Sweet Cream vs. Cultured Butter {recipe}

Do you know why butter in the supermarket is considered sweet cream butter? I honestly paid no attention to it for the longest time. You see, there is a difference in butters.

What you see in the store:
Margarine - don’t touch it, don’t even think about buying it! Heart disease was almost non-existent before this stuff came about. As the amount of butter we eat dramatically decreased during the 1900′s and the use of margarine increased we’ve also seen a huge rise in heart disease. Coincidence? I think not.

Sweet Cream Butter – Made using pasteurized cream from cows raised in conventional dairies. Unfortunately the cows probably never see the outdoors which means the nutrients in the actual butter are already diminished and the pasteurization kills the good bacteria in the cream.

Organic sweet cream butter – Also uses pasteurized cream, but from cows raised organically. (this doesn’t mean the cows get to roam around luscious green pastures, it just means they are fed organically and aren’t hoped up on hormones and antibiotics)

Grass fed sweet cream butter – Can be found at health food stores and usually has a ‘season’, called summer. This butter is also pasteurized, but made by using cream from grass-fed cows. This cream is higher nutrients than cream from grain fed cows.

What I haven’t seen yet:
Cultured butter – This butter is made by first letting the cream culture, or by letting it sit out for about 8 hours. Cultured butter is actually quite common throughout continental Europe and I’ve heard rumors you can buy ‘European style butter’ here in the US, but I’ve never seen it at any store. Maybe some health food stores carry it? Maybe I just didn’t look hard enough. If you’ve seen it, let me know!

Anyways, store-bought cultured butter is made by first pasteurizing the cream and then adding a culture to it. Or you can make it at home by using Raw cream from a farm and letting it set for the day and ferment before you begin the butter process. (homemade sweet cream butter sits out just until room temp)

Benefits of eating cultured butter from grass-fed cows:

• Easier to digest because of the presence of bacterial microbial flora. (think good bacteria like yogurt) Along the same lines, the culture consumes a good portion of the lactose in the cream, making it easier to digest for those who are lactose intolerant.
• Butter made from grass-fed cows contains more unsaturated fatty acids, less saturated fatty acids, and has an optimum ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. The correct balance of omega 6 and 3 is important to the health of your body.
• Culturing intensifies the butter flavor.
• Best of all, it’s actually easier to make! I normally make my butter by shaking it in a mason jar and it takes about a half hour or so for sweet cream butter. Cultured butter took me about 6 minutes. Six minutes! You just have to think ahead a bit and put it out on the counter in the morning.

You’ll need,
any amount of Raw cream
(or four cups pasteurized cream and 1/3 cup plain, whole milk yogurt)

1. Set cream out for 12-18 hours (overnight) Should be somewhat thicker.
2. To make right away, set in bath of ice water and chill to 60 degrees. Otherwise, transfer back to the fridge, but warm to 60 degrees before making.
3. You can really use whatever you have to mix up the butter. A mason jar (only half full) electric mixer, or hand mixer works fine too.
4. Mix until butter separates from the buttermilk. With cultured butter this should take less than 10 minutes.
5. Drain off buttermilk and rinse the butter by pouring in water in place of the buttermilk. Mix, drain, repeat until water is clear.
6. Press into bowl or form into block with waxed paper.
7. Refrigerate and use within a week. Can also be frozen.
8. Enjoy the yummy goodness!

My last batch of grass-fed cultured butter!

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