How to make butter in a jar

Did you know you can make butter in a jar using just cream? This is a super simply way to make butter at home.

Cream is basically fat droplets mixed in water. When you shake the cream in the jar the fat droplets stick together to form butter and a milky liquid called buttermilk.

How to make butter at home

You’ll need

Double cream – at room temperature

A container with a lid

How to make butter in a jar

Let the cream warm up to room temperature.

Half fill the jar and shut the lid tightly.

Shake the jar until you feel a lump form, you do need to shake quite vigorously so maybe round up some friends to help. First the cream will thicken up a little like whipped cream.

Shake for longer and the cream will turn into a lump of butter with some milky looking liquid left behind ( buttermilk )

Wash your hands and gently squeeze as much buttermilk from the butter as you can. Give it a rinse under the tap and try it!

What do you think of the taste? It should taste quite different to shop bought butter as it doesn’t have any added flavourings or preservatives.

Why can you make butter from cream?

When you think of a mixture of substances what do you think about? Probably not cream? Cream is a type of mixture called a colloid, it is made up of very tiny particles of fat dispersed in water. When you shake the cream the fat particles stick together, forming butter.

Cream and butter are a type of colloid known as an emulsion.

Did you know it was so easy to make butter?

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For more kitchen science ideas see our fantastic kitchen science round up with 50 AMAZING experiments.

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