We've been getting our raw milk from a local dairy of pasteured cows for a while now and I've been itching to try something with it other than drinking. This morning Morgan and I were looking for something to do and decided to try it.
We had gotten milk yesterday, so it had settled and separated. The bottles I use are the old fashioned, half gallon type with a narrow opening. I didn't have a great way to get the cream off the top. With a little finagling, I was able to get about 1 cup of cream off the top. We put it in a pint canning jar and started shaking. Morgan got bored pretty quickly, so I sat and shook it for my arm workout for the day.
After about 20 minutes I could see it really getting thick and coating the jar quite well. All of a sudden you could see it forming the butter. The curds had formed and the sides of the glass cleared. There was no mistaking the fact that we had created something here.
I dumped it into a sieve and ran water through it to get the excess buttermilk off. All the while I was kneading it and forming it. We certainly don't have much, but there is potential. I've been wanting to make cheese and now have an excuse to get more milk each week. I can take the cream off the top for butter and use the rest for cheese and drinking. I'm so excited! Another goal reached for my yearly list.
