You probably know that I have a love for mason jars and all that they stand for. They stand for a time when bottles were made out of glass, when folks made their own preserves, when people would use them to display their gallstones. You know. A good time. A better time.
So whenever I have the chance I use the beauty of the mason jar to brighten up my day. If that involves throwing one at the fella's head for not making the bed ... so be it. That's the beauty of the mason jar. It's so very multipurpose.
Today I'm going to show you one of my all time favourite uses for the time honoured jar.
Watch this video to find out all about it ...
1. Get your whipping cream to room temperature by leaving it on the counter for a couple of hours. This helps move the process along so you won't have to shake it for as long a time period.
2. Pour enough whipping cream into a mason jar to fill it about halfway.
3. Shake the jar vigorously until the cream turns into whey and a lump of butter. (7 - 15 minutes)
4. Drain the whey from the jar.
5. Once you've created your butter, plunk it into a bowl and mash away at it with a spoon to remove any remaining whey and drain it off.
6. Continue to mash the butter and rinse it with cool water until all the whey is gone. It's fully rinsed when the water runs clear.
7. Add a pinch of salt and stir it in with a spoon. Not too much. Just a pinch, and then taste it.
8. Ta da! Creamy, fresh butter.
Way nicer to eat than a chewy set of gallstones.
Jenna Avery
I've been wanting to try making cultured butter by first making crème fraiche (in a mason jar of course) and then churning or whipping (or shaking!) that into butter. Thanks for the reminder and inspiration. Looks yummy!
CBuffy
We put the cream into babyfood jars for the kids to shake. The smaller jar is easier for them to hold, and then they each get their "own" butter! (And there's plenty left to share with others...)
Loved the video!
Matthew
Hi Karen,
I never knew that butter could be made this easily (excluding the hard work.) Questions:
1) How long will the butter last in the fridge?
2) Why did the old timers churn butter on the porch all day if they could have made it in 15 minutes (or did they not have whipping cream)? Thanks.
Karen
Matthew - The butter will last as long as regular butter in the fridge, *providing* you get all the whey out of it. The whey is what makes it go bad. I assume in the olden days they churned it in a butter churner 'cause they were trying to make more than a half a cup of butter. ~ karen
Cynthia
Ah....childhood memories. We had the good fortune to get our milk from the neighborhood farmer and could simply skim the cream from the milk jug. YUM!
BTLover2
Reminds me of grade school. I want to say we made this for our little Thanksgiving feast. We also made homemade candles. Everyday we dipped our wick (that sounds a whole lotta wrong) in the wax and hung them up. Seemed like it took weeks to get one skimpy candle. I think you NEED to make them for your dinner as well.
Karen S.
Can you add the salt to the whipping cream BEFORE you shake it up? Seems to me that would be a better way for it to incorporate.
Karen
Karen S. - I have done that before, but the preferred method is to add it afterwards. The reasoning could be something along the lines of not adding sugar when you're making whipping cream until the cream has started to get soft peaks, otherwise it may not thicken. Dunno. Anyhow ... I added a tiny pinch of salt and gave it a stir and it was perfect. Well incorporated and definitely couldn't feel any granules or anything. Also, by adding it afterwards you can better adjust/judge the taste, because you're tasting the final product not to a bottle of cream. Phew! That was long winded wasn't it? ~ karen
LARPkitten
Not to mention, if you salt it before you shake it up, you'll wind up with salted buttermilk afterwards, which won't work so well for cooking.
Lisa J
While on a roadtrip when I was 5, my parents convinced me that if I shook one of those little plastic containers of creamer, it would turn into butter. I shook that damn thing from Illinois to Florida. ILLINOIS TO FLORIDA. Nothin'.
I have since made butter successfully but that memory still sticks in my craw.
Kelly
That might just be one of the funniest things I have read in a long time! I love it!
Babie Knoop
you are SO my kind of gal! LOVE this! and YOU!
Blue
:O
Must resist the urge to live on entirely "hand-made" butter.
Surely, SURELY I can get away with eating more butter if I pretend all that shaking is burning a few calories? That I will immediately replace with butter fat?
* Some credit should go to the cow. Or the heavy whipping cream packaging people. ... I guess.
Kristen@PrettySweet
I have been wanting to try this again lately! Thanks for the reminder. The video was great - especially that part where the board fell on you. Hilarious! I mean...I'm glad you're O.K.
The last time I "helped" with this as a kid (in first grade), it got to be my turn and somehow the lid had loosened (you can see where this is going) and got ALL over me. I mean, it was so bad my mom had to come get me and take me home to wash my (very long) hair. And that's where my love of butter began.
Nicole
Or you could bring your jar to the paint store and ask them to shake it baby while you leisurely look at wallpaper books. You think they'd mind?
Brigid
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, butter.
Barbara
I love your blog......I always get a little laugh in the morning from reading it/watching it LOL!
Great idea to keep the kids busy with making butter!
Linda
For years and years when I was little my mom would do this at big family gatherings except she would put a couple glass marbles in the jar and let me and my cousins roll it back and forth on the floor. Mom would do the same think with home-made icecream and it'd keep us kids busy for hours!
pve
Great idea for guests that love to shake things up.
pve
bex
hmm, looks good! now I cant wait for a recipe on fresh mayonnaise..
Wanda
Begs the question....why do I want to make my own butter?!
Karen
Wanda - Because the name of this website is "The Art of Doing Stuff". Not the art of sitting around. ~ karen
Susie
Hahaha that made me laugh!!!
Rachele
You would not be asking that if you had ever tasted really fresh butter.
my honest answer
Oh wow. I love butter. Would never touch any kind of substitute, it makes me feel ill just to even consider what margarine is made of. Only butter is all natural, so it's the only spread I'll eat.
But could you please have allowed my fantasy to continue that it was made mainly of milk? Now I have seen for myself it's pure cream and I can't un-know that!
That said, I often have half a tub of cream left over from recipes, this is a great way to use it up.
One day, if you ever get around to it, I'd love to know how to make clotted cream. The stuff us Brits use on scones. I'm not sure if you'll know what I mean. But it's delish! Thanks Karen, useful as always. (Love the scarf as well)
annemarie
I have read that you can make it by letting whipping cream seep through a coffee filter - the uber-cream that is left is double cream/cheater's clotted cream. Haven't tried it though.
Ashlyn
Can I wrap you up in a package and send you to my house? Your special kind of humor would be awesome to be around in person!! :) And I'm definitely gonna put my little guys to work on some mason jar shaking!
Marti
If you turn the picture of the fresh-made butter on its side and look at it through half-closed eyes, it looks like Steve Jobs. ;)
Jenny
And here I was thinking that the thumbnail on the main page looked like a cute little bunny made of butter. ^_^
Karen
Jenny - Well. Now I'm gonna have to go look at it again! ~ k
Nicole Rossetti le Strange
No, no, no....it's clearly an alien facehugger!