Making Butter

I discovered something pretty magical: homemade butter! I am not the first backyard homesteader to discover the wonderful simplicity of making homemade butter, but I am the first one in my house to discover it.

The process is simple, simple, simple. Get some heavy cream, pour it half full into a jar, then shake-shake-shake for about ten minutes. Voila! The cream thickens to the point where it separates. You are left with watering milk and chunks of delicious, fresh butter.

I went down this fattening, yet delicious, road because a friend from the Urban Farm generously shared some truffles with me. (Thanks Jesse!) I have been enjoying them shredded over pasta and plan to make some truffle oil as well. But truffle butter has been a treat every morning over fresh baked goods.

Making the truffle butter involved the above mentioned shaking of a jar for ten minutes. I finely mincing a couple truffle mushrooms and dropped them in the jar with a little fresh sea salt. Complicated? Not so much.

The heavy cream will begin to thicken, sort of like a soft butter, but keep shaking. It gets to this point where I imagine the cream is exhausted and just renders its liquid. The above picture is the end product, drained of the milk. This may be my new favorite party trick this year!