Butter Churns

These two butter churns are available for sale at Persnickety Primitives.  The first is a true antique - the real deal.  It is a 4 quart Dazey butter churn in great condition.  The second is a reproduction crock style butter churn with dasher.  I have one similar to it setting in my kitchen.  The first is very similar to the one that my grandmother had which is now a treasured part of my own collection.  I remember when I was a small child, my grandmother would sit me in one of her old wooden kitchen chairs.  She would scoot me all the way to the back of the chair.  Then she would set the butter churn filled with cream between my little legs and let me turn the crank.  I was fascinated with the process as I saw the bits of butter start to form.  Once done, Mamaw would form the butter into a round cake and roll a cut glass salt dip across the top to form a pattern.  She would then pour the remaining buttermilk into a pitcher and store it in the refrigerator to be served with cornbread. 

These are the instructions for churning butter if you have your own butter churn:

Making butter at home is a very simple job.  With very few easy steps you can make fresh delicious butter at home.  Fresh milk cream is agitated to make butter.  There are a number of factors that are responsible for the quality of butter formed, like temperature of cream, quality, etc.  Following are the steps on how to churn butter.

Cream Formation:  You can use milk of a cow or other animal, like goat, buffalo, etc.  Collect the milk in a clean container and allow the milk to cool in a refrigerator (12 hours at least).  A layer of cream will be formed on the top of the milk.  Separate this cream from the milk bu skimming it slightly.  You can do this with the help of a spoon.  Collect the cream in a jar with a tight lid.

Cream Souring:  This is the most important step in order to get a good quality butter.  Keep the collected cream in such a place where the temperature is between 60 - 75 degrees Fahrenheit, for approximately 12 hours.  This process is called souring of milk, wherein the acidic content of the cream is developed.

Churning the Butter:  Once the cream has soured, it is time to churn the butter.  You can use any of the butter churns mentioned above.  Butter churning can be done even with the help of a simple jar.  Put the cream in the butter churn and stir the cream.  Every butter churn has a different assembly for churning butter.  Stir the cream until you see formation of butter balls.  Churn the butter in a uniform manner.  If you are using a jar as  your butter churn, all you have to do is shake the jar until the butter is formed.  There is no specific time for butter formation.  So keep an eye on the cream as you stir it.  At the end, you will see a yellow shaded globule, which is butter.

Separation of Butter and Buttermilk:  While churning the butter, a white fluid is left behind:  this is buttermilk.  Remove the butter from the buttermilk.  Collect the butter in a container and put some cold water in it.  Gently rinse the butter in this water.  Drain this water and place the butter in a clean container.  Sprinkle some salt on the butter for its preservation.  Your homemade butter is ready.  Store both the butter and the buttermilk in the refrigerator and you can use them whenever you want.  Buttermilk is tasty too and you can add salt and pepper to add flavor, else you can also make buttermilk biscuits.

Butter churning becomes easy with experience and you get to know what things to do and what not to.  It is necessary that the cream is soured properly before making butter.  The containers used should be clean.  These were a few tips on how to churn butter.  So, now that you know about butter churns and simple steps for churning butter, you can maka a luscious tasty butter at home.

Information from www.buzzle.com