$40 saved by making your butter
One man has taken a stand against rising dairy prices by making his own butter and believes it’s saving him money.
New Plymouth man Darryl Raison has been making his own butter for around two months and says he’s saved around $40 by doing so - that’s about the same cost as eight blocks of butter at the supermarket.
‘‘It’s only cheaper if you use everything you get from making it,’’ he said.
The price of butter has been soaring this year, with the average price of the cheapest 500g block of butter sitting at $5.67 in October 2017, compared with $3.50 in October 2016, Statistics New Zealand said.
Raison said he usually used about 250mls of cream to make butter for his family in his kitchen blender and said the process was so easy even kids could do it.
‘‘You just empty a bottle of cream into a blender and walk away,’’ he said.
‘‘Then you come back when it sounds like its got stones in it.’’
During the butter making process the cream splits and releases butter milk, which Raison said most people usually discard but was actually the key to making the process cost effective.
‘‘The butter milk is like gold,’’ Raison said.
‘‘You can use it in scones, pancakes and fried chicken.
‘‘I’ve started putting it in mashed potatoes and it completely changes the meal.’’
Raison said the butter came out identical in taste and colour to normal butter and the only thing missing was the salt.
‘‘You’ve got to add the salt because it acts as a preservative and it just tastes better,’’ he said.
While Raison started out using cold cream to make butter he’s begun experimenting with warming the cream first and is exploring the option of mixing the butter with oil to make it go a bit further.
‘‘It will give parents an option so that they can provide something cheaper for their families that still tastes like butter,’’ he said.
‘‘Hopefully I’ll get a good finished product at a tenth of the cost.’’
"You've got to add the salt because it acts as a preservative and it just tastes better." Darryl Raison