I just ate store bought butter, and it was gross.

So I just ate butter bought at our local grocery store. It was nasty. It tastes like chemicals. When did I get so darn picky? When I started making my own butter. Thanks to a friend's suggestion, I tried it and I will never go back. I must get the vile crap out of my fridge.

Do you want to learn how to make butter? YOU CAN do it. If I can, you can. Here's what you should do:

Get some heavy whipping cream. Get some salt. Get a KitchenAid stand mixer. (Ok, not necessarily that last one, but it makes life so much easier.)

Put the whipping cream in the bowl, add a pinch of salt, start the mixer on high speed and you are pretty much done.

For real, though, it is easy. I like to start my mixer on medium and I wrap the whole blessed thing in a kitchen towel because it is a little messy. Once it gets to about whipped cream consistency, I crank up the speed.

A few things to keep in mind, toward the end of the process, the butter and buttermilk separate. This is where you can end up with buttermilk all over your kitchen. Keep an eye on it.

Once your butter is "done", you need to rinse it well. If you leave buttermilk in the butter it will go bad very quickly. I like to put the butter in a bowl and squeeze it. Then I rinse it with cold water several times, squeezing the rest of the buttermilk out. Of course, save the buttermilk. It makes great ranch dressing, marinade for fried chicken, pancake batter...the list goes on.

I sometimes make the butter into a cute little rectangle, sometimes I just leave it in a ball. Do what you want. I recommend wrapping it in parchment paper instead of wrapping it in plastic or putting it in a plastic bag. It just breathes better. I have tried smoked salt, but it didn't seem to make too much of a difference. Also, if you don't add salt, it makes very sweet butter.

Try it. You will never eat store bought butter again. (And also, it is cheaper. Butter is about $4/lb here, I can make a pound of butter and get a a pint of buttermilk for less than $4.)