make your own butter science experiment

Making Butter

2 cups whipping cream 4 containers (jars with lids or ziploc bags) / yogurt (live bacteria) stop watch or watch with seconds hand

• Take the cream out of the fridge.  Put 1 cup on the counter and put the second cup back in the fridge.  Wait about an hour until the cup on the counter is room temperature.
• Label the four containers (warm, cold, warm + yogurt, cold + yogurt).
• Put 1 tsp of yogurt in each of the containers labeled 'yogurt'.
• Add 1/2 cup of cream to the warm + yogurt container.  Put the lid on or seal the bag.  Check the time.  Start shaking.
• Continue until it thickens (whip cream stage), and then just a bit more.  Suddenly it will separate into butter and whey.  Write down the end time.  If you can't get it to separate, try gently stirring it with a fork or spoon.  As you push it against the side, the butter should clump together, separating from the whey.
• Repeat step 4 for the warm container.
• Take the cream out of the fridge and repeat step 4 for the cold + yogurt container.
• Repeat step 4 for the cold container.
• Compare the different times.

Record the Data

What to do next?

• Strain the butter.  Save the whey to replace milk in baking, or to drink.  If you are having trouble separating the whey, put the container in the fridge for about 15 minutes and then try again.
• Put the butter into very cold water to remove any remaining milk.  Stir or knead the butter in the cold water.  Replace the water if necessary.  When the water is clear, all the milk should be gone.
• Taste the different types of butter.
• Add salt to the butter and taste it again.

Alternatives

Weigh the cream to make sure each container has the same amount.  Compare the finished weights of the butter.  Think about why they might be different.  Weigh each of the whey containers to see if that answers your questions.

Find out more about the science of making butter .

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Science Behind Making Butter

• July 21, 2019
• 3-4 Year Olds , 5-6 Year Olds , Edible Science , Rainy Day Science , Taste-safe

Hello friends and especially to all the super mom’s out there!!!

Today we have come up with another simple and easy science experiment but this time not only science we can call it as ‘ Edible Science Experiment ’. Yes!! Today I am going to post “How to make Homemade Butter”. Try this activity with your kids. It’s really fun and will fascinate all ages of children.

What tastes better than a homemade butter!!? Whether you spread it on a bread or roll it on a roti for dinner, taste of butter by our hands is always top the line. Show this old fashioned fun activity for kids and they will really enjoy churning your own butter at home. Children of any age can understand and more than watching kids enjoy doing this activity.

Homemade butter is made in a variety of different ways and today we are going to learn or make homemade butter using basic household supplies . Let us see what they are!!

Making Homemade Butter

One traditional and classic butter making process is by using a bit of muscle. Hahaha!! Confused!? Yes, we are going to make butter in a jar by shaking it using your muscle strength. It is so simple, fun and easily accessible activity for kids and also improves your child’s motor skills.

Things you need to make tasty Butter

• One cup of heavy and fresh whipping cream
• Clean and tight sealed glass jar with lid. Baby food jars (that have lid) work best if you are preferring to do with the small batches. Whereas a canning jar with a lid, seal and ring works great for larger batches. A different size glass jars could be used for the purpose but the amount of fresh whipping cream should be adjusted accordingly.
• A clean glass bowl

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Preparation

• Take one cup of fresh cream into a cup or glass bowl. Let it settle to the room temperature (suggested to leave it for five hours in the bowl).
• Make sure all the glass containers we are going to in the activity are clean and clear.

Steps to Making Butter from Fresh Cream

1) Once the fresh cream is settled for five hours, pour it directly into a clean glass jar. Put the lid on the jar and screw it on tightly.

2) For the next step, you may want to get a helping hand ready for shaking the jar. My daughters helped me while shaking and they both took turns to shake it. This is the only step where we need to put little efforts to take out butter. It will take several minutes of vigorous shaking to make butter from the cream! Shake it until the sloshing sound stops.

3) After few minutes, the fresh cream will thicken and the sloshing sound stops too.

4) About the half way through, you may stop shaking and open the lid to show your kids what’s happening inside the jar.

5) The fresh in the jar has just turned into a whipped cream. My younger couldn’t control herself from tasting it.

6) Place the lid back on and keep shaking until the sloshing sound stops again. This sloshing sound is because of the butter milk separating from the butter.

7) Almost we are done, shake the jar for few more minutes and take the lid off. You can see the solid mass inside the jar which is nothing but our yummy and tasty homemade butter.

8) Pour off the butter milk out of the jar using a strainer into an empty cup.

9) Here we go!! The most awaited homemade light and fluffy butter is ready to slather on your toast, bread etc. Flavour your butter with a pinch of salt and chopped herbs to make your toast tastier.

OBSERVATIONS

Before you start shaking, note down the time or put your stop watch on to take note on how long does it take to make butter out of fresh cream.

Now we jump into our second easy way of making butter at home as I already promised you in the beginning that I will tell you the three different methods.

Using Hand Beater

Were your hands paining? Let’s make the activity little more simpler.   We are going to replace our bottle movement with a beater. 

Do the preparation same as we did in the first method of making homemade butter. (Bringing the fresh cream to room temparature).

Take a cup of fresh cream into the jar and beat it with your hands. That is the reason I said ‘you need to invest your energy to make tasty homemade butter. 🙂

Beat the butter using beater until the liquid separates out and a solid mass is formed. The solid mass is nothing but our yummy butter. Nothing can beat the taste of homemade butter in this world.

This recipe is for unsalted butter. If you want salted butter, you can add required salt to the fresh cream itself before you start beating it.

Separate the butter from the glass jar and knead it for some time so that you can save the butter from getting rancid.

Now it’s time for our third method – Let’s use motorized beater. 

This method saves your energy while making homemade butter. Hahaha!! Yes, in this recipe you can use electronic beater to whip the cream.

1) Pour a cup of fresh cream into a clean and clear glass jar and start beating it. This time you can beat the cream using electronic beater.

2) Beat the cream until the sloshing sound made by the separating liquid stops.

3) After sometime you can see butter separating from the butter milk in the glass bowl.

4) Take out our fluffy butter from glass bowl into a cup and keep it under cold water in order to remove excess water from the butter.

Now our fresh homemade butter is ready to consume. It is very easy to make and saves your money than buying expensive butter from the stores.

How long can you store the homemade butter?

You can store homemade butter for 3-5 days at certain room temperature and 7-10 days if refrigerated. Make sure to store it with the lid on. The liquid that is formed while making butter is also can be stored in the fridge for 5-8 days.

TIP : If you want to speed up the churning process, add some marbles to your glass jar before beating the cream. This works as an agitator and help churn the butter a bit faster.

I suggest you to give a try to this activity which helps your young kids to watch and taste the wonderful final product.

What is the science behind making butter?

When shaking the fresh cream, the fat molecules in the cream get shaken out of position and clump together. Eventually, after enough agitation, the fat molecules that are clumped so much forms butter. During this process, the fat molecules gets separated from the liquid in the cream, and this liquid is called buttermilk and can be removed.

Why does shaking cream make butter? Cream is nothing but the milk fat, a complex mixture of lipids gets stabilized by its own fat molecules. When the cream is stirred up, the fat molecules all together forms a clump leaving the water molecules since fat hates water. 

Does heavy cream turn to butter?

Yes, heavy cream absolutely turn into butter. When the  cream is agitated, the fat molecules get shaken out of position and clump together forming butter. Can you turn half and half into butter? Unfortunately, half and half won’t work as a substitute since it contains very less content of fat to whip.  How much cream does it take to make a pound of butter? We will get about half as   much butter   as the amount of   cream used (when shaking). For example: One quart (32 ounces) of Heavy   Cream will yield 1   pound (16 ounces)   butter plus about 2 cups buttermilk.

Can you turn butter into cream? Yes, the butter can be turned into cream. Butter should be melted and mixed with the butter milk again to make cream. We can also turn butter into cream by mixing butter with whole milk. 

What is the difference between butter and whipped cream? Both cream and butter are dairy products (means they are derived from the cow’s milk) and closely related. Cream is high source of butter fat where as butter is a semi solid form of cream. However, butter is higher in fat than cream.  

Is making butter a chemical change?

Yes, the cream goes through a physical change when it is churned into butter. The fat molecules clumped together while stirring or shaking causing the liquid (water molecules) to be squeezed out of the solid mass (butter). This physical change is absolutely reversible. The butter can be melted and mixed with buttermilk to make cream again.

If you enjoyed this butter activity, you could try our whole set of activities in our edible science page . 

Some of our recent edible science projects:

• Make Curds & Whey from Milk . 
• Try our yummy home made fizzy sherbet to fizz your tongue. 
• Homemade Violet Crumble that would help understand the fizzy chemical reaction. 
• You could also try our Anzac Biscuits that is so yummy to eat. 
• Oh! I almost forgot .. you should definitely see “ Edible Glass ” that your kids can eat !

Interested more in our Science Activities, Subscribe to our Newsletter ! I promise you to send best science experiments that you can try at your home. 

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She Loves Science

A Mom Inspiring with Science

Make Your own Butter Science

November 5, 2023 by Tracy Leave a Comment

If you need a fun easy way to include your kiddos in Thanksgiving this year – make some butter. This was hands down one of the coolest kitchen science experiments we have ever done – and that says a lot because we have done many experiments over the years!

What you need: heavy whipping cream, a jar, and a willing shaker😉

What do you do:

1. Pour a jar about 1/3 full of heavy whipping cream.

2. Screw the lid on tight and start shaking, rolling, and dancing around (like we did!)

3. Go ahead and take a peak in the jar – you won’t be able to help it when the sloshing seems more solid.

4. Keep shaking

5. And shaking…

6. Finally you’ll hear a solid clumping around with a liquid.

7. Drain off the liquid (buttermilk) and rinse the butter solid in ice cold water to remove remaining buttermilk!

8. Dry the butter with a paper towel and mix in your flavorings! We added salt to one batch, honey to another batch, and cinnamon and sugar to another batch.

What’s the science?  Heavy whipping cream contains milk and fat globules. When you shake the cream it will first appear like whipped cream but keep shaking and the fat globules will break apart and clump together to form a solid. The remaining liquid will be buttermilk and the solid is butterfat – but let’s just call it butter!

We hope this experiment will be a favorite on Thanksgiving this year! We are so thankful for YOU in this community of parents, grandparents, teachers, and science extraordinaries here on She Loves Science. This post is rounding our 9th year of sharing our family’s science fun and I am so thankful for the emails, comments, and support over the years… Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

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How to make butter from cream

September 16, 2018 By Emma Vanstone 6 Comments

Did you know you can make  butter from cream ? This is a super simple way to make butter at home, but it does require a bit of effort.

You need good quality double cream, a jar and some strong arms!

This activity is a fun kitchen hack if you’ve got leftover cream and a great way to learn about colloids and emulsions too!

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 from cream at home

You’ll need.

Double cream – at room temperature

A container with a lid

1-step method of making butter in a jar

Let the cream warm up to room temperature.

Half-fill the jar with the cream and shut the lid tightly.

Shake the jar until you feel a lump form. You do need to shake quite vigorously, so maybe you can 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. The milky liquid is buttermilk.

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

More ideas for science in the kitchen

For more kitchen science ideas, check out my fantastic kitchen science experiments.

As well as making butter from cream, did you know you can make glue from milk ?

Last Updated on September 17, 2024 by Emma Vanstone

Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

May 04, 2012 at 8:31 am

I love this experiment it is a great hands on science activity

May 04, 2012 at 7:42 pm

Thanks Cerys!

May 05, 2012 at 8:53 am

Love this as well. Did go on to add any flavour? Think I’mm going to give this a go with the girls to take into school. 🙂

May 07, 2012 at 6:27 pm

LOL I thought that’s what it was in the last pic you posted of the creamy stuff.

May 08, 2012 at 10:08 pm

I need to let my kids try this sometime. It’s been on my list a long time

Thanks for linking to Science Sunday

May 17, 2012 at 12:58 am

I have done this with a group of middle school students and with my 4 year old. It was so much fun! We did it in a smaller container and added a marble to help the process and a bit of salt. Fun AND delish!

Experiments

Homemade Butter

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Have you ever looked at the ingredients on a carton of butter? You might be amazed to find that salted butter is made from only cream and salt. That’s right! Nothing else! In fact, you can make your own butter if you have the right ingredients and a bit science.

Here’s What You Need

• ½ cup Heavy whipping cream
• Marble or large bead
• A small plastic container with a lid
• Plastic cup or bowl
• Plastic spoon or knife
• Salt, Honey and/or Cinnamon (optional)

Here’s What You Do

Put the heavy whipping cream and the marble into the plastic container and put on the lid. Make sure the lid is on very tight because there is going to be a whole lot of shaking going on.

Begin to shake the container…vigorously. You should be able to hear the marble rattling around inside. Open the container from time to time and observe what is happening to the cream. It should be getting thicker. After you shake for a while, you might notice that you have something very close to whipped cream in the container. Keep shaking. Really, really shake it! After about 10 or 15 minutes of shaking, you should stop hearing the marble. Open the container. Your cream should be separated into two parts: a thin liquid (buttermilk) and a yellow solid (butter)! Pour the buttermilk into the cup or bowl. You won’t need it.

At this point, you have sweet cream butter (great on a biscuit). If you want salted butter, you can add a bit of salt. You can also add honey (honey butter), garlic salt (garlic butter), cinnamon sugar (cinnamon sugar butter), or whatever other tasty ingredient you have around the kitchen. Be creative! Now all that’s left is to grab your knife or spoon, spread your creation on some bread, and taste it. Who knew science was so delicious?!

The Science Behind the Butter

First, we need to know a bit about milk. Most people know that nearly all of the milk that we drink comes from cows. However, most people don’t know that milk is actually made up water and tiny globs of fat surrounded by a membrane. It’s kind of like tiny balloons filled with fat floating around in water. If you let fresh milk (i.e. milk right from the cow) sit around for a while, the globs of fat float to the top and form cream. The milk we get from the grocery store doesn’t do this because it has been homogenized . That means the globs of fat have been made small enough so that they are mixed evenly in the milk and will not rise to the top. Scientists call this stable suspension of solids in a liquid a colloid .

When you made your butter, you use a marble to break the membrane surrounding the globs of fat. You basically busted the fat balloon. Soon, the cream becomes filled with tiny globs of fat. These tiny globs begin to bump into each other, stick together, and form larger and larger globs of fat. After a while, you get one nice, large glob of fat. Butter!

You might notice that your butter is not as yellow as the butter that you get in the grocery store. Why is that? There are two reasons. First, some butter manufacturers add yellow coloring to their butter. The bigger reason, however, is related to the diet of the cow. Cows that eat a lot of grass produce milk that is high in a chemical called carotene . Carotene is responsible for the orange-yellow color of carrots, sweet potatoes, mangos, apricots, pumpkins, and…you guessed it…BUTTER!

Have you ever wondered why people made butter in the first place? The fat that makes up butter is airtight. This means that oxygen doesn’t easily get into the butter, bacteria needs oxygen to grow. Without the bacteria, butter doesn’t spoil. As a result, butter last much longer than the milk or cream. For people living without the convenience of electric refrigerators, this made butter very, very valuable.

Check out this tasty photo gallery about Butter.

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Make your own butter.

Science is all around us, especially in the kitchen. Why? In the kitchen we bake, fry, boil, and steam ingredients, creating tasty concoctions using culinary chemistry!

Teach your child how butter is created by shaking up cream the old-fashioned way. This yummy activity is a great way to sneak some kitchen science into snack time, and it will leave your child all buttered up for more kitchen chemistry!

What You Need:

• Half-pint or 250mL of whipping cream or heavy cream
• 2-cup (500 mL) plastic jar with a lid that seals to be watertight
• Whisk or fork
• Butter knife

What You Do:

• Pour the whipping cream into the jar and tighten the lid so that it seals
• Have your child shake the jar back and forth for about 20 minutes. You can put on dancing music to keep the shaking fun.
• Have your child look in the jar from time to time. If the contents start to get too thick to shake, use a whisk or fork to stir them more.
• When the contents start to form yellowish clumps, you're done. The solid yellow stuff you see is butter.
• Spread some of the butter onto a cracker and taste it.

What Happened?

When you shake the cream for several minutes, it causes the little globs of fat in the cream to clump together with the protein and form solid butter. The liquid left behind is called buttermilk. When cows are milked, the fresh cow's milk has cream and milk all mixed together. The cream is less dense than the milk, so the cream rises to the top of the container, where it can be skimmed off. Skim milk is the milk left behind after the cream is removed. Homogenized milk is specially treated to keep the milk and cream mixed together so they don't separate. If you have different kinds of milk in the house, try a taste test to compare nonfat (skim) milk, low-fat milk, and whole milk. It's easy to tell which is yummiest - it's the one with the most tasty creamy fat! Your child will be hungry to learn more about kitchen science after this fun experiment.

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