Butter

I visited a dairy farm/creamery in Iowa last week and sampled the best ice cream and chocolate milk I have ever had. While there I purchased some cream and learned how to make butter in my own kitchen. A picture of the wonderful result is to the left.

How I did it:

Using a counter mixer, I put the cold cream in the bowl and put the mixer on level 7 (on my mixer the lowest speed is 1, highest is 10) for just over 5 minutes. It will begin to froth up at about 2-3 minutes and then right around 4.5 - 5 minutes butter forms and separates from the buttermilk.

Pour off the buttermilk and save for biscuits, muffins, pancakes or whatever. Take the butter and press until no more liquid comes out (use a cheesecloth, 2 plates, whatever works for you). You can salt at this time or add herbs/spices for flavoring. Refrigerate.

Next on the agenda: homemade yogurt

Dried nonfat milk powder

Since learning about the oxidized cholesterol present in milk powder (and even more so in egg powder) I have avoided it at all cost. Why introduce free radicals to the body when it's completely unnecessary? I have also learned that the ingredients list will not show it as nonfat milk powder. It will simply say nonfat milk. Or in the case of milk, it can be added as a filler or even possibly totally made up of powder.

So, when I looked at the ingredients list to my Mountain High Original Style Vanilla Yoghurt and saw nonfat milk, I became suspicious. After emailing and confirming that they do in fact add nonfat milk powder to their products I will be limiting our purchase to the low fat style. I have found that Brown Cow or Stonyfield yogurt tastes much better anyway, without the fillers. A serious look will be made into other brands to completely eliminate Mountain High out of our home.

I also double checked on Royal Crest milk and they do not add nonfat milk powder to any of their milk. Yay!