Kefir Cultured Butter

Place cream into a mason jar, add kefir, cover with a paper towel and a rubber band. Leave at room temperature for 24 hours, or until thickens to the consistency of sour cream. Once it’s thick, cool in the fridge for a couple of hours, or better overnight.

Place cultured cream into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, and mix on medium speed. At first the cream will turn into whipped cream.

Keep mixing on medium speed until you notice grainy texture starting to appear. At this point, turn the mixer on low because the cream is about to separate into butter and liquid (buttermilk), and will splash.

Strain everything through a large, very fine strainer into a bowl. The liquid is real buttermilk, it contains a lot of live cultures and is delicious. Reserve it and use it for baking pancakes or just drink it straight.

Rinse the butter until water is no longer milky. You can use a spoon to help squeeze. You won’t be able to get every bit of white liquid out of it but give it a good try.

Once done washing, squeeze out whatever liquid you can. Transfer butter to a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

Spread the butter using a dough scraper, or a cake spatula. Fold it over itself and spread to squeeze out the remaining liquid. Then pour off the liquid. Repeat a few times.

You can spread the butter and then roll it into a log, or into a ball, or stuff it into half-pint mason jars (which is what I do).