SC - "bog butter"

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

Jean Holtom <Snowfire at mail.snet.net wrote:


>"The milk was left to stand in the churn for 2 - 3 days until it thickened
>naturally.  When the butter was slow in coming some red hot "Kirnin' stones
>were thrown in to help the separation process.  When the butter had
gathered
>at the top it was lifted out into an earthenware dish and washed several
times
>in cold water to remove any remaining milk, which could turn it sour
quickly.
>It then had to be de-haired by passing a knife through it several times to
>remove any animal hairs on the knife edge.

Probably correct. I think I´ve seen something similar in Icelandic texts and
there are several references in old sources to the fact that Icelandic
butter frequently was rather hairy. And completely unsalted, even though it
was being kept for months, even years. Despite this, my ancestors consumed
several pounds of butter each week.

Extremely poor people, who had no cow and only got a few litres of milk per
day during the summer from their ewes, would sometimes collect each days
milk into a barrel for many weeks, then churn the sour milk in the autumn.

The butter was usually kept in wooden chests or barrels, or in leather
containers, but always indoors, not buried in the ground out of doors
(possibly half buried into the floor sometimes, as barrels used for curds
(skyr) and fermented whey (sýra) frequently were.

Nanna



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