Butter Taste Test
Insider's Lauren Edmonds made homemade butter.Lauren Edmonds/Insider
  • Butter prices have gone up because of a shortage.

  • Heavy cream is the only thing needed to make butter.

  • Salt and other add-ins can be used to make your butter different.

The price of butter went up due to a shortage.

Butter and cheese shelves are seen empty at a supermarket in Miami Beach, Florida on January 13, 2022
A picture of a quickly-depleting dairy aisle in a Florida grocery store.CHANDAN KHANNA/Getty Images

Between sweet potato pie and cookies for Santa Claus, butter might be the unsung hero. The Wall Street Journal says there will be less butter this year.

Lower milk production on US dairy farms and ongoing labor shortages at processing plants have resulted in the lowest amount of butter in US cold storage facilities in the last year.

In the past year, the price of butter at US supermarkets has risen by 24.6%, making it the most expensive food in the country, according to the WSJ. CNBC cites data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics which shows that the cost of butter and margarine increased from September of 2016 to September of 2020.

I decided to make my own butter since I am trying to save money. TikToker itz_zealand is a popular recipe.

You don't need a lot of ingredients to make butter.

Items for Butter Taste Test
Heavy cream is the main ingredient for this butter recipe.Lauren Edmonds/Insider

Butter only requires heavy cream so it's a fairly cheap endeavor. Adding salt or other flavors is not required.

You will need the following.

  • There is a mixer.

  • A big bowl.

  • The strainer is a piece of equipment.

The heavy cream should be poured into a stand mixer.

I used one quart of heavy cream for this taste test.Lauren Edmonds/Insider

I used a single quart carton for my butter, but you can use as much or as little as you want.

I started whisking the heavy cream at a low setting and gradually increased to a medium speed.

The heavy cream remained liquid for the first 10 minutes of mixing, making me a bit nervous about the recipe.Lauren Edmonds/Insider

For the first 10 minutes, the heavy cream didn't show signs of changing shape. I began whisking on the lowest setting.

The heavy cream started to cling to the beater after 10 minutes.

The heavy cream gradually thickened around the 10-minute mark.Lauren Edmonds/Insider

10 minutes into whisking the heavy cream, it began to resemble a very light yogurt in appearance and texture. Sometimes it was helpful to stop the stand mixer and get the heavy cream out of the folds.

The butter separated from the buttermilk after a few more minutes.

Around 20 minutes, the butter began solidifying and separating from the buttermilk.Lauren Edmonds/Insider

Pieces of butter began to form around 20 minutes into the process. The butter-making process is almost completed when this occurs.

The stand mixer should be stopped once the butter settles.

There are lots of uses for buttermilk, so it's up to you whether or not you want to keep it.Lauren Edmonds/Insider

At the bottom of your stand mixer, there should be a pool of milk. Bon Appétit reported that there are a lot of uses for the buttermilk.

The butter should be light yellow and firm at this point.

The butter should be separated from the buttermilk.

The butter texture by this point is firm but bendable.Lauren Edmonds/Insider

The butter should be separated from the buttermilk by placing the strainer over it.

The butter needs to be rinse with ice water.

The butter should take around two to three soaks to lose the excess buttermilk.Lauren Edmonds/Insider

Add cold water and transfer the butter to a larger bowl. I used my hands instead of using a flexible spatula as recommended by the master class.

Continue until the ice water clears.

It's official, you've made your own butter. Salt and garlic add flavor to butter.

I stored my homemade butter in a glass holder and put it in my fridge.Lauren Edmonds/Insider

Adding any additional flavors to the butter is the final step. I added a small amount of butter to make it taste a little bit better.

I didn't know what to expect with this recipe, but I've told everyone I know about it. The taste is light and airy when it's at room temperature.

I compared my homemade butter to a store-bought one and it tasted better.

I used to think of a wooden butter Churn and lots of arm work, but the recipe for homemade butter only took 20 minutes to make.

I would make this recipe again and add garlic, parsley, and chives.

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