🔄 Churning
Cream is churned, the fat gathers into butter and buttermilk is left.
Churning is a way to make butter from cream. In cream, fat floats as tiny globules, each covered by a thin coat of proteins and phospholipids. When cream is mixed hard for a long time, these coats are damaged. The fat starts to stick together, and small butter grains form. A liquid is left over: buttermilk.
The buttermilk is drained off, and the grains are sometimes rinsed with water. Then the butter is kneaded and pressed so the grains join into one mass and the leftover water breaks up into tiny droplets. Under the Codex Alimentarius standard, factory butter has at least 80% fat and no more than 16% water. Homemade butter can be less fatty, about 65%.
Before churning, cream is often held for 12–15 hours at a chosen temperature. Butter from soured (cultured) cream has a stronger aroma: bacteria make a substance called diacetyl that smells “buttery”. This kind of butter is popular in continental Europe. Sweet cream butter from fresh cream spread in the 19th century, together with refrigerators and cream separators. Today, large plants use continuous churning machines more and more instead of huge churns.
How it connects to milk
🔄 Churning → gives → 🧈 Butter ← milk for ← 🐃 Yak → gives → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Equipment
- ⚙️ Butter churn
- What it yields
- 🧈 Butter, 🧀 Buttermilk, 🧀 Ayib
Frequently asked questions
What is buttermilk?
It is the liquid left after churning butter from cream. It has little fat but contains proteins and substances from the coats of fat globules.
What is the difference between cultured butter and sweet cream butter?
Cultured butter is made from cream soured by bacteria, so it has a stronger “buttery” aroma. Sweet cream butter is made from fresh cream and tastes milder.