Serves: n/a
Approx cost: β¬2
Approx calories (per teaspoon): ~30
Approx preparation time: 20 minutes
So, here’s a fast one for you all. I recently bought a carton of whipping cream online (it seems impossible to find this stuff for regular consumers in France!) from England. I *thought* at the time that it was a fairly small carton. When it was delivered to me it turns out that I’d actually bought 1 litre of the stuff! “Holy cow”, I thought, “ok… well, I’ll use a load to top my wife’s birthday cake with and then I’ll see after that”. Well, in fact I used just shy of half the carton for the cake and I had no idea what to do with the rest (aside from drinking it, ohmygod omnomnom!) but then my wife had the rather wonderful idea of making butter.
So here we go – Not really an inspired post today – I didn’t long ago come back from my vacation and I have the “back to normal daily life blues” but I do think making your own butter is pretty damn cool. You need a hell of a lot of cream to make a large amount, but making it this way has the added benefit of also producing your own buttermilk as a by-product. You can also experiment with flavourings and colourings – chilli, curry, cumin and so forth – if you’re feeling adventurous! Best of all, you don’t need any special equipment – just some strong arms and a bit of time and you’re good to go! Have a great day π
Ingredients
– Heavy / Whipping Cream (at least a glassful else the process isn’t really worth it)
– Salt and/or other flavourings (optional)
You’ll also need
– An old jar, with tight fitting lid, washed thoroughly
Instructions
- Fill the jar about half full with cream – many guides online say that “warm” cream is best. I’m not quite sure why this is, but we used cold cream and it worked wonderfully! Make sure not to over-fill the jar as the cream has to have a bit of room to move. You can always use a larger jar or do multiple batches if you want to make a load of butter. Screw on the lid tightly and start shaking. You may want to cover the lid with a cloth just in case there are any places where liquid may escape from. Keep on shaking… and on… and on. You should be able to feel that soon the cream is getting more solid. Congratulations, you’ve just whipped the cream. Now screw the lid back on tightly and proceed to step 2 π
- Now let’s start shaking again. Yay! Are you getting tired yet? Not much longer now! You’ll notice that all of a sudden something will change – the sides of the jar will be getting quite clean with each shake and inside the jar there will be a big clump of yellowy stuff, surrounded by liquid. Yay, we’ve made butter! But we’re not quite done yet.
- Give that jar another few shakes (for luck π and just to make sure we’ve maximised the liquid extraction) and then drain off the milk-like liquid. Whatever you do, don’t trash this stuff. This is the glorious, delicious buttermilk. You can do many things with this… many delicious baked goods… mmm, or even just drink it (yeah!). Get some cold water (as cold as possible really without being ice!) and pour into the jar with the butter, to about the same level as the butter milk was at. Seal the jar and shake well again. Pour off the water and repeat the cleaning process until the discarded water is clear. Note, if you plan on keeping the butter for a very long time (read: weeks) then this is very important as cleaning the butter will prevent it from going rancid. Now you can mix the butter with your salt or flavourings, shape it and stow it away in a cool place, and most importantly of all – enjoy!
Marianna says
Ha! I can't believe you tried it out )
We used to make butter when I was small, it was in the countryhouse and we used some fresh cream from the neighbors' cow ) Its quiet a work I must say…
Charles says
Thanks Marianna. Making butter with fresh cream from a neighbour's cow sounds like a really fun thing to do. It's definitely a good work-out though. I can't imagine doing this every other day just to get butter π
Lucia says
I think I'm relieved to hear I'm not the only one finding trouble when it comes to whipping cream in France.
Also it reminds me of this one time i went too far whipping cream with sugar and ended up with sweet butter π
Charles says
lol! In my quest for "whipping cream" in France I actually just looked it up on Wikipedia. I was pretty annoyed when I clicked the "Français" link and it redirects you to "Crème Chantilly" which is really not the same thing AT ALL! Seems the French aren't big into whipped cream. Explains the complete lack of it in cakes, where it's so common in Sweden and England. The "Cream Cake" is an English institution, pretty much!
Sissi says
Wonderful idea to post the way to make butter! I made it once when I whipped cream too long…
However, I am wondering… What do you mean by whipping cream? I have bought dozens of times (in France) cream for whipping, have whipped it… Every French supermarket carries cream which can be whipped. In what is your English cream different?
Charles says
Hi Sissi, it's very fun to make isn't it? Luckily I never had the misfortune of "accidentally" making it π
As for whipping cream – I have to say… I just can't find it :/ I've tried crème entière and the crème fleurette stuff.. Every time I try to whip it it starts to solidify a little (while still being pretty liquid) and then suddenly splits into a grainy, fatty, watery mixture – and I've tried whipping by hand with a balloon whisk, and electrically using an electric whisk and a hand-blender. I have no problem whipping "English" cream so it can't be my technique. In England we have a number of different types of cream – Single cream (best for pouring), Whipping cream and Double cream (both of which can be whipped) and then of course clotted cream. Which did you try when you successfully whipped it? Was it the fleurette stuff?
Sissi says
Charles, it's mysterious… I simply buy liquid cream, but check two things: it must be over 30% fat and it can't have any additives (some creams have…). In Switzerland (although I rarely buy it here) I do the same. I always whisk by hand (less risk of obtaining the butter). And I always whip a very cold cream too. I have always been sure every liquid cream with above 30% fat can be whipped.
Or maybe the English cream you buy is produced in a different way? Since it's special for whipping….
Lucia says
Mhh, in Spain or at least where i lived there was simply cream, there was not like special for this or light or whatever, just cream.
Lucia says
I have exactly the same thing than Charles. And when I go to Spain, I can whip the cream pretty much anyway I want. I don't know if it is just our area that doesn't carry proper cream or what.
Sissi says
Lucia, maybe in Spain low-fat cream and thick cream are not very popular and you always stumble upon the liquid one with high fat content? My mum says there is no way a 15% cream can be whipped in normal, home conditions (without gelatin etc.). Maybe it's just a question of fat content? My older French relations say when they were old such a thing as a 15% cream didn't exist, so then probably every liquid cream could be whipped…
Lucia says
TBH i just think they prolly think of it. Now that I put some thought on it, the part of Spain my family is from is the biggest dairy producer in Spain, so milk and cream is very good. I'm guessing they just went for cream that is processed so it won't spoil and end of story.
Sissi says
You must be right! In fact many people think 15% cream shouldn't even be called cream, so you are right saying real, good cream whips π
Kristy says
Now that looks like fun! I bet you could make a great herb butter this way too! And you get buttermilk out of it. Yay! I think the kids would get a kick out of making this too. They love physical, out of the ordinary cooking. π
I hope the vacation blues vanish soon. It's always so much fun to go away, but then it's always such and adjustment to real life when you get back. It took me just over a week this last time. Now I feel back to normal and am ready to plan the next trip. LOL.
Charles says
Hi Kristy – you could definitely make a great herb butter! I saw some various recipes, including ones with chillies and stuff as well! Kids would love doing this, for sure – something Mr. N can really flex his muscles on perhaps!
Sissi says
Charles, I have forgotten to ask you: have you ever tasted butter made with raw cream? I have heard it is sold on some markets in France, but have never found it (I asked everywhere) and people say it has an unforgettable taste. Of course it can only be salted and it keeps only for 48 hours.
I have a raw milk distributor in a French village, not far from here, and now thinking once more about your butter I am very tempted to make my own out of raw cream… (I would also have to work out how to obtain cream, safely and easily…). Your butter looks so scrumptious…
Charles says
Hi Sissi – in fact, no, I haven't tried this, but now I want to! There's a farm shop nearby which sells "lait cru". I think it would be too difficult, trying to separate out the cream from that but I'm going to keep a look out there to see if they start selling unpasteurised cream! Thanks for the tip!
Pure Complex says
I think this post should be dedicated to Ms Paula Deen on the Food Network lol. I really enjoyed reading this as I do all of your recipes.
Charles says
Hi Kay, thanks for visiting! Actually I've never seen any Paula Deen stuff, although I've seen you mentioning her on your blog from time to time! I'll have to look her up. Thanks for the tip!
Greg says
This post made me chuckle. When we were in our 20s and broke, the two go together, I accidentally made butter. We didn't have an electric mixer and Katherine couldn't get the cream to the right consistency, so I beat it, then put it in the blender and took it too far.
Charles says
Haha, I hope your dessert, or whatever it was you were making, wasn't ruined. There's nothing worse when you're strapped for cash and you indulge in a little something and end up ruining it π I think most people can relate to that sheer disappointment!
kelly says
I have to agree with you, making your own butter IS pretty damned cool. Luuuuv the idea of the flavourings… Mmm… cocoa butter (ha-ha) speaking of which, I made your mud cake AGAIN this weekend – so gooood – our guests loved it!
What's with the lack of availability of whipping cream in France? The French rather like their fat – je ne comprends pas du tout! Very entertaining, inventive AND inspiring post Charles.
Charles says
Curiously enough, I was watching a TV program last night on a channel which I NEVER watch because it's so damn boring – "Arte" – not sure if you've heard of it? Anyway, they had a fantastic show called "Un billet de train pour la Chine", about a trip across China from Lhassa, Tibet, to Beijing, showing the people and countryside and it was incredible. They showed two brothers who lived in a small house in the mountains and were making their own butter… although of course they were doing it on a much larger scale with a big churn and everything! π
So glad the chocolate cake is still bringing you pleasure! It's a nice feeling to know that someone is making something I posted all the way in other parts of the world and deems it worthy to serve up to their friends too!
A_Boleyn says
My experience with making butter from whipping cream was just like yours. I didn't want to make alfredo sauce and freeze it (which is one of the few savoury uses I know for whipping cream) so I made butter. I neglected to save the buttermilk but the butter was SO good on freshly baked bread cause, you know, I HAD to bake some bread to spread it on … my famous (at least in my own mind) Dilly-Onion Bread Braid. π
Charles says
Oh yeah… fresh baked bread and home-made butter… doesn't get much better than that, and now I'm getting hungry with all this talk of onion bread…mmm π
ping says
Oh my gosh!! You actually made butter?! That's a whole lot of shaking! I think I'd probably pass out even before it's done :P. Will it work in a food processor using a paddle whisk? The butter looks great …can't wait to try it!
Charles says
Haha, but if you use a paddle whisk you're taking away all the fun! π To be honest, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work with a paddle whisk… you might need to switch to a jar later when washing it though. Best thing is to give it a try and see. If you do, I'd love to know how it went!