How to make butter

Homemade Butter

How to make Butter – Homemade Butter in a Jar

How to make butter

It’s Matt. I made Butter in a Jar back when I was a kid at a youth activity. Making butter at home was very easy and just took some time. So the other day at the store I grabbed some Heavy Whipping Cream and planned a night with the kids to make show them how to make homemade butter. If you want to make fresh cream anytime rather than having to make do with that which comes in cans, you can buy cream whipper chargers. It is really easy and will provide some tasty and easily homemade butter!

How to make butter

home made butter in jar

Ingredients:

  • Heavy Whipping Cream – any amount 6 cups makes about 1 pound of butter
  • Salt – 1/2 teaspoon per pound of butter- optional, used for preserving butter
  • Jar – with lid, any size, baby food jars are great for kids to make it with

home made butter heavy whipping creamDirections:

Pour Heavy Whipping Cream into jars no more then 3/4 the way full. It is best to leave room for the shaking and turning action. Next begin shaking! And Shake and Shake. Some music to shake too makes it fun for the kids and helps pass time. Something with a fun and quick beat. The best way I figured to shake the jar was to hold it length wise in my hands with the lid in my palms and the base of the jar wedge in my forearms.

It takes about 5 minutes before you notice a thickening forming in the jar. This heaviness is the beginning of the fat changing and sticking together. At this point you really just have a thick whip cream in the jar. Keep shaking. At this point the jar edges will look like:
home made butter foam

As another 5-10 minutes pass you will notice the jar filling with the foamy cream.  It feels as if there is no room in the jar as the thick Heavy Cream is aerated even more with the shaking, but keep shaking. It will look like this:

home made butter cream

Keep shaking and don’t stop you are almost done when it gets thick. I have heard some add a large marble to the thick foam. But I don’t think it really matters. Just the pressure of the shaking will continue the fat to congeal together. Don’t worry if you don’t think the foam is “churning” or rotating in the jar, gravity and pressure is still working to form the butter.
Before you know it you will see the foam separate and a thin liquid forms in the jar. That thin liquid is buttermilk! The butter is in the last few moments of shaking. Keep shaking until the butter or mass inside is a consistent size.
home made butter buttermilk
At this point you can separate the buttermilk out and save it for biscuits or pancakes and other fun recipes. Then you can add the 1/2 teaspoon salt which is optional. Some say the taste is different, but the main reason is to preserve the butter. Now with the remaining butter you can place it in a small container for refrigeration and easy of using it. So congrats you just made you own butter!  Enjoy your work!
home made butter bowl
As the butter sets you may see drips of buttermilk on the butter. Just let it drip off and drain.
home made butter

DIY – Homemade butter in a jar

  • Ingredients:
  • Heavy Whipping Cream – any amount 6 cups makes about 1 pound of butter
  • Salt – 1/2 teaspoon per pound of butter- optional (used for preserving butter)
  • Jar – with lid (any size, baby food jars are great for kids to make it with)
  • home made butter heavy whipping cream
  1. Pour Heavy Whipping Cream into jars no more then 3/4 the way full. It is best to leave room for the shaking and turning action. Next begin shaking! And Shake and Shake. Some music to shake too makes it fun for the kids and helps pass time. Something with a fun and quick beat. The best way I figured to shake the jar was to hold it length wise in my hands with the lid in my palms and the base of the jar wedge in my forearms.
  2. It takes about 5 minutes before you notice a thickening forming in the jar. This heaviness is the beginning of the fat changing and sticking together. At this point you really just have a thick whip cream in the jar. Keep shaking. At this point the jar edges will look like:
  3. home made butter foam
  4. As another 5-10 minutes pass you will notice the jar filling with the foamy cream. It feels as if there is no room in the jar as the thick Heavy Cream is aerated even more with the shaking, but keep shaking.
  5. Keep shaking and don’t stop you are almost done when it gets thick. I have heard some add a large marble to the thick foam. But I don’t think it really matters. Just the pressure of the shaking will continue the fat to congeal together. Don’t worry if you don’t think the foam is “churning” or rotating in the jar, gravity and pressure is still working to form the butter.
  6. Before you know it you will see the foam separate and a thin liquid forms in the jar. That thin liquid is buttermilk! The butter is in the last few moments of shaking. Keep shaking until the butter or mass inside is a consistent size.
  7. home made butter buttermilk
  8. At this point you can separate the buttermilk out and save it for biscuits or pancakes and other fun recipes. Then you can add the 1/2 teaspoon salt which is optional. Some say the taste is different, but the main reason is to preserve the butter. Now with the remaining butter you can place it in a small container for refrigeration and easy of using it. So congrats you just made you own butter! Enjoy your work!
  9. home made butter bowl
  10. As the butter sets you may see drips of buttermilk on the butter. Just let it drip off and drain.
Condiments

If you enjoyed making your own butter, then you will enjoy making your own cheese!

DIY Make your own Cheese

IDEAS ON USING & PRESERVING APPLES

11 thoughts on “Homemade Butter”

  1. Cathy Hastreiter Peltonen

    We did this with the fairy princess right before county fair in Wisconsin! So much fun! Emmy Hastreiter

  2. Sasha Morris

    Kathryn Picton just like you say when making the cream for ice box cake- “if we keep stirring, it will make butter!”

  3. Jessica Millwood

    I’m wondering if this would be cheaper as well. I’ve made butter in baby food jars before and it’s delicious!

  4. Diane Hewitt Olson

    We used to do this in my FACS class and then made pancakes with the buttermilk. Many did not know that butter was made from cream.

  5. Kristiana Clark

    I don’t by whipping cream very often. How much does it cost for 6 cups? Or really what I’m asking, is this cheaper than buying butter? (I realize there are other reasons for making it.) But the cost of butter has gone sky high recently. Just wondering if this could be a fun (and cheaper) alternative.

  6. It worked! I was very skeptical at first. I was out of butter and remembered seeing this recipe and decided to give it a try. When at first all I had was thick whipping cream I started to give up and use it on top of my cappuccino, but I kept shaking and walla it turned into butter! We loved it on biscuits with my homemade canned grape jelly this morning. I made butter!!

  7. From what I saw it takes 6 cups to make a pound of butter? And at 2-3$ for a pint of cream, I am not seeing where it is cheap. Am I confused?

Comments are closed.