How To Prepare Butter

By Vision Reporter

To produce butter, you have to make the butterfat more concentrated by separating cream from the milk. Butter should contain 80% fat, 16% moisture, and 2% milk solids non-fat.

It may contain a small amount of salt (2%) to improve shelf life and taste. However, excess moisture (more than 20%) reduces the quality of butter. The utensils can be bought from town.

• Materials and utensils
• Pasteurized cream, sour milk or sour cream
• A heat source
• A thermometer
• Cold water
• Sour milk or a starter culture
• A container for churning
• A sieve
• A bowl
• A tray for kneading
• Wooden spoons
• A pan
• Fine salt (optional)
• Packing material e.g. a jar
• Clean water

Note: Work in an exceptionally hygienic place to obtain sweet cream butter.

• Heat the milk or cream to a temperature of 85 °C.
• Let it cool down to about 18 °C as quickly as possible (use a thermometer) using cold running water on the outside of the pan.
• Add 1-2 table spoonfuls of fresh fermented sour milk or a starter culture to one litre of milk or cream and stir.
• Maintain at 16-18 °C for about 24 hours, so that the mixture becomes thick and sour enough to be churned.
• Churn the milk in a jar, glass pot or gourd. Churn with a regular up and down or sideways movement. Stop churning when the butter particles reach the size of rice grains or peas, and the buttermilk looks rather liquid.
• The butter particles will float on top of the butter milk. Separate the butter particles from butter milk by pouring through a coarse sieve.
• Wash the butter grains if necessary, by churning with clean cold water for about three minutes, so as to wash away milk from the butter.
• Salt the butter slightly (if desired) by kneading in about 10 grammes of salt for every kilogramme of butter. Keep aside.
• Mix the butter again, the next day, to allow the salt grains to dissolve.
• Using a well-rinsed kneading board, knead the butter with the back of two wooden spoons, until butter has a nice, smooth surface (and drops of water and buttermilk are not perceivable anymore)
• Store the butter in a cool dark place. Wrap it in greaseproof paper or aluminium foil.