Homemade Butter

Warning: Once you try homemade, it's really hard to go back to store bought.

I do the Kindergarten version (in a jar) of making butter around here.  I don't have a churn and think that using a mixer just isn't as fun, and I need the arm workout.  It's also a great way to bring the family together to accomplish something with immediate, or almost immediate results.

Recipe:
1. 1 clean glass jar (though I have heard of people using plastic containers, just make sure the lid has a tight seal.)
2. 1 pint heavy whipping cream
3. Flavoring - you can add salt, sugar, herbs, spices or honey-I wouldn't add the honey until after the butter is made. (I also wouldn't add all these ingredients at one time - gross.)
3. Arm muscles and about 20 minutes

Pour heavy whipping cream into your pint and screw the lid on tightly!  Then begin to shake...and shake...and shake till your arms want to fall off.  The cream will go through several stages, I don't have a picture of all of them, but here are a couple.

Stage 1: sloshy...shake it up!
Stage 2: creamy - it puts a thick coating on the inside of the glass - keep on shakin'.
Stage 3: whipped cream - really hard to shake at this point, but keep going - You can do it!

Stage 4: PLOP and juice?

This is the exciting part, when the butter starts to separate from the buttermilk - you're almost there! Shake until the butter is one blob in the middle then drain.

Now you have butter and buttermilk (great in pancakes or biscuits)!  To remove the rest of the buttermilk rinse under cold water and mush it around a little bit.  The less buttermilk in your butter the longer it will keep.  However homemade butter doesn't keep very long in the fridge, you can freeze it though and it will last for about a month. I couldn't tell you exactly how long it lasts in the fridge because we've never had any longer than a few days - it's that good!