I have done it both ways and I will share my experience because for me both ways worked WAY different!
When I was a kid my mamaw had a cow and she would take raw milk and pour it into a metal bowl, cover with a dish towel and let it sit there on the counter probably overnight.
The next day, all the cream had risen to the top and was sort of congealed. She scooped off this congealed cream and put it in jars, sealed the jars and we would shake it and shake it and shake it and eventually you would see little yellow dots start to form. (It wasn't white. And I don't mean to contradict the PP who said her butter was white, but ours was not.) Mamaw would make us keep shaking for a while yet until there was a big chunk of butter in there, then she would strain it through a flour-sack towel, squeeze all the milk out, salt it and freeze it.
I really didn't like the taste of it at the time (thought I would eat margarine out of a bowl with a spoon. go fig.) Since I have grown up, I have gotten used to using unsalted, store-bought butter and really love the taste of it.
Now, how it was different for me from whipping cream:
I tried whipping cream a couple of times. I would put it in the jar and shake and I would just get Whipped Cream... it wouldn't 'shake'any more after it got to that stiff consistency like cool whip or ready whip. I didn't know what I was doing wrong! (and I still don't but I have never successfully gotten butter from shaking whipping cream in a jar.) I read on the Internet to use an electric mixer (same kind you mix cake batter with.)
So, I tried this and you have to mix it for a LONG time. If you had a standing-bowl mixer It would be a lot less work.
You start mixing it and you get whipped cream at first, but you have to keep on mixing it after that. And after a little while more of mixing, you start to get something kind of lumpy like cottage cheese. Then you keep on mixing and you begin to see droplets of milk, then mix more you get puddles of milk in the bottom of the bowl. Hoorah! The liquid is separating from the fat! Mix, mix, mix some more and you will begin to see the yellow (yep, again yellow) butter begin to stick together.
I never know quite when I'm supposed to stop. When I have mostly butter and a lot of separated liquid--I think it's just a judgment call. I had boughtsome flour-sack towels just for this purpose. I strained the whole mess through the towel and squeezed all the milk out. I did not salt it. I prefer unsalted butter.
It is HEAVENLY. It melts in your mouth and coats your mouth with this... divine yumminess. store in the fridge, but much better served at room temperature.
Cassandra
When I was a kid my mamaw had a cow and she would take raw milk and pour it into a metal bowl, cover with a dish towel and let it sit there on the counter probably overnight.
The next day, all the cream had risen to the top and was sort of congealed. She scooped off this congealed cream and put it in jars, sealed the jars and we would shake it and shake it and shake it and eventually you would see little yellow dots start to form. (It wasn't white. And I don't mean to contradict the PP who said her butter was white, but ours was not.) Mamaw would make us keep shaking for a while yet until there was a big chunk of butter in there, then she would strain it through a flour-sack towel, squeeze all the milk out, salt it and freeze it.
I really didn't like the taste of it at the time (thought I would eat margarine out of a bowl with a spoon. go fig.) Since I have grown up, I have gotten used to using unsalted, store-bought butter and really love the taste of it.
Now, how it was different for me from whipping cream:
I tried whipping cream a couple of times. I would put it in the jar and shake and I would just get Whipped Cream... it wouldn't 'shake'any more after it got to that stiff consistency like cool whip or ready whip. I didn't know what I was doing wrong! (and I still don't but I have never successfully gotten butter from shaking whipping cream in a jar.) I read on the Internet to use an electric mixer (same kind you mix cake batter with.)
So, I tried this and you have to mix it for a LONG time. If you had a standing-bowl mixer It would be a lot less work.
You start mixing it and you get whipped cream at first, but you have to keep on mixing it after that. And after a little while more of mixing, you start to get something kind of lumpy like cottage cheese. Then you keep on mixing and you begin to see droplets of milk, then mix more you get puddles of milk in the bottom of the bowl. Hoorah! The liquid is separating from the fat! Mix, mix, mix some more and you will begin to see the yellow (yep, again yellow) butter begin to stick together.
I never know quite when I'm supposed to stop. When I have mostly butter and a lot of separated liquid--I think it's just a judgment call. I had boughtsome flour-sack towels just for this purpose. I strained the whole mess through the towel and squeezed all the milk out. I did not salt it. I prefer unsalted butter.
It is HEAVENLY. It melts in your mouth and coats your mouth with this... divine yumminess. store in the fridge, but much better served at room temperature.
Cassandra
