![Butter taste test](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
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A supply shortage sent the price of butter skyrocketing ahead of the holiday.
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The only ingredient needed to make homemade butter is heavy cream.
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Use salt and other add-ins to give your butter different flavors.
A shortage of supply drove up the price of butter ahead of the holidays.
![Shelves of butter and cheese lie empty at a supermarket in Miami Beach, Florida on January 13, 2022](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_931_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
Between sweet potato pie and cookies baked for Santa, butter could be the unsung hero of the winter holidays. But according to the Wall Street Journal, there will be less butter this year.
The outlet reported a drop in milk production on U.S. dairy farms and continued labor shortages at processing plants resulted in the lowest amount of butter in U.S. cold storage since 2017.
The decline has prompted the cost of butter in U.S. supermarkets to outpace most other foods over the past year, with the price of butter rising 24.6% between August 2021 and August 2022, reports the WSJ. According to CNBC, which cited data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of butter rose 27% and margarine jumped 44% from September 2021 to September 2022.
As I’m trying to save money in the midst of national inflation, I decided to try my hand at making homemade butter. I used a recipe from the popular TikToker itz_zealand as a reference.
You will only need one ingredient to make homemade butter.
![Butter taste test items](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_931_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
Luckily, making butter is a pretty cheap endeavor because it only requires one ingredient: heavy cream. Adding salt or other flavorings is optional, but not necessary.
You will also need the following items:
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A stand mixer
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A big bowl
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A colander
To start, pour the heavy cream into a stand mixer with the whisk or flat beater.
![Pour heavy cream to test the taste of butter](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_681_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
I used a quart carton – or four cups – for my butter, but feel free to use as much or as little as you like.
I whipped the heavy cream for 20 minutes, starting on a low setting before gradually increasing to medium speed.
![Butter taste test](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_536_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
For the first 10 minutes, the heavy cream retained its liquid form and showed no signs of firming. I started whipping on the lowest setting of my KitchenAid stand mixer.
After 10 minutes the heavy cream started to thicken and cling to the flat beater.
![Butter taste test](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_498_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
10 minutes after whipping the heavy cream, it slowly began to thicken, resembling very light yogurt in appearance and texture. I have found it helpful to occasionally stop the stand mixer and scrape excess heavy cream stuck to the sides into the crease.
A few more minutes of whipping allowed the solid butter to separate from the buttermilk.
![Butter taste test](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_934_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
About 20 minutes after whipping, lumps of solid butter began to form and separate from the buttermilk. When this happens, the butter making process is almost complete.
Stop the stand mixer once the solid butter solidifies.
![Butter taste test](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_215_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
By now there should be a noticeable pool of buttermilk at the bottom of your stand mixer. Whether or not you want to keep buttermilk is up to you, but Bon Appétit reported that there are tons of uses for it.
At this point, the solid butter should be firm but supple and take on a light yellow color.
Use a colander to separate the solid butter from the buttermilk.
![Strain the butter to test the taste](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_951_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
Place the colander over a large bowl and separate the butter from the buttermilk.
Rinse the butter with ice water to remove excess buttermilk.
![rinse butter for taste test](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_248_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
Transfer the solid butter to another large bowl and add cold water to help rid it of excess buttermilk. Master Class suggested using a flexible spatula to do the task, but I used my hands.
Repeat this process until the ice water changes from cloudy to clear.
You’ve officially made homemade butter! Use add-ins like salt and garlic to give the butter extra flavor.
![Butter taste test](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666581659_951_I-made-butter-from-scratch-with-one-ingredient-in-the.jpeg)
The final steps are to add additional flavors to the butter and put it away. Personally I added ¾ tbsp of salt to give it a light flavor as it tasted very neutral at first.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this recipe, but I kept telling everyone about it because it tastes so good. The texture, at room temperature, is creamy and the taste is light and airy.
It might be in my head, but when I compared my homemade butter to a store-bought version, the homemade butter tasted less processed.
Also, “homemade butter” always made me think of a wooden butter churn and a lot of arm work, but the recipe was hands-off and only took 20 minutes.
All in all, I would 1000% make this recipe again and plan to add chives, garlic and parsley next time.
Read the original Insider article
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