Homemade Butter

Since we buy raw milk and the farm we buy it from doesn't offer other products made from the raw milk (other than hard cheeses), we make our own butter when needed, from the raw milk. Here is the recipe I use, adapted from the directions provided by the farm where I buy our milk:

Allow milk to sit undisturbed for at least 12 hrs so that cream rises to the top. Skim cream off with a spoon (or I often just pour it off and make sure to only get cream, this leaves some cream in the milk, but that's ok too). Let cream sit out (in a covered container) until it is room temperature. Put room temp cream in food processor (or a blender would work too) and "whiz" it until the butter forms. Pour the butter & buttermilk through a cheesecloth lined sieve (catching the buttermilk to use in recipes). Drop the clump of butter into a bowl of ice water and squish it out 3-4 times to remove excess buttermilk.

Place butter in a clean, dry bowl & use a spatula or clean hands to work the water out of the butter, tipping the bowl to the side to drain the water out. Once the water is worked out, add a little salt, work it in & you're done. We don't use alot of butter here (really only on bread, for cooking we generally use coconut oil for solid fats (butter, shortening), and olive oil for liquid fats) so I generally make this in small batches that I can put the butter in a small jelly jar and store in the fridge. If you make it in larger quantities, you can form it into "logs" and freeze until needed.