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Butter Me Up
Butter has gone up, almost doubled in price in 12 months. This pantry staple is now so expensive it's almost a luxury item, at between $8.60 per kilo for Western Star* (and this brand name butter is cheaper than the plain label Coles Australian Butter - you really do need to check prices, plain labels are not always cheaper) and $10 per kilo.
So what are the alternative? Margarine, olive oil spreads, nut based spreads and oils are all good substitutes, but still pricey and of course, all have additives you may not want in your diet.
A simple solution is to make your own butter or margarine. It's not nearly as difficult as you might think, and you don't really need any special tools or appliances, although a stand mixer does make the job so much easier.
Before you get really excited about making your own butter, you do need to understand that making butter is not necessarily cheaper than buying it - unless you can get cream at greatly reduced prices, because you get roughly half the weight of butter to cream. That means for every litre of cream, you'll be able to make approximately 500g butter.
If cream is $3.90 per 600ml bottle, that equates to $6.50 per litre. That litre will make 500g of butter, so in this case it would be much cheaper to buy your butter.
A few weeks ago I was able to buy a carton of 600ml bottles of cream for $5, or just 41 cents a bottle. Needless to say I bought two cartons, with butter making in mind. As the cream was close to it's best before date I put it in the freezer. Yes, you can freeze cream, it’s a good way of preserving it if you can't use it before it sours.
I've since been able to make 1.5 kilos of butter for just $2.05 and I had 1.5 litres of lovely buttermilk, a side benefit of making butter, to use in my baking. It was well worth the 20 minutes of my time and effort.
Now we've covered the cost effectiveness, and I know Cheapskaters everywhere will be looking for marked down cream, let's talk about actually turning that cream in to butter.
MOO Butter
Ingredients:
600ml cream
Pinch salt
1 cup ice cold water
You will need:
A stand mixer, hand mixer or food processor (all will work, the stand mixer and food processor are the easiest to use)
A bowl
A sieve or cheesecloth (I prefer the cheesecloth)
First things first, get your cream. The higher the fat content, the more butter you'll get per litre of cream and the nicer the butter will be, so skip the reduced fat creams and go for a good pure cream, or thickened cream or a full fat whipping cream.
Tip that cream into the bowl of your mixer. You can use a handheld mixer or a food processor - both will turn your cream into butter just as easily as the stand mixer.
Turn the mixer to medium speed and leave it for about 4 - 5 minutes. You'll see the cream thicken, then start to curdle, then you'll notice that it is separating and there will be liquid in the bottom of the bowl. This is the buttermilk. Don't waste it, you can use it in baking in place of milk or water. The creamy, yellow "butter" will be in clumps around the sides of the bowl.
Now you need to get the butter to form one clump and completely separate from the buttermilk. To do this you'll need about 1 cup of ice cold water. I usually put a cup of cold water in the freezer for about half an hour before I start butter making.
Turn the mixer back on and very slowly pour in about a quarter cup of the ice cold water. You'll see all the butter will clump together and there will be even more buttermilk in the bottom of the bowl.
Take a sieve and place it over a bowl. Tip the butter and the buttermilk into the sieve. Now, with clean hands, you need to pick up the clump of butter and gently squeeze. You'll see more buttermilk coming out. Keep squeezing gently, until you can't get any more buttermilk from the butter. The aim is to remove all the buttermilk as the more you can remove the better your butter will keep.
Once you've squeezed all the buttermilk from the butter you're done. You have lovely, fresh, unsalted butter.
To add a little flavour to the butter, stir through a pinch or two of salt. I use a fork to mash the salt into the butter.
Put the butter in a dish and keep it in the fridge for up to eight weeks.
Pour the buttermilk into a jug and it will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge
And there you have it, fresh butter in 20 minutes.
* Price checked at Coles 14/09/2017
So what are the alternative? Margarine, olive oil spreads, nut based spreads and oils are all good substitutes, but still pricey and of course, all have additives you may not want in your diet.
A simple solution is to make your own butter or margarine. It's not nearly as difficult as you might think, and you don't really need any special tools or appliances, although a stand mixer does make the job so much easier.
Before you get really excited about making your own butter, you do need to understand that making butter is not necessarily cheaper than buying it - unless you can get cream at greatly reduced prices, because you get roughly half the weight of butter to cream. That means for every litre of cream, you'll be able to make approximately 500g butter.
If cream is $3.90 per 600ml bottle, that equates to $6.50 per litre. That litre will make 500g of butter, so in this case it would be much cheaper to buy your butter.
A few weeks ago I was able to buy a carton of 600ml bottles of cream for $5, or just 41 cents a bottle. Needless to say I bought two cartons, with butter making in mind. As the cream was close to it's best before date I put it in the freezer. Yes, you can freeze cream, it’s a good way of preserving it if you can't use it before it sours.
I've since been able to make 1.5 kilos of butter for just $2.05 and I had 1.5 litres of lovely buttermilk, a side benefit of making butter, to use in my baking. It was well worth the 20 minutes of my time and effort.
Now we've covered the cost effectiveness, and I know Cheapskaters everywhere will be looking for marked down cream, let's talk about actually turning that cream in to butter.
MOO Butter
Ingredients:
600ml cream
Pinch salt
1 cup ice cold water
You will need:
A stand mixer, hand mixer or food processor (all will work, the stand mixer and food processor are the easiest to use)
A bowl
A sieve or cheesecloth (I prefer the cheesecloth)
First things first, get your cream. The higher the fat content, the more butter you'll get per litre of cream and the nicer the butter will be, so skip the reduced fat creams and go for a good pure cream, or thickened cream or a full fat whipping cream.
Tip that cream into the bowl of your mixer. You can use a handheld mixer or a food processor - both will turn your cream into butter just as easily as the stand mixer.
Turn the mixer to medium speed and leave it for about 4 - 5 minutes. You'll see the cream thicken, then start to curdle, then you'll notice that it is separating and there will be liquid in the bottom of the bowl. This is the buttermilk. Don't waste it, you can use it in baking in place of milk or water. The creamy, yellow "butter" will be in clumps around the sides of the bowl.
Now you need to get the butter to form one clump and completely separate from the buttermilk. To do this you'll need about 1 cup of ice cold water. I usually put a cup of cold water in the freezer for about half an hour before I start butter making.
Turn the mixer back on and very slowly pour in about a quarter cup of the ice cold water. You'll see all the butter will clump together and there will be even more buttermilk in the bottom of the bowl.
Take a sieve and place it over a bowl. Tip the butter and the buttermilk into the sieve. Now, with clean hands, you need to pick up the clump of butter and gently squeeze. You'll see more buttermilk coming out. Keep squeezing gently, until you can't get any more buttermilk from the butter. The aim is to remove all the buttermilk as the more you can remove the better your butter will keep.
Once you've squeezed all the buttermilk from the butter you're done. You have lovely, fresh, unsalted butter.
To add a little flavour to the butter, stir through a pinch or two of salt. I use a fork to mash the salt into the butter.
Put the butter in a dish and keep it in the fridge for up to eight weeks.
Pour the buttermilk into a jug and it will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge
And there you have it, fresh butter in 20 minutes.
* Price checked at Coles 14/09/2017