Hello All,
I was not sure as to where I would post something like this, so “General Q&A;” seemed like the safest bet. I am hoping that someone amongst all of you talented Cooks, Bakers and Foodies would be able to bestow some sage wisdom on me - and help me to rescue some lovely fresh cream that fell victim to one of my “Recipe Disasters” the other day.
I enjoy making my own Homemade Organic Cultured Butter, with which I have never had a problem making - until now. My usual Starter Culture, which consists of about a quarter cup of Butterworks Organic Whole (Jersey) Milk Plain Yogurt; always turns out the most delicious Cultured Butter - it usually is eaten up before it is a week old. For some inane reason, this time around I decided to “get fancy” and use a different Organic Yogurt (Seven Stars Whole Jersey Milk Plain) for this batches starter culture. I did this because I wanted to try making Butter that had been cultured with ProBiotics (l. Casei, Bifidus, etc...), in addition to the usual Bacterial Strains found in Yogurt. I proceeded as usual and mixed two pints of Butterworks Organic Heavy Cream (I LOVE this stuff) with a quarter cup of the Seven Stars Pro Biotic Yogurt. I then covered and placed the mixture into my over-the-stove microwave, with the unit’s hood light on. I have found that when the microwave light is on, the temp inside the unit maintains itself at a constant 80 degrees; which is a perfect temp for culturing cream - and raising bread dough.
O.K., all of that aside, I waited my usual 18 or so hours, and the next day I proceeded to shake the mixture inside it’s Mason Jar - in the belief that it would, at some point, break from the Buttermilk and then solidify into Butter. WRONG! The mixture never solidified with the shaken Mason Jar Technique, so out of desperation, I dumped the whole gloppy mess into my KitchenAide, fitted with a wire whisk, and proceeded to whip the living daylights out of it at a speed of 10. After 5 minutes, I had no progress. After 10 minutes, I had no progress. After 15 minutes, I had no progress. After 20 minutes, I made note of the fact that I now had about a quart of really sturdy whipped cream; I stopped the mixer, poured the glop back into the Mason Jar, capped it, shoved it into my fridge, sat down and had a drink.
I feel safe in saying that I can chalk this one up to my “Kitchen Disasters”. It just ticks me off that I wasted so much beautiful fresh cream! I have made Butter (both cultured and not) many times before this, and have used both the Jar Shaking and Mixer Whipping methods to churn with equal success, every time. I have NO IDEA as to what went wrong here! All I know is, if you use a yogurt culture with a thickener/stabilizer in it (such as gelatin), then it will “gelatinize” the entire mixture - and your Butter will simply meld with the Buttermilk in one big mass, no separation. I suspect that the new brand of Organic Yogurt that I used this time around might have had some kind of thickener/stabilizer in it that was not listed on the label. The only other way to screw up a batch of Cultured Butter is to use a cream that has been ULTRA-Pasteurized (as opposed to just pasteurized) - but that was not the case here.
So - as to not waste anymore of your precious weekend leisure time, let me just cut to the chase and spit it out:
My Homemade Butter failed me, and I now have a one quart mason jar sitting in my fridge filled with a gelatinous pile of whipped, cultured heavy (Organic) cream, that will all go to waste - unless I can figure out some use for it. Anyone game? I will entertain any and all ideas here!
Thank you!
BetseyD
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