Making Your Own Groceries: Butter

Ok I have to start out by apologizing for not getting pictures of my butter making adventure for you. I know it helps to see the steps as they are described. This is the first in my series of making your own groceries.  The cost of a gallon of raw milk for me is $2.50. I used 2 gallons to make about 8 oz of butter. So for $5 I will have milk, butter, cheese, and whey. Not to bad, plus it is much healthier.

Here is what I am planning for future posts...

Bread

Yogurt

Tortillas

Mozzarella cheese (I will be making this for the first time)

Pita

More as they come to me. I have lots of ideas.

 My husband and I are striving to either make, grow, or raise as many of our own groceries as possible to save money, and also this will help us know exactly where our food is coming from. I think it is kind of a fun adventure to learn so many things that women used to do everyday without even thinking it was anything abnormal. I want my children to know how we get food and not to just think it comes from a grocery store. 

One thing I find interesting is that from 2 gallons of raw milk you can make butter, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese. 

I forgot to mention that I finally found a source of raw milk about 30 minutes from my house for $2.50 a gallon! That is a steal compared to the $6 a gallon I have been paying for organic milk. 

Here are the steps for making butter...

1.)Skim the cream off of the top of raw milk. You can buy cream if you want, but it will defeat the purpose of saving money. 

2.)Fill a food processor 1/3 full of cream. I filled mine to the max liquid line.

3.) Set the food processor on high and let it run for about 10 minutes. 

4.) At this point you should have the fat separated from the milk. You should see chunks of butter in the milk. Scoop all of the butter out into a clean bowl.

5.) Run COLD water into the bowl and squeeze out all the excess milk with a spoon. Repeat this step until the water is clear. 

6.) Squeeze out all the excess water and you should have a nice ball of butter. 

For a much better tutorial on this with pictures go to Heavenly Homemaker. 

I promise for the next post I will remember pictures.