Making Butter, When You Don't Have a Churn
Sometimes it's easy to forget that you don't need fancy appliances or gadgets to make the simplest things in life. Take butter for example. Somehow, marketers have convinced most of the population that the only way to get butter is to buy it at the store.
Making butter is so simple; a five year old can do it. All that is needed is cream and a couple of canning jars with lids. Or, you can recycle old mayonnaise jars. That's it, all you need.
Begin by allowing your cream to come to room temperature. If you go ahead and fill your jars, this will happen faster as the mass is not so great. Fill each jar no more than half full.
Screw the lid on. When the jar no longer feels cold to the touch, it's ready to butter.
Make sure the lid is on tight and begin shaking. Shake hard enough that the milk collides with both the top and bottom of the jar.
Generally, within five minutes, you will see the butterfat begin to form. Continue shaking until all the butter becomes one big clump in the buttermilk.
This whole process should take no longer than ten minutes. If you have kids, let them do the shaking, pass it on from one kid to the next, as they get tired or bored.
Once the butter is made, dump the contents of the jar into a large bowl. Pour off the buttermilk, reserving it for cooking. With the back of a tablespoon or wooden spoon, begin pressing the butter against the sides of the bowl.
This releases any remaining liquid in the butter. Pour off the liquid often and keep pressing until no more liquid is expelled.
At this point, you can add a teaspoon of salt if desired. Mix it in throughly.
You can use the butter as is, softened, or refrigerate as you would the store bought stuff.
