Magical Butter Machine/ Infusing stuff with stuff...

[andiesenji]

During the past couple of weeks, I have had five different people send me articles and reviews about thee Magical Butter Machine, asking if I had yet purchased one, seen one, knew what it was supposed to do and "when are you going to put it on your blog?"

 

I had never heard of it, I don't do that much delving into the new, odd and interesting appliances nowadays but I finally got around to clicking on 

THIS ARTICLE to see what the excitement is all about.  And I found THIS VIDEO - and then I discovered it has been around for a while and is very popular with the cannabis crowd for making cannabis butter and other edibles.  Apparently sales in Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and northern California have been significant so that Amazon has aimed a series of online ads at those areas.  One of the inquiries was from a friend who lives in Tacoma.  

 

The business end of it (the motor and blade) are very much like my Soyabella that I use for making nut milk, rice milk and etc. (It works great)

However, the Magical Butter Machine (first, I think the name of the thing is not that informative)  has a timer that allows it to work for a much longer time than the Soyabella. 

 

The idea that one can SPEED UP the infusion process of all kinds of liquids, liquor, oils, possibly cream or milk for shorter periods, and making various sauces that usually require close attention for a prolonged period, really intrigues me.

 

But not enough to spend $155.00 to $175.00 at this time.

 

However, I know that some of you who are into "exotic" or "different" drinks, and/or infusing various things with other various things, so I am posting this for your appreciation - or ridicule, whichever you feel is most appropriate.  

[Anna N]

Interesting. Pretty sure it will not appear on my list to Santa but will be interested to see if any of our more adventurous members find it indispensable even without the "botanicals". Damn. I do love that euphemism.  Thank you for posting.

 

[Lisa Shock]

Traditionally, the old-school MB recipe has the botanicals simmer for about an hour in stockpot with water and butter. Preferably large, freshly picked, intact lower leaves and stems. (this system gets results from plant parts not thought to be worthwhile for other uses) The botanicals are not ground up. After the simmer, the hot mix is strained through a fine colander. The colander and contents have some boiling water poured over (while being held over the stockpot) to reclaim butter clinging to the colander or greens. The greens are then discarded. The stockpot is chilled until the butter is hard. The butter is then removed and the water is discarded. (yes, throw it away!) The final product has just the tiniest hint of pale green color, which disappears when cooked. (your shortbread cookies will still look the same) And, an almost imperceptible, mild spinach-like flavor.

 

The reasoning behind the old school process is that the botanicals contain a lot of different chemical components: some water soluble, some fat soluble. The water soluble compounds aren't very good for you, and they taste really bad. The botanicals do not need to be ground up, time and heat will be very effective in moving certain chemical components into the butter. An amazing amount of dark-colored, stinky stuff will move into the water, and then be out of your life.

 

IMO, that machine is much cleaner and simpler to use. But, it does not eliminate the bad, water soluble components and the ground botanicals are in the final product giving it a strong taste, color and probably a bit of a texture (for those of us used to silky fine dining foods). The straining system needs a LOT of work, I see a LOT of loss happening there. Running some boiling water through the strainer could reclaim significant amounts of butter.

 

Bottom line, it makes cute little batches neatly and keeps your kitchen clean. However, the end product is not of the best quality and people are losing a lot of product if they use that strainer.

[MelissaH]

I'm definitely not getting one. But I am reminded of the scene in Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, where Ma is making butter. She wants it to be yellower, so she grates a carrot (on a grater Pa made for her by punching holes in the bottom of an old bucket with a nail) and steeps that in the cream before she churns it. So the idea of infusing cream before it gets turned into butter is definitely not new!

[andiesenji]

I wasn't even thinking of the use with "botanicals" so much as the infused liquors with spices - the lavender-infused booze was mentioned.

 

I infuse vanilla in heavy cream  and spices in milk for some recipes.

 

I would have no use at all for it with cannabis - I have the somewhat rare genetic mutation (inherited from my father) of inactive THC receptors.  

[andiesenji]

5 hours ago, MelissaH said:

I'm definitely not getting one. But I am reminded of the scene in Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, where Ma is making butter. She wants it to be yellower, so she grates a carrot (on a grater Pa made for her by punching holes in the bottom of an old bucket with a nail) and steeps that in the cream before she churns it. So the idea of infusing cream before it gets turned into butter is definitely not new!

I never watched that show.  But I am surprised that her butter was not yellow enough.  Cows that graze on prairie grasses and plants usually produce butter that is very yellow, with a distinct vegetal flavor.  

Of course, they just wanted to make the story more interesting.

[chromedome]

That was in the first book, IIRC, when they lived in "the little house in the big woods." The cow's pasturage would probably have been pretty limited at that point. 

[MelissaH]

14 hours ago, andiesenji said:

I never watched that show.  But I am surprised that her butter was not yellow enough.  Cows that graze on prairie grasses and plants usually produce butter that is very yellow, with a distinct vegetal flavor.  

Of course, they just wanted to make the story more interesting.

I never watched the show, either. This was in the first book in the series, in Chapter 2, called "Winter Days". It's snowy enough that Pa can take a sled to help him bring home the bear that he hunts. At the bottom of page 29 of my edition, a paperback from a boxed set, the part about the butter starts:

Quote

In winter the cream was not yellow as it was in summer, and butter churned from it was white and not so pretty. Ma liked everything on her table to be pretty, so in wintertime she colored the butter.

From there, it describes grating the carrot, steeping it in the cream, straining it out (and then snacking on the carrot, shared evenly between Laura and Mary), churning the cream into butter, rinsing the butter, molding it into pretty pats with a strawberry on top, and finally drinking the buttermilk.

[Lisa Shock]

I should point out that nowadays, if I were to make edibles (I did some consulting work about 5 years ago for a commercial wholesale bakery getting into edibles.) I would make and use a tincture rather than infused butter. The Magic Butter loses much of its emulsification properties. (you can't make a good buerre blanc with MB) With a tincture, it is much easier to accurately calculate dosage, you get a smaller sized end product per dose (easier to store), it can be used in all sorts of products -not just butter-based ones (you can make vegan foods and sugarwork), if you do make butter-based foods your non-MB will retain its functionality, and the tincture has an almost indefinite shelf life at room temperature.

 

The tincture is easy to make: de-carb (bake for a little while) the botanicals, grind, then place in a container with grain alcohol for about a week, agitating occasionally. Strain. Use as-is or reduce to make a concentrated oil.