What are the benefits of making butter at home?
I've recently realized how easy it is to make your own butter at home (thanks, SA!). Are there any significant benefits to this as opposed to buying butter in the grocery store?
I do not have access to dairy cows, so I would have to purchase cream. That seems like it would mitigate any potential cost savings.
How about culinary benefits? Does homemade butter taste better?
Related: How to make home-made butter?
Best Answer
One reason to make your own butter is that you get distinctly different flavours depending on the type of cream you use.
If you use fresh cream you get sweet butter which is popular in North America, Australia and Britain, but less easy to come by in continental Europe. If you use a cultured cream like Crème fraîche you get cultured butter, which is common throughout most of Europe.
Cultured butter is slightly soured by lactic acid. It has a fuller, more complex flavour than sweet butter. If you decide to make it, be sure that you don't use a cultured cream that includes artificial thickeners. The ingredient list should read something like "pasteurised cream, lactic-acid culture" (apologies if that's not accurate; I'm translating from Swedish).
I have a couple of other reasons why I personally want to make butter. First of all my four year old son has been asking how butter is made, and this would be a great way show him. The second reason is that I'm curious as to how real buttermilk tastes (the buttermilk in the supermarkets is fermented milk). And last of all, I noticed that my beurre noir sauce was working out much better when I lived in Australia, so I'd like to do some side-by-side comparisons with European butter.
Pictures about "What are the benefits of making butter at home?"
What are the benefits of making your own butter?
Reasons to Make Your Own This allows you to avoid pesticides and hormones or colorings that may be present in commercial butter. Homemade butter made from the cream of grass-fed cows provides more essential fatty acids -- healthy fats -- and also more carotene, vitamin A and vitamin E, Mother Earth News reports.Is making homemade butter worth it?
Bottom line: Homemade organic butter isn't much cheaper than store-bought butter, and we couldn't discern a difference in taste. The real fun is adding flavors to butter, but this works better with store-bought butter because it has a longer shelf life.Is it healthy to make your own butter?
2. Homemade butter is a source of fats that are healthier than commercially-available butters. The latter contain trans-fats, which may result in weight gain and may harm your health in other ways as well. 3.Does it save money to make your own butter?
It's Cheaper That means the price of making your own butter isn't much more than buying it in the store, and often you can get organic cream cheaper than organic butter.Will You Save Money? How To Make Homemade Butter!
More answers regarding what are the benefits of making butter at home?
Answer 2
There's definitely no benefit in cost or time, the only reason to do this is flavor. Anything made fresh is generally better than what you get at the store, and you can use sea salt or spices to make it taste the way you like.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: cottonbro, Daniela Constantini, cottonbro, Ketut Subiyanto