Maybe How they used to make butter would be a better headline, but we can make butter today , just for fun or to show our children how milk turns into butter.

What is a churn? A very simple device our great-grandmothers, grandmothers and some mothers used to prepare real homemade butter. It is a wooden, cone shaped container with a wooden lid and a stick inserted into the lid. At the bottom of the stick there is a round part with holes. The holes help to agitate the cream.

Milk was put in clay tubs covered with gauze and left to get sour. The cream would rise to the top and sour milk would stay under it. The sour milk was used to make cheese.

The skimmed cream was put in the churn and agitated by quick up and down movements of the stick. The process took up to half an hour until the butter started separating from the buttermilk which was then poured off and the butter was shaped in different forms.

How to make butter today?

Buy whipping cream in a shop, leave it outside the fridge for some time because you need the room temperature cream (15-18° C). Pour the cream in a jar, put a marble in it (yes, a marble!), close the jar tightly and shake. The process will take about half an hour, so I highly recommend to include other members of your family. Your children will enjoy shaking the jar to see how cream is turning into butter and probably remember it for life. When butter starts separating from the butter milk continue shaking for a few more minutes, then pour off the butter milk. To make the butter last longer you need to wash it. Add very cold water into the jar and pour the water off. Repeat that several times until the water is clear. It is also important to drain the butter so squeeze it between two wooden boards. And finally there it is. Fresh homemade butter.

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