How To Make Easy Homemade Butter From Raw Milk

One of the most exciting things about bringing home my very own cow, besides milking her for the first time, was making my very own homemade butter! I honestly had no idea what it took to do this other than the time, as a science experiment, I had my children emulate a butter churn by shaking store bought cream in a mason jar. After about an hour of shaking and some now very exhausted little boys, we felt a thump at the bottom of the jar, and voila, white flavorless butter, similar to that of store-bought butter. This was revolutionary for us! It may sound very trivial for some but for our family this was the start of a very exciting journey. That day I realized how disconnected we were from our food. With easy access to get anything we need at any time we need from the grocery store, we’ve completely taken our food system for granted. I believe that most folks have no idea how to make butter, after all it’s no longer common knowledge. Not long after, I heard fellow homesteaders going on about the beneficial bacteria among other health benefits that is found in unpasteurized milk. They kept gushing over how delicious their beautiful golden raw butter from grass-fed cows tastes! I was intrigued and sold! I became convinced that I needed to buy my very own dairy cow!

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Why Raw Butter Is Hard To Find

 I was lucky enough to find a small local farmer that sold raw milk along with raw milk butter. The type of cows they had were jerseys. The jersey milk cow is the beautiful brown cow that looks like a deer. I’m a bit biased. They have the highest fat content in their milk compared to other cows and the highest protein amount. According to North Dakota State University, the jersey’s fat content in whole milk is 4.9%, compared to the most common cow, a holstein (the black and white cows), which has only 3.7% fat. Not to mention that jerseys produce more milk per pound of body weight compared to other breeds. This is why that farm was able to sell butter too, keeping their milk still with a good amount of fat in it. Seriously, a glass of jersey’s full fat milk is like drinking half and half, it could stand to lose a bit of its fat for butter making. I’ve found that with big dairies, they don’t make butter, leaving the cream in the milk. Most of them have holsteins, which produce the least amount of cream in the milk, therefore they really can’t afford to remove it. 

How To Source Raw Milk

I would recommend finding a farm through realmilk.com. If you are nervous about a farmer’s practice, you can always ask to see their setup. They are usually very happy and willing to show you around their farm. It is, after all, their pride and joy! I can relate! It really is about building a relationship with the farmer. 

How To Get Raw Heavy Cream

If your only way to get raw milk is through a large dairy that does not sell raw cream, then don’t despair! The solution would be to buy a gallon of their raw milk, then put the gallon of milk into a gallon glass jar and let it sit in the fridge for about a day or two. As the milk sits you will see a cream-line start to form. This is due to the milk being non-homogenized. By pouring it into a large jar, it will help you skim the cream off easily. Once you see the cream-line form, you would then carefully scoop out your fresh cream with a ladle, turkey baster, or in my case a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Your milk will at that point be skimmed milk. If you like fat free milk then more power to you, but mine is for the birds!

My Tips For Making Fresh Butter

• I’ve found the best way to churn my butter is with a stand mixer with a whisk. Many people like to use a blender or a food processor. I find those methods a bit more tedious as I have to stop more often to scrape down the sides, and they make for longer clean up! I have tried a vitamix with no luck. I took it to a whipped cream consistency and then it broke down and never quite separated. I think it’s too “high speed” for making butter. And who wants to risk this when raw milk is not cheap to buy!

• If your mixer comes with a mixer shield, then I highly recommend you use it! If not, covering it with a towel will do. Once the cream hits the “whipped” stage, it’s right after that that the butter will separate from the buttermilk, leaving your mixer sloshing buttermilk all over your counter and cabinets! Eventually you will start hearing the change happening and hightail it to the kitchen as I do before you have much to clean up!

• Make sure you have enough cream for the whisk to do it’s job, a couple cups should do. 

• Bringing your cold cream to room temperature can help whip it faster.

• If you are going to store your butter you will need to squeeze out, and rinse off the buttermilk. Use cold water to rinse the remaining buttermilk out of your butter.

• Pressing your butter with a wooden spoon after rinsing will help get the rest of the moisture out to make it last longer. Some people skip this step if they are going to be eating it right away. I do like to do this because I am making my own butter on a regular basis and need it to hold up in the freezer for a long period of time.

What You Will Need:

Heavy whipping cream from 1 gallon of raw milk (or 2 gallons)

Stand Mixer with whisk

Mixer shield or towel

Rubber Spatula

Wood Spoon

Clean bowl

Salt to taste unless unsalted butter is desired

How To Make Easy Homemade Butter From Raw Milk

Skim the cream off of the top of your raw milk with a ladle, cup, or a turkey baster. 

Allow it to come to room temperature.

Pour your cream into your stand mixer bowl and place a shield or towel on it. Turn on low speed then work up to the highest speed.  

Once the whipped cream stage has been achieved, it will start to break a bit. When this happens, use your rubber spatula to scrape down the sides. 

Then turn the mixer back up to high speed. After several minutes you’ll be able to hear and see the butter separate completely!

Remove your butter from the whisk and place the buttermilk in a storage container and store it in the fridge for homemade biscuits!

Place butter in the emptied mixer bowl with clean cold water. 

Work the butter with your fingers, almost like kneading dough, to get the remaining buttermilk out. Refresh your water with more fresh cold water as needed until the water is clear.

(Optional) Place butter in a clean bowl. Use a wood spoon to press out the remainder of the butter milk.

Add salt to taste or keep this as unsalted butter. 

You can shape the butter by hand on freezer paper, or place it into a bowl, or give it some charm by using a butter mold (found here) to shape it!

Raw butter can be stored in the freezer for several months, just make sure to use freezer paper, and a freezer ziplock baggie.

Find out Why We Love Raw Milk And Why It’s Good For Us!

For information on the benefits of raw milk check out this post 13 Health Benefits of Raw Dairy Milk Consumption.