winter butter

We had a lovely article on making winter butter, but when we added the picture, it disappeared!  Another evidence of Beth's inadequacies in computer use.  The gist of the articles was that, because the population of beneficial bacteria diminishes in cold weather, it can be harder to make butter in the cold months.  We generally culture our cream with buttermilk (mesophilic lactobacilli, to the informed) to help it reach an acidity that allows the butterfat to gather; we have experimented, however, with adding citric acid powder to achieve the same effect.  One-half teaspoon citric acid powder to one-half gallon of cream seems to do it, but slowly!   It can take an hour to churn.