Making salted butter during the butter shortage
This is not an economical way to make salted butter. I'm only posting because there has been a butter shortage in Israel this year, and when I can find butter in the store, it's the small sticks of sweet butter, not the salted larger sticks we usually use in the Shaffren residence.
Making butter is fun, you might want to do this with the kids.
This is a "quick and dirty" way to make salted butter. You'll need:
Pour the cream into the blender. Close the lid. Turn the blender on. Notice that at first, not much happens; you'll need to leave it on for at least a couple of minutes. After a while you'll notice that instead of stirring smoothly, it's starting to splatter all over the inside of the blender. Wait about 30 seconds more, and turn off the blender. Remove the lid and look inside. If it looks like cottage cheese, clumpy but with liquid too, you're probably done. Otherwise keep blending.
Wash your hands carefully with soap and water.
Pour the blender into the first bowl (and scrape what's on the lid and the sides of the blender into the bowl). You should immediately notice that there's a solid part (butter) and a liquid part (buttermilk). Use your hands (or a cheesecloth or a strainer if you're squeamish) to pour off the buttermilk into the second bowl. Try to get all the buttermilk out of the butter.
Take the bowl of butter to the sink, and using your hands as a strainer (again, squeamish people see above) rinse the butter with cold water several times until you're sure that you've rinsed away any remaining buttermilk. This step is important; if you leave any buttermilk on the butter, it will spoil quickly.
Next, salt to taste. Knead the salt into the butter. With your fingers. By now you should no longer be squeamish! Put the butter into the butter tray, and mold it to the proper shape. Put it into the refrigerator, and let it harden there.
You're left with a bowl of fresh buttermilk; I usually pour it into my coffee or give it to my cat.
Making butter is fun, you might want to do this with the kids.
This is a "quick and dirty" way to make salted butter. You'll need:
- sweet whipping cream, sold as "shamenet metukah", 38%, I usually see this in 250 ml sizes in the local supermarket
- a milchig blender
- two small milchig bowls like the kind you'd use for your morning cereal
- a place to put the butter when you're done so you can mold the finished butter - you can use aluminum foil, I use a regular butter tray
Pour the cream into the blender. Close the lid. Turn the blender on. Notice that at first, not much happens; you'll need to leave it on for at least a couple of minutes. After a while you'll notice that instead of stirring smoothly, it's starting to splatter all over the inside of the blender. Wait about 30 seconds more, and turn off the blender. Remove the lid and look inside. If it looks like cottage cheese, clumpy but with liquid too, you're probably done. Otherwise keep blending.
Wash your hands carefully with soap and water.
Pour the blender into the first bowl (and scrape what's on the lid and the sides of the blender into the bowl). You should immediately notice that there's a solid part (butter) and a liquid part (buttermilk). Use your hands (or a cheesecloth or a strainer if you're squeamish) to pour off the buttermilk into the second bowl. Try to get all the buttermilk out of the butter.
Take the bowl of butter to the sink, and using your hands as a strainer (again, squeamish people see above) rinse the butter with cold water several times until you're sure that you've rinsed away any remaining buttermilk. This step is important; if you leave any buttermilk on the butter, it will spoil quickly.
Next, salt to taste. Knead the salt into the butter. With your fingers. By now you should no longer be squeamish! Put the butter into the butter tray, and mold it to the proper shape. Put it into the refrigerator, and let it harden there.
You're left with a bowl of fresh buttermilk; I usually pour it into my coffee or give it to my cat.
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