I received this memory and thought it a good one to share. Many of the younger generations won't ever know about homemade butter if we don't tell them. Enjoy today's memory and if you're interested in getting this newsletter, send your requests to  [email protected]   Sharon <A HREF="http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmcmin2/">http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmcmin2/</A> Cohosts Sharon McCormack, Kaye Pressley, Joyce Reece McMinn County Our Tennessee Home American Local History Network > > COUNTRY SURVIVAL > Butter > > We rush through the grocery store today and plop a tub of margarine in > our carts without thinking of how hard butter was to come by years ago. > Now this was REAL butter, not imitation stuff full of foreign stuff that > clog the arteries! My ancestors ate real butter by the pounds and lived > to be old people, so I am sure it is the additives in our food today > that cause hardening of the arteries and other diseases. > > The old folks were up early, milking the cows, slopping the hogs, > feeding the chickens and gathering eggs. After the cow was milked by > hand (no machines!) the milk was left alone in the milk pail for a > little while to allow the cream to rise to the top, then skimmed off and > put into a jar and allowed to get warm and thicken a bit. Every > household was equipped with a churn, whether it was a wooden one or a > crockery churn. Either one would have a lid with a hole in the center > and a dasher made of wood with an X shape on the bottom with a long > handle that came up through the hole. When it was time to churn the > butter the cream was poured into the churn and a little salt was added, > but wasn't necisary. Then you pull up a chair, settle in and pull the > handle up and down, up and down..........making sure to slosh (for > absense of a better word?) the cream around each time. After what seems > like an eternity it starts to harden up into butter. Some folks were > rich enough to have butter molds which put pretty little designs on the > top of a pound of butter, but most just put it in a bowl. Butter was > used up pretty fast and was churned nearly everyday. If you have never > had fresh churned butter you don't know what you are missing! I have a > quick recipe that will give you similar results but not the same as the > "real stuff" if you want to give it a try. > > 1 quart buttermilk > 1 pound real butter > > Allow buttermilk and butter to come to room temperature. Put both in a > jar (I use a gallon Mason jar, if you don't have one this large you may > have to do 2 batches in a quart jar halving each ingredient) and shake > the daylights out of it until it thickens. >