How to make butter in a canning jar

A few of you wanted to know how I made my butter in a canning jar, so I thought I would share the way I make it. Some people allow their cream to warm to 60' or room temp, but I don't. I guess if you allow the cream to warm a bit, it causes the butter to be less sweet. Well I don't know about you, but I love me some butter, so I keep the temperature of my cream cold and straight from the fridge. I'm not exactly sure on the real process of how making butter works, and I'm sure some of my terminology is not correct, but that's alright with me. Like I said I, don't know how it works, I just know that it does works and it makes some dang good butter. This is a great activity to do with the kiddo's. And if you want to really educate them on how to make butter, just do a little investigating first on the real process of how it works. My kiddo's are too young to care right now. They just love watching the cream turn into butter and taking little tastes along the way.

Here is what you will need to make your own butter and buttermilk in a canning jar:
*1 pint of cold heavy cream
*canning jar with a lid
*lots of energy for shaking

Pour cold heavy cream into canning jar and fill it about 3/4 of the way.

Take one last peek at what the heavy cream looks like. Next time you take a peek it will be whipped cream.

Screw the lid on and start shaking. Shake for about 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes unscrew the lid and take a peek...now you have some whipped cream.

Go ahead and take a nibble, it is scrumptious! Screw the lid back on and shake for another 5 minutes or so. If you unscrew the lid now, you will see this. The miracle of making your own butter is starting to work.

Screw the lid back on and keep shaking for just a few minutes. You will be able to feel and see once the butter is starting to form.

Now unscrew the lid and pour off some of the liquid. Make sure you pour the liquid into a bowl and save it. The liquid is actually buttermilk. Just an added little bonus to making your own butter. You can use it to make some buttermilk pancakes.

Screw the lid back on and shake a few more times to make sure you get all of the buttermilk out. Drain the excess liquid again.

Screw the lid back on. In a few more shakes you will get a smooth ball of butter.

Now place the butter into a bowl.

Run some cold water over the butter while mixing the butter around with a spoon to get the rest of the buttermilk out. Drain the liquid off and repeat til the water is clear when drained off.

Now you have handmade butter made in a canning jar.

Place your butter and buttermilk in some jars and place in the fridge.

Enjoy!
Why not make up a few to share with others, who doesn't love and deserve a little homemade butter?! These will make a cute little homemade gift paired with your favorite pancake mix or freshly baked bread. Or snip some fresh herbs and mix it in with the butter to use on top of grilled steak.