Raw Milk, Part One: Newbie fresh homemade butter

Okay, this is a fun thing for you newbies. I am sad to say that of a month or so ago, I had never heard, seen, or even known of anybody who had made their own butter or cheese. I have since become one of the biggest raw milk supporters ever! (I come to the club late, but quickly aspire to be the vice-president!:) ) So here is a quick run through of how I make fresh butter. We use it salted and unsalted, and since I've seen culinary websites expounding it's taste,  I ONLY USE FRESH BUTTER! That's how so many 'frugal' things are, they start out as a way to save money, and then we fall backwards into the luxurious elite that only the rare few may enjoy!

Homemade Butter
1. Sit it out.
This is so easy! I start with cream from Raw Milk, from a Jersey Cow. Jersey is a special breed that gives the most 'cream' that I know of, almost 25%, just by looking at it. We are going to start by doing something that is totally against the nature of my clorox disinfecting loving self- We are going to let the cream sit out for about four hours!

 (<><:&%&^&^% HORRIFIED SCREAM(*&%^r)
Dont worry, it is only getting to room  temperature. SEE?

2. Spin it!.
I make mine in a kitchenaid, you can use a hand mixer. I would choose a bowl with very high sides however, as you will see later why. I only put about a pint in here. This is one of my 'homeschool recipes'. I can jump back and forth without paying much attention to them, but you do have to be here!
Then I put my mixer on about a 4-6. It will make either way, and this isn't scientific, but the longer you let your cream sit out and the lower speed you have, you will have a softer, whiter, more 'cultured' butter. The colder, quicker you mix it can take longer and you will have a more yellow butter, and less  of it. Make sure to wipe down the sides of your bowl every 5-10 minutes, really during the whipped cream phase You will mix for 15-30 minutes, depending on how much fat is in your butter, the temperature, the speed, and just what the milk feels like doing today!

 You will have 4 basic stages you will see: Whipped Cream, Sour Cream, Grainy sour cream, then the butter.

                                                                   WHIPPED CREAM

                                                                      SOUR CREAM

                                                                GRAINY SOUR CREAM

                                                                           BUTTER !

Here is why you need a bowl with high sides. At this point you have spun the butter solids from the buttermilk liquid, and the buttermilk will slosh like crazy.

3. Drain it!   Save that stuff, even if you freeze it. It makes wild bread and pancakes, and the powdered stuff is nasty and expensive!

                                                         Squeeze some more buttermilk out.

                                                               See the buttermilk?
4. Wash it!

This sounds crazy but wash that butter under COLD water. Hot water will make a melty butter spa hand treatment that will take a bottle of dawn to clean up. You are washing away any last bit of buttermilk that will cause the butter to go rancid. I used to pick up the whole wad of butter and run under a faucet, but since i've become more lazy and irritable, I just wash it in the kitchenaid bowl, press it with a spatula, and wash again until the water is clear.   The butter will stay 3-5 days, I think some say it can keep longer. If I have it for more days than that, I just pop it in the freezer for cooking.

5. Eat it!
Homemade bread, fresh butter, homemade strawberry preserves. Yum!