Homemade Cultured Butter Recipe - Savory Simple (2024)

FAQs

What makes cultured butter? ›

Cultured butter is made from pasteurized cream that's been exposed to live bacterial cultures (much like the cultures used to make yogurt and cheese). The bacterial cultures jumpstart a fermentation process, which thickens the cream and gives it a tangier, more complex flavor.

They would milk the family's cow and let the milk sit in a shallow pan overnight in order for the cream to rise to the top. The next morning they skim the cream layer with a wooden ladle and leave it out to sour. The cream was them poured into the butter churn (see right).

Cultured butter is made in the European-style with pasteurized cream in a churn just like regular butter, but with one added step. After pasteurization, the cream is fermented by adding a carefully selected bacterial culture.

Sometimes referred to as “European-style butter,” cultured butter is treated with live cultures and allowed to ferment before it's churned. This results in butter with a stronger, more lactic flavor. Cultured butter generally has a higher butterfat content (typically 82–85%) than standard American butter (80–82%).

Cultured butters contain probiotics, live microbes with proven health benefits. Standard butters, known as 'sweet butter', do not. Cultured butters taste AMAZING! Most people with lactose intolerance can tolerate butter because it contains only trace amounts of lactose (<0.7g/100g).

“LB Bulgaricum” EAD offers a variety of mesophilic lyophilised cultures for the production of butter, sour cream, curd and other types of soft cheese and fresh cheese. The mesophilic cultures comprise of Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis, Lactococcus lactis ssp.

Butter was first made by placing the cream in a container made from animal material and shaking until the milk has broken down into butter. Later wood, glass, ceramic or metal containers were used. The first butter churns used a wooden container and a plunger to agitate the cream until butter formed.

The texture of homemade butter is softer, creamier, and fluffier than regular stick butter. The flavor of the plain butter differs on the type of heavy cream you use.

Home butter-making took time and energy like most of the jobs in the 1800s. The process started with milking the cow which was usually done by the girls in the house. After the cow(s) were milked, the milk was left to settle in a cool place in a shallow dish called a settling pan, so the cream would rise to the top.

Most French butter is cultured (like yogurt) which gives it a more complex, slightly tangy flavor. French (and European) butter also tends to have a higher fat content, which means less water, which means more flavor.

What is the flavor of cultured butter? ›

TASTING NOTES

When you first open your butter it will have a tangy and creamy flavour. Over time the culture will develop, which enhances the flavour. Developing cultures will give the butter a cheesier taste and more pungent smell.

The higher butterfat percentage in European butter is one of the main reasons why many consider butters from across the pond to be superior to those produced in the US. It's better for baking, but it also creates a richer flavor and texture even if all you're doing is smearing your butter on bread.

While in the 1900s, people would make their own butter. This process is called churning1. A butter churn is a device that would be used to make butter. People would fill the butter churn with heavy cream from cows.

In the 1700s, the most common method of making butter was to keep milk in an earthenware container until the cream separated and floated to the top.

Churning, or violently agitating the cream brings its fat globules together and causes them to clump. Cream goes through stages on its way to become butter. First it gets frothy like whipped cream. Then the foam settles into a thick pudding like state.