Making homemade butter is the perfect experiment to involve your kids in a fun and delicious activity. The difference between butter and cultured butter means the enzymes have not been destroyed by ultra pasteurization.
Most kinds of milk you find at the grocery store are ultra-pasteurized. This in itself is not a bad thing. The main reason is population safety.
With that said, we will also make some excellent butter using ultra-pasteurized whole milk. This is what most people will be able to find at the grocery store. Spoiler alert: the butter turns out almost as good as the cultured butter.
What is Cultured Butter?
Cultured butter is a type of butter that is made by fermenting cultured cream with live bacteria. The fermentation process gives the butter a tangy flavor and a heavier texture. Cultured butter is sometimes called “yogurt butter” or “regular butter.” The cream is then churned to make the butter.
How Is Cultured Butter Different From Regular Butter?
In comparison, regular butter is made from sweet cream that has not been fermented. Because of the fermentation process, cultured butter also has a higher fat content than regular butter. It is also more expensive than regular butter.
Pasteurized Milk (UHT)
Pasteurized milk is milk that has been heated to a certain temperature so that all the bad bacteria are killed. This makes it safe to drink. Some people like to buy pasteurized milk because they think it tastes better.
Some people think that pasteurized milk is not as healthy as raw milk because it has been heated, and some of the nutrients have been lost. However, pasteurized milk is still a good source of calcium and other nutrients.
Watch Our How-To Video:
How To Make Butter From Pasteurized Milk
The reason I brought up involving your kids is that the process of converting whole milk whipping cream into butter is a great culinary experience.
The separation of milk fat from the buttermilk takes around 12-15 minutes. But what is most interesting is that there comes a point where you think, “Did I do something wrong?” Why hasn’t it turned into butter yet?
Then, suddenly, the buttermilk pulls away from the milk fat. At this point, you pretty much have butter. You still have work to do to ensure the butter tastes good and will store well in the refrigerator.
In making cultured butter, you have two options.
- Mix the cultured heavy whipping cream with kefir and move forward with the standard steps on the recipe card below to make butter.
- Mix the cultured heavy whipping cream with kefir, place it in a glass vase or preferred container, cover it with cheesecloth, and store it in the back of your refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. This process allows the milk’s probiotics (live cultures) to ferment. This will enhance the flavor profile of your butter.
What Is Kefir Milk?
Secret Ingredient
Kefir milk is used to make cultured butter. To make cultured butter, you must ferment the kefir milk with a culture. This process creates lactic acid, which gives the butter a sour flavor. The fermentation process also thickens the cream, making it easier to whip. Once the cream has been fermented, you can use it to make butter in a stand mixer.
Kefir is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt made from kefir grains. Traditional kefir is fermented at ambient temperatures, generally overnight. Fermentation of the lactose yields a sour, carbonated beverage with a consistency and taste similar to drinkable yogurt.
Homemade Butter Using Heavy Whipping Cream
Our cultured butter recipe uses 3 cups of whole milk heavy cream, but that’s not it. You could just use the 4 cups of heavy cream plus one teaspoon of kosher salt. But here at Butter-n-Thyme, we bring the flavor, adding another extraordinary ingredient, Kefir, which is easy to find these days in the grocery store.
The enhanced homemade butter ingredients use 1 cup of sour cream to create a depth of flavor that whole milk simply cannot supply. The sour cream isn’t ultra-pasteurized and rounds out the flavor you would come to expect and want in high-quality butter.
Making Butter In A Mason Jar
Take a mason jar with a lid, add heavy cream and some salt, but do not fill it all the way to the top. You need room for the heavy cream to be shaken. Then shake, shake, shake until your arm falls off. The butter fat will separate after a while. This is a labor-intensive effort yet a rewarding culinary experience.
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