What Is Cultured Butter?

Cultured Butter is butter made from cream that is cultured with active bacteria (similar to yogurt) and has a distinctive, slightly tangy taste.

 

Cultured Butter Recipe (Buttermilk Recipe is below)

 

This recipe is for 2 Quarts of Heavy Cream (whipping cream)

find the freshest Heavy Cream you can find- avoid Ultra Pasteurized if possible

Ingredients

• 2 Quarts of Heavy Cream (you can make a 1 Quart batch- still use 1/8 tsp starter culture)
• 1/8 tsp Mesophilic Starter Culture ( theMilkman Butter Culture, Aroma B, Floralac, Flora Danica)
• Kosher Cheese Salt (1/2 tsp or so)- optional

Culture and Ripen

• Warm the cream to 68F – 70F (pretty much room temp)

Either warm slowly on low heat, or allow to warm to room temp over a couple of hours

•            once milk is steady at 70F add your culture.

You can sprinkle in or reconstitute in small amount of water before adding

If you sprinkle allow a few minutes for the culture to rehydrate before stirring

Stir gently using ‘top stirring’ method for a couple of minutes to distribute the culture

•            Cover and allow to ripen for 12-16 HOURS at 70F / Room Temp; then put in refrigerator for 4 hrs

Churning

•        Remove thickened cream from refrigerator; and allow to come up to temp of 54F before you churn it
•        Pour the liquid butter into butter churn or mixer bowl, churn at medium speed. Don’t overfill bowl.
•        You’ll see clumps start forming, and liquid will spray out (buttermilk)

               (this is a process; the butter will first get grainy and butter will separate from buttermilk, then the

               butter will clump up)

•        Remove the Butter from the bowl and strain off the buttermilk

             (you can collect the buttermilk underneath a colander lined with cheesecloth it you want to keep it!)

•        Rinse the Butter with cold water and knead the butter with either your hands or with paddles until

       any liquid that is draining is clear

 

•      Optional: add salt to taste; go easy with salt as a little goes a long way. (add a few pinches at a time)

 

Form, Refrigerate, Enjoy

•      Form your butter; you can press it in a Butter Press to create a block of butter, or you can roll into a

       log or other shape by hand.

•      If salted and well strained the butter will last a couple of months in your refrigerator.

 

Cultured Buttermilk Recipe

from Buttermilk saved from making Butter:

If you’ve made butter and kept buttermilk, you can use the buttermilk you collected to start a batch of cultured buttermilk.

• Use one part buttermilk blended with four parts fresh milk to make buttermilk. Allow mixture to ripen 20-24 hrs at room temperature (approx. 70F), then store in refrigerator.

 

Cultured Buttermilk from ‘scratch’:

 

• Use 1 Quart of 2% Milk
• Add 1/8 tsp Mesophilic Butter Starter Culture (see list under ‘Butter Recipe’)
• Allow culture to rehydrate for 5 minutes, then stir in thoroughly yet gently so you don’t add air bubbles.
• Ripen for 24 hours at approx. 70F
• Store in Refrigerator for up to 2-3 weeks
• Enjoy !