Okay, not too long ago I said I had no interest in trying cultured butter since my family enjoys the sweet cream butter so much...that said, sometimes I have to try anything once and just this week cultured buttermaking was on my agenda.
I used about 1/2 cup of skimmed milk that I had cultured with buttermilk (see
Quick Clabber thread) to 3 quarts of fairly heavy cream (the top cream and only a little of the lighter cream from each gallon of milk when I skimmed). The cream was cold out of the refrigerator when I added the whisked culture, I covered the jar with a clean cloth and set it on top of the refrigerator for a bit of extra warmth. I allowed it to set for about 24 hours before making the butter. Our house ranges from about 58-65 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the day and night hours.
I use my food processor for churning the cream. Normally, in early lactation, it takes about 3 minutes for the cream to turn. This cultured stuff turned in about 30 seconds and was done in just over a minute. I was simply amazed. The results were wonderful - two pounds of butter from 3 quarts of cream. Nearly a third more than what I usually get.
When the butter was washed, it no longer tasted tangy like the cultured cream did. This butter is mostly sweet, but has more complex flavor than sweet cream butter. Nothing I can quite describe though.
Much quicker make and high yield, good flavor. This is definitely the method I will use for buttermaking from now onl.