Before you go jumping down my throat about posting this because it’s dairy, I want to make sure I mention that my family consumes raw dairy. I have always been open about that and I feel it is something that my family thrives on.

So, am I still Paleo? I don’t really like labeling myself as anything. We eat by a Paleo template and include raw dairy in our diet. You can click here to see why my family consumes raw milk. 

My goats are due to have babies in June, so the 2 months prior to birth, we are giving them a break from milking. It’s sad not to have fresh, raw goats milk everyday, but I am lucky to have lots of farms nearby that have raw milk. This past week I went with raw cow milk from Jersey’s….mostly cause raw goats milk is $12 a gallon! Yikes! I’ll just wait for my goats to kid in June!

Raw dairy is extremely nutritions, but cultured (fermented) dairy takes it to a whole new level. Culturing helps to break down casein, or milk proteins, one of the most difficult proteins to digest. It, also, restores enzymes that may have been destroyed during pasteurization including lactase, which helps to digest lactose (milk sugar) and numerous enzymes, which help the body absorb calcium and other minerals.

In addition, cultured dairy provides beneficial bacterial and lactic acid to help your digestive tract stay healthy. Click here to read all the benefits of raw cultured dairy. 

Fun with Cultured Dairy:

How to Make 1 Stick of Butter, 1 Pint of Sour Cream, and 1 Pint of Buttermilk with JUST ONE Quart of Cream! 

Tools Needed: 

• Wooden Spoon
• Food Processor 
• One Quart of Cream (preferably raw, but not necessary)
• 2 Pint sized mason jars
• One Cheesecloth (not necessary, you can use your hands)

Directions: 

Step One: Culture Your Cream. Take your quart of cream and set it out on the counter for 8 hours to sour with the lid on.

Step Two: Make the Cultured Butter. Take one pint (2 cups) of the cream and pour it into your food processor. Set the other 2 cups aside. Turn your food processor on high and allow the blades to “churn” the cream into cultured butter. This takes roughly 10 minutes. When you start to see clumps forming in your cream, turn off your food processor and use your wooden spoon to push the butter to one side.

Scoop out the cultured butter and place it in a cheesecloth. Gently squeeze out all the cultured buttermilk back into the food processor bowl with the rest of the buttermilk.

Place the butter in a bowl with ice water and use your spoon to really push out any more buttermilk. Make sure to get as much excess liquid out. The ice water helps to firm up your butter. Remove the butter and use your hands to squeeze out any more water and form into whatever shape you would like. You have cultured butter!

Step Three: Make Your Buttermilk. Pour all your buttermilk leftover from making the butter into a pint-sized mason jar. You have cultured buttermilk!

Step Four: Make Your Sour Cream, aka Cream Fraiche’: Now take the other 2 cups of cultured cream that you set aside, and pour it into a pint-sized mason jar. Take one tablespoon of the cultured buttermilk that you made and put it inside the jar with the cream. Put the lid on and shake the jar to incorporate the cultured buttermilk with the cream.

Leave your jar on your counter or in a warm spot for 12 hours to culture even more and thicken. Chill well! You have European Style Sour Cream!

You will love this European Style Sour Cream that is also known as Creme Fraiche’. It is just like sour cream but much tastier. Put it on your potatoes, in your soup, on your eggs, and anywhere else you like to put sour cream. To make more Creme Fraiche’, follow Step Four above but use one tablespoon of leftover Creme Fraiche’, instead of cultured buttermilk, to culture another pint of cream! You can do this 6-8 times before you need to start over with cultured buttermilk!

I hope you have fun doing this! Let your kids help you and make it a fun kitchen experiment!