Making butter

I'd never made butter before, and didn't even know it could be made at home or in small batches. The recipe that Mel found had us start with heavy cream - real cream without any stabilizers or whatnot and with as much butterfat as you can get. Then we whisked in some yogurt, covered it and let it stand at room temperature overnight.

After it has sat for about 12 hours or so, we put the bowl in a cold bath. When the temperature has reduced down to around 60 degrees, you begin to whip it up. A kitchen mixer is very handy for this part. In a few moments, the buttermilk begins to separate from the butter. Drain the buttermilk off and keep whipping, draining as more separates. In the end, you have a ball of butter. Keep washing it with cold water until you get all the buttermilk out, otherwise it won't keep as long. We figured it was about half the price of a pound of the butter you'd get in the store, but yummier.