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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => FRESH CHURNED - Butter & Ghee => Topic started by: Tracee on March 18, 2010, 01:06:07 AM

Title: Butter Making - Goes Off In One Week
Post by: Tracee on March 18, 2010, 01:06:07 AM
Hi all,  I have been making butter from fresh cows milk (cream) for a little while now and the butter only seems to last for aprox 7 days then it goes off. Can anyone tell me how to get this to last longer.
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: homeacremom on March 18, 2010, 01:12:49 AM
Could you briefly outline the process you are using? Sweet cream or cultured? Salted?

Most butter spoilage and souring can be pinned to insufficient washing. The water should run clear before you stop.
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: Tracee on March 18, 2010, 01:16:44 AM
I am using the the cream that I receive from the top of my fresh milk after I have pasteurised it. 4 cups of cream to 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: Tracee on March 18, 2010, 01:24:50 AM
Thankyou so much for your reply. My recipe only mentioned kneeding the butter but not the washing. I have followed that up on other sites to find out how you do it. Seems too easy. I will give it a go and it sounds like this will make a huge difference. Cheers!
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 18, 2010, 02:17:38 AM
When I wash I put the butter curds in a big ziplock , add water and just squish it around and it comes out wonderfully. Then just drain it and chill it in the bag.
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: FarmerJd on March 18, 2010, 04:26:59 AM
It spoils because of the unwashed buttermilk or milk in it. It sometimes takes a lot of washes to get it all out and other times it comes in one wash. It depends on the cream and temp and other variables. I always freeze mine and it keeps forever. This also requires washing though or it will be very brittle. Good luck.
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: MrsKK on March 18, 2010, 02:30:17 PM
I use a little salt and also cut open a Vitamin E capsule and add the oil to my butter, as Vit E is a preservative.  I also freeze my extra butter in 1-cup packages, as sometimes I can't use it as fast as I make it.
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: mtncheesemaker on March 19, 2010, 12:33:16 AM
I made my first cultured butter this week. Does cultured butter keep better than butter from sweet cream? Also, what kind of yield do you guys get? I got 8.5 oz from 1 qt cream. This is just hand-skimmed from fresh Jersey milk. My books say you should get 1 lb/qt, but I think they are using 35% heavy cream.
Thanks for any info,
Pam
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: FarmerJd on March 19, 2010, 12:34:24 PM
Your yield is about right for just hand-skimming. A lot depends on how much you wash because the milk left in the whey makes the butter have more volume and weight and dilutes the color as well. Cultured butter is all I make so I can't comment on how it compares to sweet butter but buttermilk was made with the idea of preservation so it should help the butter too. I can keep a gallon of buttermilk sitting out without fear of it getting dangerous a lot longer than milk so I would assume cultured butter would be the same. What culture did you use and did you like the buttermilk left?
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: mtncheesemaker on March 19, 2010, 02:21:16 PM
Thanks, JD;
I used an aroma meso culture, and I loved the buttermilk. I've tried to make buttermilk in the past and gave up as it was never right. After reading what you guys said about cultured butter, I gave it a try. I used a spoon of the buttermilk for my second culture.
Can you freeze the buttermilk to use in cooking? I'm also going to use it for a meso starter like everyone on here does.
Pam
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: FarmerJd on March 19, 2010, 02:38:07 PM
You can freeze it for using as a starter (i do this often) but for cooking it just gets better with age up to a point. My wife cooks everything with it from pancakes to biscuits to cornbread. Even when it is beyond drinkable you can cook with it and it just makes everything lighter. I love the buttermilk too. Very good for you as well.
Title: Re: Butter - Goes Off In 1 Week?
Post by: mtncheesemaker on April 02, 2010, 02:52:30 AM
A little update on my cultured butter making:
I cultured a quart of cream for 24 hours at room temp. Then put it back in the fridge for a couple(?) of days. Then today I decided I better make butter. Took it out of the fridge around lunchtime, left it on the counter until after dinner, then put it in the food processor. The butter made in about 3 minutes! I don't know which part of ageing hastened the process. Usually it takes around 15 min.
Just wondered if anyone else has had this happen.