Cultured Butter
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2cups crème fraîche (or more)
- Ice water
- Salt
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
148 calories; 14 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 175 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Let the crème fraîche come to cool room temperature. Spoon it into the food processor, but don’t let the bowl get more than half full. Process with the steel blade for 3 to 5 minutes: it will go through stages from whipped to broken and finally into one large clump.
- Step 2
Drain off the buttermilk (you can keep it for cooking or for making more crème fraîche). Add about ½ cup ice water and process for 30 seconds, then drain off and discard the liquid. Repeat two or three times until the liquid is clear. Add ⅛ teaspoon salt for each 2 cups crème fraîche you used, and process to blend. Scoop out the butter, and drain on paper towels in the refrigerator until firm. Wrap tightly in plastic and keep refrigerated.
Private Notes
Comments
Creme fraiche is easy to make at home from cream and buttermilk. See, for example, http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/02/how-to-make-creme-fraiche-in-...
Cultured butter is what I grew up with. It's delicious - I think it's a step above the sweet cream version. The slightly nutty flavours from the crème fraîche make it surprisingly good for baking, too: shortbread made with cultured butter is a bit of a revelation.
For those making their own crème fraîche, the recipes all seem to say "8 - 12 hours". Maybe with unpasturized ingredients. I can get there with what I can buy in the store, but it takes closer to 36 hours for everything to combine. I nearly threw out the first batch (after more than 12 hours) because it wasn't clear that any progress was actually being made.
OK, so I attempted to make some creme fraiche from 2 cups of organic cream plus 2 Tbsp of plain whole milk kefir. After 24 hours the top set, not the rest. Added 1 Tbsp of 5% Greek yogurt to try to get the cream to thicken. Still no go. Decided to make butter using this recipe. Washed the butter 4 times with ice water, draining off the buttermilk each time. Added sea salt and placed it in a cheesecloth-lined strainer over a bowl in the fridge. In 1 hour I had amazing cultured butter!
I processed it for far longer than five minutes, and it never really did become one large clump. Tastes great, though.
A fun project for a once in awhile event, but almost twice the cost of very good butter and will go rancid much faster due to residual butter milk.
The addition of salt prevents rancidity. And keep extra butter in the freezer for long-term storage. Butter keeps in my cool kitchen at room temp for one week. In the summer, I refrigerate it. A 4-oz block of butter is used up in under one week -- not enough time to go rancid.
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