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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.