Making butter from fresh cream

After milking Rosie, the Jersey cow, we strain the milk and put it on the cook stove to pasteurize.  Some folks prefer to drink raw milk, but we have always pasteurized ours.  We heat the milk up to 140*, stirring slowly.  Then we hold it there for 30 minutes.

We cool the milk quickly in a pan of ice water and then put in the fridge overnight to let the cream rise to the top.  We skim the cream off for butter and what's left is wonderful milk for drinking.

Let the fresh cream warm up to 60* before making your butter.  If it's cold from the fridge, it will take much longer to set.  I use the mixing bowl for ours.  You can use a blender also, but it's smaller batches and harder to clean.  I blend it on low for 10 minutes at a time, to let the blender rest.  20 to 30 minutes or so your cream will turn to whipped cream.  There is the soft peak stage and then the hard peak stage.

At this hard peak stage, you can take some out for whipped cream.  It's fresh and wonderful.

Keep blending and watch. Now the cream is turning to butter.  The butter separates from the butter milk very quickly.  The batch sounds watery and the blender speeds up.  Stop blending now as your butter is ready to work.

I use a large glass pan raised on one end to press the butter and let the skim milk flow to the other side. I scoop up the skim milk and pour it through the strainer to get out the little bits of butter.  I don't let my cream sour, so the milk that is left is skim milk.  It's good to drink or use for anything.