I made BUTTER!!!

OK before I get starting I have to warn you this post comes with a RANT warning!!!

BUTTER...

I mentioned in the Rice & Gravy recipe post about my love of butter and that I would save the comments well I decided to not wait too long. One of my facebook friends posted about margarine and some interesting facts so I am jumping deeper into the situation.

If I had my way ALL margarine would be BANNED! Please people stop eating it!!!

Lets take a look at the ingredients:

American Margarine: Country Crock

Vegetable Oil Blend: (Liquid Soybean Oil, Partially Hydrogenated soybean oil, Hydrogenated cottonseed oil) Water, Whey, Milk, Salt, Vegetable mono and diglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Potassium Sorbate, Calcium Disodium Edta, Citric Acid, Artificial Flavor, Vitamin A (Palmitate), Beta Carotene (for color)

American Butter: Land O Lakes

Sweet Cream, Salt

So 15 ingredients versus 2!!!!! And two natural ones at that!!! Plus lots of vague mystery items like Artificial flavor which could mean anything. The most alarming ingredient is the Calcium Disodium Edta, which is made using FORMALDEHYDE! 

British Margarine: Flora

Water, Vegetable Oils (seed oils 83%), Buttermilk, Salt (1.4%), Emulsifiers (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids, Sunflower Lecithin), Flavouring, Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Citric Acid, Colour (Beta-Carotene), Vitamin A and D

British Butter: Kerry Gold

Milk, salt

So again about 11 ingredients versus 2.

Now I know all the cholesterol arguments and trust me I grew up in a house where Flora was the stable and I hated the taste of the stuff. On my journey over the last few years of looking at what I'm eating, labels have become somewhat interesting to me. I am a recovered Diet Coke addict, and yes I was addicted and yes I think rehab would have helped me kick me, it was that bad!!!! What really stopped me with the Diet Coke was when it came out in the news that Benzene, one of the ingredients, is a component of gasoline. So when I looked at the label and saw the chemistry experiment that is Diet Coke it didn't seem very appetizing anymore. We really don't drink soda anymore in our house and if we do I tend to make it Coke or 7 Up which both seem to have non chemical ingredients. So margarine is that same category for me, a chemistry experiment disguised as food! Let's face it margarine was not created by a culinary genius but by a French Chemist in 1813.

Back to the cholesterol issue, yes we have heart disease but I've heard many people state that the low-fat/non-fat diet has not done a thing to reduce heart disease and in fact since the whole thing began obesity and diabetes have increased astronomically. So really is fat that bad? Is cholesterol in our diet the killer? Have we really looked at the long term effects of a preservative that is made from FORMALDEHYDE? A molecule here and a process change there and some of these 'food' items are one step away from plastic! And if they are preserving the food what are they doing to our bodies? Never mind the fact that they have to add artificial flavorings to all this to make it consumable. 

So in my book a little butter is a much safer risk than a chemistry experiment. It's flavor is natural and before you say anything I use unsalted butter and rarely the salted variety. I was watching an episode of Paula Deen's show and she had the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, on and Ree made the comment that she doesn't count the butter she has in her refrigerator by sticks but by pounds. I had to giggle because I'm the same. Two of my favorite cooks and they are both like me butter fans!!!

So this whole thought process got me thinking about the whole making it myself instead of paying other people to thing and I decided to give it a go. After watching numerous videos on the internet (and there are numerous videos on the subject) I got busy. Thankfully modern technology has made it easier for us than my grandmother and I didn't have to get a butter churner out, although I want to give that a go!!!! My Kitchen Aid mixer is by far one of the best gifts my husband has given me (after our two gorgeous precious sons of course, and my sewing machine)! The whole process was done in less than 10 minutes!!!

Now a quick note of the by-product, buttermilk! I have heard of people drinking a glass of buttermilk as a treat before bed, but the buttermilk I've got at the store never seemed appealing in that way! Well I tried the buttermilk from my experiment and it was delicious!!!! OK now I understand!!!!

So go on, if you have some heavy whipping cream and a mixer give it ago. Trust me you will not be disappointed. I can't wait until the next time I'm in Northern Ireland because the milk over there is a million times more superior to here and I can only imagine how much more delicious that butter will be!!!!!

Oh one last note, care of my husband. The TV show Modern Marvels is a favorite in this house and it just so happened that yesterday butter was the subject. They said that they store butter in containers that you can't see through because light can cause the butter to go rancid quicker. So just a tip for storage, keep an old butter container and use that.

Homemade Butter

Ingredients: 

2 cups of heavy cream (at room temperature)

Ice water

Pinch of salt

Directions:

1. With the whisk attachment on the mixer add the cream to the mixer and set to high (or whatever level is going fast but not sending cream flying everywhere!!).

2. Sit back and wait, all of a sudden the butter and the milk will separate, if you do walk away you will hear a sloshing noise all of a sudden.

3. When they separate switch the whisk attachment for the paddle, it will make life easier. Turn the mixer back on for a few minutes more.

4. Carefully drain the buttermilk into a jar and set aside.

5. Add a little ice water (but make sure not to get ice in it!!) to the butter and start the mixer again. You are sort of washing the butter to get the last of the buttermilk out. Pour out the milky water and discard.  Repeat this process until the water stays clear.

6. Add a pinch of salt and mix one last time and store in the refrigerator!

Happy Home Cooking!!!!