More Raw Milk Projects

Another blogger i follow just posted this, a how to to make your own butter. I'm very excited to add this to my projects list.

So far i've made my own sour cream - 15 oz or so (which rocks), delicious cheeses from half a gallon of skimmed milk, another half gallon skimmed milk to drink and cook with, lots of whey to add to things for fermentation and prolonged shelf life (mayo, kim chee, soaked breakfast grains).

That's a lot of stuff for one gallon of milk. The milk costs 6.50$ a gallon plus a dollar to the milk host. So $7.50 goes a pretty long way if i use it all right.

Reading her post is inspiring - i bought some buttermilk the other day to add to the cream to make the sour cream. Turns out butter is made by simply shaking the cream: it will separate into butter, and buttermilk! Hot dog, i'm a dairy processing machine! It is so exciting to learn to make more and more staple things that i will no now longer need to buy in the store!

I just happened to have a little cream left over from the last batch of milk. A VERY little bit. But I'm giving it a go, and phew! Butter is a workout! Suppose it's only fitting for soemthing so decadent to require quite a bit of elbow (and wrist and hand) grease. Shake Shake Shake!

Alright - not enough cream per the size of this big jar, so i downsize into a smaller jar. Much better shakage. Cream is now 'whipped cream.'

Awesome, butter is  separating from 'buttermilk'.

Now i rinse and shake a few times, and voila! Butter! I also notice a nice dark yellow color to this butter, must more yellow than the store bought stuff. I'm skipping the creaming part as there is so little of it. I anticipate spreading some of this on warm piece of the cranberry nut bread I'll be baking this evening.

Thanks so much, Chiot's Run!

Have you experimented with making dairy products from scratch? What are your favorite recipes, and what are your favorite ways to use a gallon of milk?