MMM-MMM HOME MADE BUTTER

Hello neighbor, glad you stopped by.

Have you ever had home made butter?  It is the best. No wonder I like butter on everything. This is the way it works.

In my grandmother's kitchen at the end of the counter was this gadget, called a separator, that was used to strain the milk. Of course this milk is right from the cow kind, not that cooked kind.  This gadget had a big metal bowl on top where the milk was poured into.  I remember that there was this metal thing that had 10 or so discs and each one had a hole in it and these had to be lined up just right.  When the machine was working, the discs would spin and somehow that would separate the cream from the milk. There were two spouts so that the cream would flow out of one spout and the left over milk out of the other. It was the cream that we used to make the butter.

So first you milked the cow and then you separate the cream from the milk.  When you had enough cream we would then get the butter churn.  We had two different types. One was just a small wooden one that had batters inside and we would turn the handle to make the batters work in the cream until it began to separate and you could  hear the butter begin to form. The other was a large wooden barrel with a top that was clamped down. With this one we would turn the whole barrel over and over until you could hear the butter as it began to separate from the milk. It would make a splashing sound.  Be sure you have clamped the top down good and tight or you would have a big accident.

Once the butter was completely separated, the next step was to collect it out of the butter milk (that was what the milk was called after it was separated). My grandmother had a big wooden spatula that she would work the butter to get all the butter milk out of the butter.  Salt would also be added as the butter was worked.

When this process was done, the next step was to package it.  I remember doing this step, too.  There was a special kind of paper that you would wet it and lay it on the table and smooth it out.  Then there was a small wooden container that  was put together.  The bottom piece had designs in it and there were two sides that fit around the bottom piece and hooked in place.  After that was put together a lump of butter would be put in the box and with the wood spatula the butter would be pressed down until the box was filled.  With the spatula you would smooth the butter nice and even.

Then you would take off the sides of the box and place the butter down in the middle of the wet paper and carefully life off the wooden bottom piece.  Then you would wrap the butter in the wet paper and set it a side to dry. And that was how we made our butter.

Some times we had so many lbs. of butter that Mom would take it to one of the small local stores and sell it to them. I expect with all the health rules, etc. that would not be allowed today. I guess if you had your own cows you could make some for yourself.  Then there is the shake a bottle kind of butter by buying some cream and put it in a bottle and just keep shaking it. A good project for kids to do.

Well, that's the way we did it on the farm.  Stop by again and maybe we just might have some.