Friday, May 7, 2010

Milk, Cream, Butter

LaFonda, our patient little  cow, is providing us with about a gallon and a half of milk, morning and night.  We are still pretty slow at hand milking,  and this is plenty of  milk for our needs, so we are  relieved she is not producing much more.

After each milking session, we strain it through a fine sieve and cool it in a large open bowl set inside a large bowl of ice water. As it cools, any cow-y aroma evaporates into the air.  Then we pour it into  clean 2-quart containers. The cream separates to the top and can easily be skimmed off.
Cadence made butter yesterday by simply pouring the cream into jar and shaking it. It takes a while, so she multi-tasked, shaking while reading the paper.  A great arm workout!
Soon, a large lump of butter formed,  floating in the buttermilk.

The buttermilk is poured off  and the butter is creamed in a bowl to press out any remaining buttermilk. Cadence added a pinch of salt.   We spread it on toast made from Rog's sourdough bread--YUM!

8 comments:

Becky said...

That must feel great to know that you're topping bread that you've made with butter that you've made from the cow that you milked!!

Hollis Engley said...

It's things like this that make me want a cow. No ... wait ... I don't think we will. Where would we put her? But it's great to see the butter you've made.

Anonymous said...

I'm so impressed. I would so love to be able to do the same thing. It's so...elemental. :-) Looks dee-lish!

Ribbit said...

How exciting! THank you for sharing.

Erin said...

I linked to your blog through Jo @ 14 Acres and am so glad I did! I am in Virginia right now since hubby is in the military, but I am from Red Wing and we hope to move back to MN when hubby is done with the military in a few years. Your farm and photos are fantastic and make me homesick! Can't wait until Spring chores slow down a bit so I can go backwards and check our your journey at Squash Blossom Farm, nice blog & a great name for your farm! Much prosperity to your family this season...

Erin said...

and hey, small world... "hi Ribbit!"

katiegirl said...

Isn't it great being able to make your own butter from your own cow? Sounds like you all are getting the hang of milking! And having that cream must be great. Goat milk doesn't separate as well, so I don't get much cream at all.

And the blender works great for making butter if your arms ever get too tired! ;-)

Cheri said...

I have a working old butter churn if you'd like it -- you can have it.