Spoiled butter?

[MoonStalkeR]

The raw (not cultured) butter I received smells strange and cheesy, is it possible that it's rancid?

[tdister]

I don't believe butter goes rancid very easily. If you are positive that it isn't cultured, I'm not sure. The only raw butter I've gotten was cultured and smelled awesome. I've only had it once and it went bad by molding after about 2 weeks.

[MoonStalkeR]

I can't find cultured butter at this time, and I am pretty sure this is regular since my provider listed it along with unavailable cultured butter. The taste is also slightly bitter.

[chucky]

This happens when butter is salted. Buy a salted butter from the store and smell it/ try it. It will probably taste the same.

[MoonStalkeR]

The butter is unsalted, forgot to mention that.

[raw-al]

Unsalted butter will grow mould on it even in the freezer. If it is cultured butter meaning that it was inoculated with bacteria like cheese or yogurt is then it has a somewhat sour taste. Nothing wrong with it. I believe that butter can be eaten long after it has been made as a friend of mine from Tibet says they ate very old butter. The buttermilk that results from making butter is very sour and sometimes a bit might get trapped in the butter. Normally people wash the butter after making it to remove the buttermilk.

[RawZi]

The buttermilk that results from making butter is very sour and sometimes a bit might get trapped in the butter. Normally people wash the butter after making it to remove the buttermilk.

    Do you have any tips so I can get every last drop of the buttermilk out?

[raw-al]

Raw-zi,
There are youtubes of people making butter and that's how I learned. We make it with a food processor, (29.00 @ Wally World [Wal-Mart]) although my girlfriend has taken over doing it. Some people do it manually and you can get a device at Lehmans that is like an eggbeater hooked up in a jar. I know of people who simply put cream in a 1 liter jar and shake it for 20 minutes. I think this is the ultimate method. Whatever works.

Essentially what I did was to pour off the BM when the butter formed then use a spoon to still up the butter a bit which opens up some more pockets of BM. Then pour some ice cold water over it and maybe put some ice cubes in it and stir it a bit. The remaining BM then is exposed and will dissolve into the water. The ice cubes/cold water simply keep the butter from dissolving into the water.

When you spoon the butter into a jar don't squeeze the butter in, but leave a bit of space for the BM to run to the bottom as you use the butter and the little pockets of BM are released. Then if the BM bothers you just pour it off.

Is this what you meant or did you want to extract the max amount of BM to drink?

BTW the fresh butter is awesome. It is light and very pleasant tasting. Much better than store bought / pasteurized stuff.

BTW my Tibetan friend says that they ate butter that was up to 20 years old. It was a treat. No refrigerators at the time. He never saw a car till he was 13.

[MoonStalkeR]

I ordered heavy cream so I could just make the butter myself instead of ordering it directly.

[raw-al]

You won't regret it.

[cliff]

The raw (not cultured) butter I received smells strange and cheesy, is it possible that it's rancid?

All butter has natural culture in it.  Once it starts to ferment it goes from being cheesy to blue cheesy.  I don't enjoy the taste of butter when it gets to this stage but it probably isn't bad.

[rawlion]

Across northern Europe, butter was sometimes treated in a manner unheard-of today: it was packed into barrels (firkins) and buried in peat bogs, perhaps for years. Such "bog butter" would develop a strong flavor as it aged, but remain edible, in large part because of the unique cool, airless, antiseptic and acidic environment of a peat bog. Firkins of such buried butter are a common archaeological find in Ireland; the Irish National Museum has some containing "a grayish cheese-like substance, partially hardened, not much like butter, and quite free from putrefaction." The practice was most common in Ireland in the 11th–14th centuries; it ended entirely before the 19th century.

source

Bog butter

I wonder if butter can spoil in the fridge? And what would be the maximum shelf life of refrigerated and unrefrigerated butter? Maybe until it is eaten?

[raw-al]

Thanks rawlion,
We don't refrigerate it. It is eaten before long anyways. My friend from Tibet mentioned keeping it for twenty years.

[MoonStalkeR]

Attempted to make butter from heavy cream in blender, ended up heating it to a warm temp. Not sure whether it is raw now. The cream itself is very fatty, maybe I'm better off eating the remainder as is.