I meant to show y’all what the raw milk looks like when we get it. (Sorry for the bad picture!) This is a half-gallon jug, and most of the time there’s at least twice as much cream. But we ordered a bunch of milk, and got some of the lower fat stuff in addition to the higher-fat. The reason the pic is of the lower-fat? Because I made butter out of the other before I thought to get out my camera! 
I do know that this time I got a quart of cream and a pint of half-and-half from 1.5 gallons of milk.
Anyway, this is what it looks like, and this is the half-size ladle we got to remove the cream. I’ve tried using a turkey baster–too slow, and it stirs up the milk, un-separating the cream. I’ve tried pouring off the cream, and, well, you can guess that wouldn’t work. This ladle works perfectly. I dip gently, letting the cream fill the bowl. Then I scoop off as much cream as I can get cleanly (with no milk mixed in), and set that aside for butter. After that I scoop off the rest with whatever milk comes along, and use that for half-and-half.
Tweaking the Butter
It’s not very scientific to change several variables at once, but I did. Last week, my butter didn’t last well on the counter in our French butter crock. So I wondered if…
- I should have washed it better,
- Salting it would have helped, and
- Maybe it would last longer if it were cultured.
So, like the not-scientist that I am, I did all three. We shall see what happens.
Culturing the Butter
I am happy to report that the culturing worked nicely. I put the cream on top of the fridge with a tablespoon or so of Nancy’s yogurt. Next day it smelled delightful. I think I could have left it another 12 hours, really. But the butter was definitely more flavorful!
I’ll let you know how it lasts.
