Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois Bill Oliver 20 October 2002 Vol 1 Issue: #8 ISSN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, Ahhh, I got into a conversation with a near centurian not long ago. We talked about the "old" days and one of the topics was butter making. Butter was made at home. You remember those hand churns made by barrel makers [coopers] that you see in so many museums. Like making homemade ice cream, the product tastes so much better [different] when you do it yourself. However, Grandmother didn't think it was so much fun, ... rather, she thought it "so much work". Butter was/is made from "ripened" [slightly soured] cream. It can be made from fresh cream, but ripened cream churns much faster and actually produces better flavored butter. Now if you can use sweet [fresh] cream the flavor is blander. How is cream ripened? Glad you asked! Let cream stand at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. The surface will appear glossy and the cream will have a slight acid taste. Left to ripen any longer will tend to make sour flavored butter. A Wisconsin cheesemaker, told me that the ripened cream has to go through concussion. Grams said that was the dairyman's term; she said it needs to be agitated. At any rate that means that the globules of butterfat suspended in the cream are brought together to form or yield the butter. So you want to try it yourself? Well, you can do it! The equipment is not expensive [exactly]. Probably you already have an electric beater, but you could use a hand wisk or an old fashioned egg beater. Shucks, you could even just shake it [but don't bruise it]. In the Middle East, leather bags were filled with cream and strapped to the backs of horses. Cream temperature should be about 60 degrees F. Higher and the butter will be soft and if lower the butter will take a heck of a lot long to form. In about fifteen minutes the cream should feel heavy. Once the granules have formed, stop churning and drain the buttermilk off. Then wash [rinse] the butter with cold water. The buttermilk poured off can be used in baking, or drunk, or even used in milkshakes. Grandma used to lay the butter on a piece of cheesecloth in a colander to let the cold water run over it. Now the work continues. The butter granules need to be worked together with a butter paddle [wooden spoon will do]. Grams added salt at this stage. She used "pinches" but I'm told that between 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per pound. This preserves the butter longer. The final product is shaped or molded and wrapped in waxed paper. Pasteurizing the cream first will assure avoiding any unpleasant taste. Any milk or cream that is allowed to stand at room temperature will ferment and curdle due to bacterial action. With careful timing, thorough sterilization of the product and the use of pure-cultures of desirable bacteria, This natural spoiling process can yield such healthful and "delicious" cultured milk products as yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk and kefir. Wado, Bill -- Notes: Link to Archived Articles http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/ Little Egypt Heritage articles will be posted on Sunday evening on the following lists: SOIL-L@rootsweb.com ILJackso-L@rootsweb.com ILJohnso-L@rootsweb.com ILMassac-L@rootsweb.com