Helpful Hints from joeeze: Making butter at home

Yes, we do it all here at the 21st-century incarnation of the little house on the virtual prairie.

From the August 6, 2008 Washington Post Food section comes this nicely illustrated guide, excerpted from "The River Cottage Family Cookbook" by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Fizz Carr.

Ready, set, go:
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Making butter at home

Butter is very easy to make yourself. Until the 19th century, nearly all butter was made at home, in churns with paddles or plungers.

Anything that stirs or agitates cream in a steady, regular way will eventually turn it to butter. People have made butter sitting in a rocking chair with the cream in a jar on their lap. Feel how the cream thickens as you shake it, and wait for the sudden, satisfying slosh as it turns into butter.

You will need: very cold heavy cream; a large jar with a tight-fitting, screw-top lid; a mug; a wooden board and a wooden spoon.

Take the cream out of the refrigerator and let it warm to room temperature for about 30 minutes (so it doesn't feel cold on your finger when you dip it in).

Pour just enough cream into the jar so that it fills no more than one-third of the jar. You need to leave plenty of air space so that the cream can really move around.

Screw on the lid tightly. Shake the jar up and down and all around so that the cream bounces against the lid. It's important not to stop shaking until the butter starts to form. First, you'll feel the cream slop around in the jar; then you'll notice that it stops slopping and goes silent. At that stage, you just have whipped cream. Keep shaking; it might take 10 to 30 minutes.

When you hear a big lump sloshing around in a thin, watery liquid, you've got butter. The liquid is buttermilk. Carefully open the lid and pour the buttermilk into a jug; wash the lump of butter under cold running water.

Fill the jar you were using halfway with fresh, cold water. Return the lump of butter to the jar; swirl it around in the water, then carefully drain the water away. Repeat until the water is clear.

Put the butter lump on the board and press down on it with the back of the wooden spoon (or use your hands) to force out any buttermilk still inside. This is important, because any buttermilk left inside will make the butter go sour.

You can now wrap your homemade butter in wax paper and refrigerate it. Or eat it straight away.