This is my beloved butter churn, given to me by my beloved husband. The only thing that was missing was a dasher. And the proper lid, which was also supplied by the aforementioned beloved daughter-in-law. 
Does it look like I'm hugging my butter churn? Because I am! I love butter in a Julia Child sort of way. And I love making my own butter. Want to join me?
First we'll need to scald the churn and dasher with boiling water. 
Next, we add some heavy cream which we've allowed to reach room temperature. Cold cream won't work. Not sure why, but it doesn't. There is a scientific answer, but do we care? Meh!
By the way, I used a pint of cream. We're going to move the dasher up and down like a plunger, keeping a steady pace. Now you know why pioneer women were buff...
It's going to take thirty to forty-five minutes, so we'll kill time reading a book about beekeeping, which is our soon-to-be next adventure. Woot!
We know we're ready for the next step when a soft mass of butter begins to form on the dasher. The sound in the churn will be less splashy and more thunky. Holding a strainer over the bowl, pour the butter out.
Did you ever wonder how buttermilk was made? There you go. The white liquid remaining is buttermilk. Pour it into a jar and save it for some baking.
This is my ever-so-cool antique butter paddle. I don't like antiques you have to dust, I like antiques you have to use. And what is more...oh, let's just move on
Place the buttery blob in a bigger bowl and use the paddle to squeeze out the excess buttermilk while rinsing the butter with cold water. This prevents the butter from turning sour. You press it against the sides of the bowl until all the buttermilk comes out. When you rinse, the water will come clean. Then pour all of the rinse water off and discard.
Next, add a pinch or two of salt and mix in.
Lastly, I wrap the butter in a lightly greased piece of parchment paper.
Refrigerate until firm. I'm on the hunt for an affordable antique butter stamp. I passed one up in Texas, and I'm kicking myself now because I found after some investigating that the one I'd seen had a really reasonable price compared to what they go for here.Well, we don't have to have a press to enjoy what we've made. Bon appetit!
33 comments:
oh my gosh. so do i now have to post a tutorial on how to crochet?
seriously....i LOVE that you use your antique things, so do i. i want to be using what the 'old folks' would have used. enough with this plastic kitchen junk. beekeeping! cant wait. mmmm homemade buttermilk. my dad would LOVE ! XO
ps. AND! my favorite quote by Julia..
"everything tastes good with enough butter ..."
Very cool! I thoroughly enjoyed this post - I love learning how to do things, and this was a nice refresher course on butter-making (I learned once years ago, but had forgotten about the rinsing part). Now I'm tempted to start hunting for a churn myself. :o) Good luck on your antique butter stamp quest....
So cool! Except I kept getting distracted by the darling Cath Kidston apron:) My aunt had a butter churn and dasher in her dining room. . . and on more than one occasion I got in trouble for playing with it. Well now I know, we really should have used the darn thing! Enjoyed the lesson. And bees? You are one adventuresome lady. Have fun!
The dasher is very nice. I know that people aren't allowed to mention the "m" word in your house. :D What is the cream to butter ratio?
NoAngelina :) You have to show me in person. And I'll let you use my butter churn. Julia's right--everything does taste good with enough butter! xo
Hi Mrs.Lenz!
The butter looks professionally made.
( That's because it is made by a professional!)
The butter-paddle is so cute.
I absolutely LOVE all the little details of all the old-fashioned supplies you used for making the homemade butter. The butter churn looks like Winnie The Pooh's honey pot!
Love, B3
Audrey
P.S The B3 sign is a bee.The body is the B,and the 3 is the wings.
Beth, I hope you find a churn. It's fun.
Amy, thank you. The apron came from my very first blogging friend Simmy at Echoes of a Dream. Sadly she no longer blogs.
Steph, so glad you remembered about the M word. The pint made about one cup of butter.
Audrey B3, I <3 you.
I'm glad you're back, and I'm glad I know where buttermilk comes from. It makes the best pancakes.
Hugs to you! I can't wait to read about your bees! do you read Tales from the Coop Keeper? she has some interesting stuff on bees. I feel like I've asked you that before.
Oh well.
you adorable butter-making thing, you... eat some on homemade scones.
i agree with leslie! and what's the M word? do you remember what laura's mothers butter stamp had on it? bit of book trivia..
yay, this is amazing! and i've missed you!
oh and you know you're my friend!!! i adore you :)
You are a marvel! Thanks so much for this very instructive post. I love to bake with real buttermilk but never knew what it was.
Angelina, "M" is for margarine. And I'm ashamed to tell you that I can't remember Ma Ingalls' butter press design. Was it a sheaf of wheat?
Beekeeping and butter-churning. Can I have your life?
I made homemade butter a few times (minus the authentic churn) and we all loved it. My kids still ask me to make it again. Mmm, mmm.
If sweet cream butter is going to be kept in the refridgerator, it doesn't need to be washed with water, it'll spoil in the fridge at the same rate that it would have spoiled if it were still cream.
Buttermilk that we find in the stores is usually cultured, in order to give the pancakes and biscuits their tangy buttermilk flavor.
Also, pre-refridgeration butter was cultured because there was no way to keep the milk from culturing itself. Culturing means that the organisms in milk multiply and create flavors, not that the milk sours. Culturing happens when you don't KILL the milk by pasteurizing it. What we have today in the U.S. is called sweet cream butter (even if it's salted) that means that it is not cultured. Virtually all pre-modern and the good modern French butters are cultured. In order to culture the butter so that you have "real" butter and "real" tasty butter milk, you can buy cultures, make your own, or use the modern substitute of putting a tablespoon of sour cream into the cream before you churn butter. Let the sour cream sit in the cream for about a day or so so that the cultures from the sour cream can multiply in the cream and give it flavors. After you churn the butter, you will have nicely flavored true butter like Ma Ingalls used to make, and like the French still use. The run off will also be the yummy, tangy buttermilk that flavors biscuits, pancakes, and tenderizes fried chicken.
In order to culture your butter so that it is naturally cultured instead of artificially cultured by using sour cream, you MUST get "raw" milk, or unpasteurized milk. Without raw milk, you will never be tasting the potential that caused butter to become indispensible in fine dining.
Once you have cultured butter, you should add herbs, fruits and jellies for a real treat with tea, snacks, or post dessert coffee.
Clearly, your son married the right woman--someone who gets you and knows just how to make your heart to flip-flops (in a pioneering woman sort of way). I think you need to go back to Texas to pick up that butter stamp. Can there be any other opinion on the subject. Thanks so much for keeping the science out of this because, really, who needs that?
butter churning looks fun! i could see myself doing that...
my father in law had (they all died this winter!) bees and the honey is so good, more thin syrupy-ish than the honey you buy in the plastic bear thing, which i thought was interesting. don't forget to use the beeswax to do some encaustics, candles, and lip balm! we will wait patiently for the tutorials. :)
xoxo
Niamh, loved the info and I'll give the sour cream method a try. I make the butter the way I was taught at the working farm. but you're making me want to do some more research. I do add herbs to my butter in the summer time. Basil butter is awesome on roasted cob-corn.
This is amazing! This looks like such a great workout -- you should come out with a Pioneer Exercise DVD!
I can't wait to hear about your bee keeping adventures too...
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/How-To-Make-Butter-And-Buttermilk.aspx?page=4
Interesting ideas and thoughts on making butter and buttermilk.
I want to taste that yummy butter!!!
Yummy....real butter! I love it. We may have all the technology, medicines and other goodies these days, but I really think that people in ages past has much tastier food...that is, if they were in the right place where food was plentiful.
Sweety...you are too cute making that butter!!
I'll just need to find you a butter stamp here in Texas.I'm a lookin'
Why, thank you kindly, Miss Rayanne :)
and I thought I was being domestic by making a meat loaf! ;-) This is so cool,this also looks like a perfect exercise for solitude and developing patience.
Wow Jodi, this is very cool -- I am impressed! And you look very pioneerish (I mean that in a good way, aka The Pioneer Woman). Now...will you do a picture tutorial of beekeeping, too?
My children love making butter. They use a jar and a marble, and shake it. No jars broken as yet. I like the idea of your churn. I still wish I had picked up a jar and paddle version in a reclaimation yard. Look forward to hearing about the bees. They are on my list too.
You're having TOO MUCH FUN again! You do have the gift of enjoying life, the gift of curiosity, the adventurous spirit. Thank you for sharing it, Jodie!
wow, very cool!! but 45 minutes of churning? yikes!!
i hope we'll be able to try that one day :)
So stinkin' cool. Jodi. Homemade butter, yum. We have three butter stamps, but alas, no churn. Perhaps a road trip is in order.
she makes butter, keeps bees, and blogs "WOOT". so cool. <3
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