but most weeks even a gallon is too much.

[hawgrider]

We are not getting a cow. If there is a place here to lease a cow - fine - but most weeks even a gallon is too much.We sorta struggle to kill a gallon but with making all the kefir products we use all of it. Plus a occasional glass of milk with 3 handfuls of cookies.

[hawgrider]

So we had a little milk left from the last gallon. I took the cream off the top and put it into a pint jar shook it for 25 minutes and yep had me some sweat cream butter about the size of a pat of butter enough for a few crackers. I'm hooked its darn tasty! I've got the new gallon in 1/2 gallon jars and will separate the cream tomorrow and see how much butter I get from a gallon.

[MrsInor]

Lehman's has a small butter "churn" you screw onto a canning jar. I just looked it up and it has its own square jar. A hundred and fifty seems a bit much for it though.

[hawgrider]

Lehman's has a small butter "churn" you screw onto a canning jar. I just looked it up and it has its own square jar. A hundred and fifty seems a bit much for it though.I did the jar just for fun. Yeah funs over I'm gonna try the food processor tomorrow my kids have grown up Ive got nobody to shake the jar lol
I had sticker shock looking at churns. The jar attachment would be neat for small batches. There are are some youtubes out there of folks using blenders and food and processors I'll take some pics of the process and put them up here.

[Inor]

I did some poking around on the intertubes today and it is apparently legal to buy raw milk in Minnesota without leasing a cow. But you have to go to the farm to buy it and you have to bring your own bottles. They cannot deliver it and they cannot sell it to you in their bottles. Go figure... Anyway, there are about 20 farms that advertise on a raw milk site in the state, however I did not see any near where we live. I think I will take a trip to the hippie co-op that is not too far from here. I am sure the hippies will know where to get it closer. And if they do not, at least I'll have an excuse to punch them.

[hawgrider]

When we lived in Wisconsin back in the late 70's that's what we did. We went to the farm with our containers and in those days we dipped it out of the big stainless vat ourselves and left the money in a coffee can the farmer had sitting on the counter. All honor system.

[Pauls]

I spent a little money over the new year beginning and got a real mixer. A KitchenAid 6 quart drop bowl model. (our second $12 mixer died) I ordered it with the grain grinder (it is hard on my old body to grind grain in the hand grinder) and a juice and sauce maker. It was an expensive mixer but it has been worth its weight in gold.

I made a three egg omlette that covered one of our big plates (whipped egg takes up a lot of space) and I am sure that I can make butter with it. I used it with the dough hook to make my last loaves of bread with - very little hand kneading and only after it rose the first time.

If you have the money get a mixer with a wisk and regular spade beater and a dough hook. It takes the work out of so many things. Besides - it takes the place of a number of dedicated kitchen appliances it is worth the bucks. KitchenAid is built to last at least one lifetime.

OH! I almost forgot - look around at prices for sure but this is where I got mine:
http://www.everythingkitchens.com/
Free shipping (it takes ten days) and you can look at the accessories that you want too.

[hawgrider]

I spent a little money over the new year beginning and got a real mixer. A KitchenAid 6 quart drop bowl model. (our second $12 mixer died) I ordered it with the grain grinder (it is hard on my old body to grind grain in the hand grinder) and a juice and sauce maker. It was an expensive mixer but it has been worth its weight in gold.

I made a three egg omlette that covered one of our big plates (whipped egg takes up a lot of space) and I am sure that I can make butter with it. I used it with the dough hook to make my last loaves of bread with - very little hand kneading and only after it rose the first time.

If you have the money get a mixer with a wisk and regular spade beater and a dough hook. It takes the work out of so many things. Besides - it takes the place of a number of dedicated kitchen appliances it is worth the bucks. KitchenAid is built to last at least one lifetime.

OH! I almost forgot - look around at prices for sure but this is where I got mine:
http://www.everythingkitchens.com/
Free shipping (it takes ten days) and you can look at the accessories that you want too.I've been drooling over the kitchen aids for years just couldn't part with the 400 or so bucks yet. Definitely want one they last forever.

[justlooking]

We are not getting a cow. If there is a place here to lease a cow - fine - but most weeks even a gallon is too much.
Goats are definitely the way to go then

[Pauls]

I've been drooling over the kitchen aids for years just couldn't part with the 400 or so bucks yet. Definitely want one they last forever.

Look at the prices at the link I left - you might be surprised.

[Inor]

I spent a little money over the new year beginning and got a real mixer. A KitchenAid 6 quart drop bowl model. (our second $12 mixer died) I ordered it with the grain grinder (it is hard on my old body to grind grain in the hand grinder) and a juice and sauce maker. It was an expensive mixer but it has been worth its weight in gold.

I made a three egg omlette that covered one of our big plates (whipped egg takes up a lot of space) and I am sure that I can make butter with it. I used it with the dough hook to make my last loaves of bread with - very little hand kneading and only after it rose the first time.

If you have the money get a mixer with a wisk and regular spade beater and a dough hook. It takes the work out of so many things. Besides - it takes the place of a number of dedicated kitchen appliances it is worth the bucks. KitchenAid is built to last at least one lifetime.

OH! I almost forgot - look around at prices for sure but this is where I got mine:
http://www.everythingkitchens.com/
Free shipping (it takes ten days) and you can look at the accessories that you want too.

I got one of those for Mrs Inor about 5-6 years ago. The thing is built like a tank. The only thing that does not work very well with it is the sausage stuffer. The meat grinder is awesome. But the stuffer leaves quite a bit to be desired.

[Pauls]

Good to know... My brother wanted to get the sausage stuffer for ours - (he would never use it - that would be my job!)

[hawgrider]

I got one of those for Mrs Inor about 5-6 years ago. The thing is built like a tank. The only thing that does not work very well with it is the sausage stuffer. The meat grinder is awesome. But the stuffer leaves quite a bit to be desired.I use the LEM #8 grinder stuffer with foot switch. Love it makes sausage stuffing a one man job with great control the foot switch is a must buy.

[Inor]

We have the 10# vertical Lem stuffer. It is all manual, but works really great. I do use the sausage stuffer/grinder on the Kitchenaid for grinding the meat though.

[Dwight55]

I got my wife a red kitchen aid mixer (the one with the lever to lift it up, . . . not the tilt back model) and the one I got was off Ebay.

It was a "refurbished" unit with a 1 year full warranty, . . . think it was $279.

I don't use it much, . . . neither does she, . . . but when it is used, . . . wow, . . . what a mixer.

I wish I had bought her one 40 years ago.

May God bless,
Dwight

[hawgrider]

1 gallon raw milk. Dipped out the cream from the top of each 1/2 gallon jar. Put it in the food processor and let run on low for about 7 minutes.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/20150130_183215_zps9xtwj4aw.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/20150130_183215_zps9xtwj4aw.jpg.html)


It started to break.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/20150130_185236_zpseapm9scl.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/20150130_185236_zpseapm9scl.jpg.html)

Strained it then ran it some more.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/20150130_191511_zpsups56yks.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/20150130_191511_zpsups56yks.jpg.html)


Ended up with this.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/20150130_200052_zpsbfok5cyq.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/20150130_200052_zpsbfok5cyq.jpg.html)

It was a pain in the rear with the food processor. It was almost easier shaking the jar last night. I need a churn.

[Inor]

Freakin' cool Hawg! Thanks for that!

Edit: Did you add any salt? If so, how much?

[hawgrider]

Freakin' cool Hawg! Thanks for that!That's just a little half pint jar not full. I think I'll save the cream from 2 weeks of milk (2 gallons) so I get a little more end product. To make it worth cleaning that food processor.

Darn tasty!


Edited: Note to self..... hey stupid its a 8 oz jelly jar not a half pint jar. Lol

[hawgrider]

Freakin' cool Hawg! Thanks for that!

Edit: Did you add any salt? If so, how much?Yes sir you betcha. I added about 2 pinches of fine ground sea salt to that 8 oz jelly jar its just about perfect.
So me being a salt/spice nut. All kinds of things running round my pea brain like
Garlic butter
Cayenne butter
Honey butter
Dill butter
Smoked salt butter
And so on........

[hawgrider]

Mini farm fresh hawg eggs with dill, fresh ground black pepper and toast dripping with homemade hawg butter. Yum!

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/20150131_100429_zps3lemmerx.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/20150131_100429_zps3lemmerx.jpg.html)

[Inor]

Ok Hawg, you're a prick. This post has had me thinking all day. I am going to try this, but I have another question: Did you wash the butter in cold water to get all of the milk out of it before your stored it?

http://www.thekitchn.com/tip-make-butter-by-the-pound-i-97984

It also sounds like you will get more butter in the summer months than in the winter. As I said, I have been obsessing on this all day since seeing your photo above.

[Arklatex]

Awesome thread. Thanks!

[hawgrider]

Ok Hawg, you're a prick. This post has had me thinking all day. I am going to try this, but I have another question: Did you wash the butter in cold water to get all of the milk out of it before your stored it?

http://www.thekitchn.com/tip-make-butter-by-the-pound-i-97984

It also sounds like you will get more butter in the summer months than in the winter. As I said, I have been obsessing on this all day since seeing your photo above.Hahaha thats funny your hooked already lol yeah I can relate happens to me all the time.

So thats a good article you found. And explains why the yield was skimpy. But hell its January in the north. So according to your article cream production is low in winter.

I got a lot of the butter milk out by pressing with spatula and to tell ya the truth I forgot about the rinse under cold water until I read your article. There was so little of this batch it wont matter for storage it will be gone by Monday or sooner I won't forget on my next batch though I'm going to try to save the cream for 2 weeks then I should get double.

Edit: I was re reading this and realized my jar of finished butter is in a 8 oz jelly jar not a half pint.... duh!

[Inor]

Yeah, I went out just before supper and bought 2 quarts of heavy cream. I used Mrs Inor's Kitchen Aid to mix it. I did it in two batches. Each batch yielded about a pound of butter. With the first, I put it into a colander to separate the milk which was about 16 oz. I put the milk into a mason jar so Mrs Inor can use it for her baking. With the butter, I squeezed it real good then rinsed it under cold water real good and put into a mason jar unsalted. With the second batch, after I rinsed it, I put it back in the Kitchen Aid and added a tablespoon of canning salt and mixed it on slow for about a minute or two. It is just about the perfect flavor. I put that into two smaller mason jars.

Thanks for the great writeup and the great idea!

[hawgrider]

Yeah, I went out just before supper and bought 2 quarts of heavy cream. I used Mrs Inor's Kitchen Aid to mix it. I did it in two batches. Each batch yielded about a pound of butter. With the first, I put it into a colander to separate the milk which was about 16 oz. I put the milk into a mason jar so Mrs Inor can use it for her baking. With the butter, I squeezed it real good then rinsed it under cold water real good and put into a mason jar unsalted. With the second batch, after I rinsed it, I put it back in the Kitchen Aid and added a tablespoon of canning salt and mixed it on slow for about a minute or two. It is just about the perfect flavor. I put that into two smaller mason jars.

Thanks for the great writeup and the great idea!How well did the kitchen aid work? My food processor sucked it spins to fast even on low. I've gotta find a better way.

[Inor]

The Kitchen Aid worked well, almost a completely braindead operation once you get it setup. From the article, I knew that when it started to break it was going to spray milk. So I watched it real close and when it started to become liquid again from whipped cream, I turned it down to low. When it really started to throw milk, I put a towel over the mixer and bowl. I suppose it took about 10 minutes from the time I turned it on until the butter was ready to be strained and washed.

Some sites also mentioned using a blender too. Maybe try that before spending the $$$ on the mixer. Although you did mention you and your wife wanted one anyway... :biglaugh:

[hawgrider]

The Kitchen Aid worked well, almost a completely braindead operation once you get it setup. From the article, I knew that when it started to break it was going to spray milk. So I watched it real close and when it started to become liquid again from whipped cream, I turned it down to low. When it really started to throw milk, I put a towel over the mixer and bowl. I suppose it took about 10 minutes from the time I turned it on until the butter was ready to be strained and washed.

Some sites also mentioned using a blender too. Maybe try that before spending the $$$ on the mixer. Although you did mention you and your wife wanted one anyway... :biglaugh:We could put one to use that's for sure. Shes got a cake blender might try that but then id have to hold the damn thing thru the process vs kitchen aid. Ugg! Mo money......

Oh yeah tell Mrs Inor sorry bout screwing up the get goats plan:D

[Inor]

Not at all! I was doing the math on a cow this evening at supper. Assuming a dairy cow gives about 6-7 gallons of milk per day. If my math is correct, that means we could get about 1-2 pounds of butter and about 6 pounds of hard cheese and about 2 pounds of soft cheese per day. I figure $15 per pound is dirt cheap for artisan cheese. So that is $120 per day for the cheese and I figure another $5-10 per day for the butter. That is $910 per week. That is more than Mrs Inor is making now. :D And I figure if I bought her 5 cows, we are talking some real money! Plus, with all that left over whey, she can make a buttload of dog biscuits! :biglaugh:

[MrsInor]

No. Effing. Cows.

[BlackDog]

Hey Mr. and Mrs. Inor, how about some mini moos?
I wish I had enough ground for a couple of these!

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/small-breed-milk-cows.aspx?PageId=1

[Inor]

Hey Mr. and Mrs. Inor, how about some mini moos?
I wish I had enough ground for a couple of these!

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/small-breed-milk-cows.aspx?PageId=1

I met a prepper down in Jacksonville, FL that has a miniature cow. It is just him and his wife on a small hobby farm. They are getting about 3 gallons of milk per day from it. It actually seemed like a pretty good setup as the thing eats a LOT less than a normal cow. But I am pretty sure I will not have much more success getting that one past the boss than a full size cow. :D

[hawgrider]

No. Effing. Cows.Rotflmao!
I'm sorry please forgive me.:whippin::chucknorris:

[Coppertop]

Not at all! I was doing the math on a cow this evening at supper. Assuming a dairy cow gives about 6-7 gallons of milk per day. If my math is correct, that means we could get about 1-2 pounds of butter and about 6 pounds of hard cheese and about 2 pounds of soft cheese per day. I figure $15 per pound is dirt cheap for artisan cheese. So that is $120 per day for the cheese and I figure another $5-10 per day for the butter. That is $910 per week. That is more than Mrs Inor is making now. :D And I figure if I bought her 5 cows, we are talking some real money! Plus, with all that left over whey, she can make a buttload of dog biscuits! :biglaugh:

Inor,
I don't wanna burst your bubble, but 6 gals a day is what a California cow gives. They probably only milk out about 9-10 months of the year. Anything in our Latitude isn't going to produce as much milk nor for as many months out of the year. My limited experience with milk cows around here are about 4-5 gals a day about 7 months of the year.

On the other hand- as much as you travel, you would know where Mrs. Inor is all the time, milking at 5 am and 5 pm EVERY DAY plus the time to make cheese and butter- she would be sleeping or in the kitchen. I'm sure more of the later.

Thanks

[Inor]

That's good to know. Thanks! Maybe I better get her 10 cows then. :biglaugh:

[hawgrider]

Did a quart of your method Inor. 2 pints store bought heavy cream. Used the cake mixer this time. It wasn't to bad. Made half regular salted and the other half with salt and dehydrated dill. Turned out good!

[Inor]

We ate some of our late night on popovers. It worked great!

[justlooking]

Did a quart of your method Inor. 2 pints store bought heavy cream. Used the cake mixer this time. It wasn't to bad. Made half regular salted and the other half with salt and dehydrated dill. Turned out good!
Hmmmm

Maybe I should ask for a kitchen aid mixer for Valentine's day.

Tempt him with fresh homemade butter

And I am loving the idea of flavored butters.

Just bought a scallion garlic salt. That would be delicious in butter

[hawgrider]

Hmmmm

Maybe I should ask for a kitchen aid mixer for Valentine's day.

Tempt him with fresh homemade butter

And I am loving the idea of flavored butters.

Just bought a scallion garlic salt. That would be delicious in butterThe dill butter was a hit! Its gone.

Mmmm garlic salt butter with a bit of my wild leek powder mixed in to make toasted garlic bread. Thanks for the Idea Justlooking!

New batch of milk this past Tuesday I gotta pull the cream off tonight and whip something up garlic leek butter it is!

[justlooking]

The dill butter was a hit! Its gone.

Mmmm garlic salt butter with a bit of my wild leek powder mixed in to make toasted garlic bread. Thanks for the Idea Justlooking!
Yum wild leek powder

Dag nab it need to learn more about wildcrafting

I would not know a wild leek if it hit me in the face

[hawgrider]

Yum wild leek powder

Dag nab it need to learn more about wildcrafting

I would not know a wild leek if it hit me in the faceYou don't even have to know what they look like. Use your nose in the spring it will lead you right to them. They beat the snot out of store bought leeks .... not even a contest. You will find them in shaded moist but not wet areas of the woods. They are wonderful! I dehydrate them then grind into powder with a spare coffee bean grinder. Look for them when hunting morals. By memorial day week the greenery above ground is starting to shrivel up and it make them harder to find. Although they are edible thru the summer they will get a little tough and not quite as flavorful.

to help you find them they look like this -

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8XwR2jPD09I/S-dXwJx6jSI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/vjEP0lzhhCQ/s1600/Leeks2%2B002.JPG

http://www.ptbolocalfoods.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/wild-leeks.jpg

http://www.elginharvest.ca/uploads/1/0/8/7/10871913/2018172_orig.jpg