So good, it’s like buttah…

Last week, I was at an outdoor education centre for three days with my grade 7 students.  Over a period of 72 hours, I played lacrosse,  got a bull’s eye in archery, and settled a 3-way fight after a vicious game of late-night truth or dare.  While all of those events were exhilarating, the absolute highlight of the trip for me had to be churning our own butter.  

Yes, that’s right.  In the year 2012, I am churning my own butter.  And loving it! 

Making your own butter is so easy to make and tastes fresher and richer than anything you’ll ever buy in a store.  And that’s only if you eat it plain…add it a few ingredients, such as honey, chives, or sea salt and your butter-eating experience will be taken to a whole new level.

This is a great activity to do with kids; it is (somewhat) hard work but the results seem almost magical.  My students loved making it as much as I did and declared it the best butter they ever ate.

Check it out:

1 cup cold whipping cream

1. Pour butter into a glass jar large enough so that it is only ½ to ¾ full.

2. Shake it like crazy…this is where having 1, 2 or in my case 21 extra pair of hands comes in handy. There are three stages of sound you will hear your butter go through 1. Sloshing around (still liquid) 2. No movement/sound at all (whipped cream) 3.  A little more movement and then a THUMP! This signified that the milk solids have separated from the liquid (whey…as in curds and whey), resulting in butter! This whole process takes about 10-15 minutes.  Don’t be afraid to peek at it once in a while.

3. Drain the whey; stirring it up a bit to get rid of any excess liquid trapped in the butter. At this point, the butter will be really soft and thus, perfect for adding in any extra flavours, such as fresh herbs, garlic, and salt, just to name a few. A couple of my favourites include:

Cinnamon-Honey Butter: 1 tbsp honey, ¼ tsp cinnamon, and a pinch of salt

Chili-lime butter for corn: the zest from one lime, ¼ tsp chili powder, ½ tsp sea salt.