How to Make White Butter

Butter is surprisingly easy to make your own. Making butter can be a functional activity giving you a product to use with meals and cooking, however, it can also be used as an educational task for children. Regardless of the reason you make it, if you have cream and fifteen minutes you can soon enjoy fresh butter.

Things You'll Need

• 2 cups heavy cream 1/8 tsp salt (optional) Food processor Sealed container Marble

Instructions

Food Processor Method

1. Prepare your food processor by inserting the metal chopping blade or a whisk attachment.

2. Pour two cups of cream into the food processor, add salt if desired and secure the lid. If your food processor is small, fill it no more than half full.

3. Turn the food processor on and allow it to blend as the butter moves from a liquid to a whipped cream. It will then turn back to a liquid and you will notice fine bits of butter. Continue to blend until these bits become a more solid mass with a surrounding liquid.

4. Remove the lid and drain the liquid, or buttermilk, and reserve the solid mass, which is your butter.

5. Eat the butter or store it in the fridge in an airtight container or in ramekins.

Shaking Method

1. Select a sealed container such as a jar, a plastic container with a lid or a zip topped bag. The container should be able to hold about four cups of liquid.

2. Pour the two cups of cream into the container and add salt if desired. Insert the marble, which helps speed the process. Seal the container securely.

3. Shake the container rapidly. Continue to shake it constantly without stopping for about fifteen minutes.

4. Stop shaking when large butter clumps have formed in the container. Open the container and drain out any liquid.

5. Eat the butter or store it in the container in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Tips & Warnings

• For the best results, choose cream without added stabilizers such as carrageenan. When using the kid-friendly shaking method consider having partners to share the shaking during the fifteen minutes.

• Don't stop processing the butter too early. It will move through several stages from a liquid, to more solid, then liquid again before the mass of butter forms.

References

• Butter through the Ages: Recipe for making butter
• CDKitchen: Shake and Make Butter Recipe