How to Churn Butter at Home? Just Follow This 4-step Guide

Butter churning is nothing but making butter from fresh cream. Learn how to do so at home from the following article.

Butter is usually made by churning cream or fermenting cream. It is one of the most commonly used spreads on food items and seasoning in various food making processes. It is made up of fats and water. Cow’s milk is usually used to make butter, however, milk of other domestic animals, like sheep and goat is also used for making it. Generally salt, flavoring, or preservatives are added to fresh butter.

How to Make Butter

With a few easy steps, you can make fresh and delicious butter at home. Fresh milk cream is agitated to make butter. There are a number of factors that are responsible for the quality of butter formed, like, temperature of cream, its quality, etc.

Step 1: Cream Formation
Collect the milk in a clean container and allow the milk to cool in a refrigerator for at least 12 hours. A layer of cream will be formed on top of the milk. Separate this cream by skimming it slightly. You can do this with the help of a spoon. Collect the cream in a jar with a tight lid.

Step 2: Cream Souring
This is the most important step in order to get good quality butter. Keep the collected cream in such a place where the temperature is between 60-75 °F for approximately 12 hours. This process is called souring of milk, wherein the acidic content of the cream is developed.

Step 3: Churning the Butter
Once the cream has soured, it’s time to churn the butter. You can use any of the butter churns for this. Every butter churn has a different assembly for churning the butter. While using it, put the cream in the butter churn and stir it until you see a formation of butter balls. Churn the butter in a uniform manner. If you are using a jar, all you need to do is shake the jar until the butter is formed. There is no specific time for butter formation. So keep an eye on the cream as you stir it. At the end, you will see a yellow shaded globule which is butter.

Step 4: Separation of Butter and Buttermilk
While churning the butter, a white fluid is left behind which is buttermilk. Separate the butter from the buttermilk, collect it in a container, and add some cold water to it. Gently rinse the butter in this water. Then, drain the water and transfer the butter to a clean container. Sprinkle some salt on the butter for its preservation. Your homemade butter is ready. Store both, the butter and buttermilk, in the refrigerator and use them whenever you want.

Types of Butter Churns

Butter churns are devices used to churn butter. The cream is stirred in it until the butter is formed. The scientific term used for conversion of cream to butter is phase inversion. Churning brings together the fat molecules of cream which cluster into balls of butter. Given below are some types of butter churns:

• Rocker churns
• Dash churns
• Wooden barrel churns
• Tin churns
• Stoneware churns
• Glass churn jars

Butter churning becomes easy with experience as you get to know what things to do and what not to. It is necessary that the cream is soured properly before making the butter. And, the containers used throughout the process should be clean.

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