How to Make Butter Without a Separator, Without a Churn, and Without Difficulty

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At this point, you don't really have butter yet, but you're very close so keep right on shaking the jar with somewhat less vigor. Within seconds, the heavy mass will turn yellow, become firm, and separate from the milk. Do not shake the jar much beyond the point where the butter has formed into slightly firm granules. (Unless you want a harder finished spread.)

MAKING BUTTER STEP 3: RINSE THE BUTTER

Return to the kitchen now and strain the butter from the buttermilk with the aid of a colander or other straining device. (And save that delicious buttermilk!) Then, while the solids are still in the colander, rinse them thoroughly with cold water. (Warm water will make the butter soft ... the warmer, the softer.) Your butter should now be crumbly, rather than a firm, solid mass.

MAKING BUTTER STEP 4: REMOVE THE WATER AND SALT THE BUTTER

Next, put the cultured butter in a bowl. (The size of the bowl will depend, of course, on how much butter you have. I sometimes save several days' cream for one large batch, in which case I need something larger than a cereal bowl.) With clean hands, work the butter around the sides of the bowl and tip it to one side to let the water run out.

After you've "worked" the water out of the butter, and the mass has become fairly firm, sprinkle some salt over it (I use about a half teaspoon of salt per half pound of butter). Work the salt in, turn the butter over, and work it in some more. Taste the butter, and if necessary, add more salt.

All that's left now is to put your lusciously creamy homemade spread into a covered container, place the buttermilk in a capped jar or bottle, and store both containers in the refrigerator until needed. (Note: If I know we'll be using our butter within an hour or two, I'll leave it on the drainboard to keep it soft and spreadable.)

HOW TO DIAGNOSE AND TROUBLESHOOT "PROBLEM BUTTER"

The procedure outlined above is fairly simple and offers little opportunity for error. Still, things can go wrong now and then. I've had my own share of failures and setbacks over the years, and so far, this is what I've learned:

1. If the butter is too sour and doesn't have a "fresh" taste, the milk was probably not "clean."

2. If the spread turns out too soft, either the cream was allowed to become too warm (more than 75 degrees) or it wasn't sufficiently churned. A good general rule here is: If the butter takes less than 10 minutes to form, the cream was probably too warm; more than 35 or 40 minutes, and the cream was too cold or the jar too full.

3. Sometimes the butter is overly hard. In this case, the cream may have been too cold to begin with, or the butter may have been overworked or overchurned.

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