Butter Anyone?

In sticking with the spirit of using what we have and throwing out less and making things stretch I decided to try cultured butter from whey.  I had NO idea that cheese wasn't the butter fat.  I knew it was butter, but I thought that cheese took that too.  I was so wrong.  Apparently, once you make cheese (non acid cheese) you can separate the cream and butter fat out of the whey and use that to make cultured butter.  I used a recipe I found online to make it.

I took my cream separator and separated the whey after I my attempt at cottage cheese the other day.  I had read that you can make cultured butter out of this whey.  I got a really good amount of cream out of the whey and put it in the fridge to cool off.  I let it get down to about 56F and then put it in my blender like the recipe said you could.  It started to separate, but would not clump.  I tested it and the temp and shot all the way up to 90F.  So, I put the mixture in the metal bowl of my mixer and throw it in the freezer.

Now, this whole time I am in my kitchen doing this, I am very skeptical   I am thinking, who in their right mind would every make butter from whey?  I was sure it would taste really nasty.  Thinking it wasn't going to work no matter how cool I got the cream again.  It looked weird and I thought the whole idea of making butter from whey was weird.  I think that I should mention, I live in Canada, but I am American and was raised the in USA.  You say butter there and they dont ask if you want sweet cream or cultured, they ask if you want salted or unsalted.  I must have lived a very sheltered life as I had heard of cultured butter but had no idea what it was or even tasted like.  Everyone knows that you take your cream off the top of your milk to make sweet cream butter, BEFORE you make your cheese, not after!  So this process seemed very odd to me, making butter from whey.  Oh boy do I have a lot to learn!

So it gets back down to temp and I use the paddle of my mixer and guess what?  I watch it and it is starting to clump!  After the cottage cheese fiasco I was stunned that this was working!  So, I keep watching and there it is, a beautiful ivory  colored lump of butter.  Did you know that your cream and butter will be ivory instead of yellow if the cow is fed more grain and less pasture?  Pastured cows will produce a golden yellow cream and butter.  Since it is winter here and our pasture is under three feet of snow, our cows are fed grass hay and get grain making it ivory.  So, I rinse it three times until the water is clear and then I press out any water.  I put it in the fridge (more afraid to taste it this time then with the cottage cheese) and let it harden a bit.  I didn't add salt to it as I usually don't like salted butter, but that is sweet cream butter.  The next day I taste it.  WOW!  Amazing flavor.  I am shocked it tasted good.  I had heard so much bad about cultured butter, but this was great.  But next time I will add a little salt!  I kept hearing about it having a sour flavor with what I read.  I really detest the taste of plain cultured buttermilk.  Yet I like buttermilk pancakes.  Odd I know!  Anyway, I assumed that it would taste similar to buttermilk and it's sour flavor.  Nope.  Now, I have also read that the butter flavor will be slightly different depending on the cheese you use and what the cow is fed.  I found this cultured butter very easy to do and a great flavor.  It is one that I will have to keep around my house.  But, that means I will have to keep trying to make cheese too!  In time.

*Update*
I was asked recently what the flavor of the butter is like.  Well, the best way I can describe it is to take 1/2 cup of your regular butter, add in about 1 tsp sour cream, and whip it together.  The texture is very light.  Not heavy.  More like a whipped butter from the store.  Also, you know that oily residue left in your mouth after you eat store butter?  Yeah, that isnt there.  It melts so easily in the mouth too.