[Sca-cooks] Re: Making butter

[Stefan li Rous]

Balthazar of Blackmoor asked:
> --- Devra at aol.com wrote:
> >  If your butter wept, maybe you didn't wash quite
> > all the buttermilk out.
> >
> > Devra the Baker
>
> Wash out the buttermilk, huh?  You know, the
> instructions didn't say anything about washing out the
> buttermilk... at least, not to my knowledge.  Care to
> describe the process?  Maybe this would have saved me
> some churning time, since I churned and churned and
> churned until I simply could not churn no more.....:)

There are several descriptions given in this file in the FOOD section
of the Florilegium for making butter:
butter-msg        (99K)  4/13/01    Period butter. Making butter. Butter churns.

I don't think any of these descriptions talk about washing the butter
blobs.

There is also one type of butter making where the milk is allowed to sit
for several days before making butter from it. This is discussed in
several of the messages in this file. Some messages also indicate that
temperature will affect how fast the cream will collect into butter.
--
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****

> Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 16:25:29 EDT
> From: Mordonna22 at aol.com
> Subject: SC - butter making clarificatoin
>
> hmmm
> To clarify my earlier post on butter making:
>
> Tools needed:
> 1 butter churn (an urn of wood or ceramics or fired pottery to hold 1 1/2 to
> 2 gallons) with a lid with a hole in the middle.
>
> 1 butter dasher (a cross shaped paddle affixed to the end of a  stick that
> will fit through the hole in the lid)
>
> You will also need un-homogenized, high butterfat milk, or heavy cream.  You
> should allow it to sit out at room temperature overnight to separate and sour
> just a bit.  Skim the cream from the milk and refrigerate the skimmed milk to
> use or drink.  Pour the cream into the churn and churn with a slow steady beat
> until the butter begins to rise to the top and there are yellow flakes of
> butter on the handle of the dasher.  Remove the butter from the buttermilk by
> either sieving through cheesecloth or by hand by squeezing the butter
> particles in the milk until it begins to form a cake.  Pat into a cake or
> press into a mold.  If you wish to salt it add the salt now and squeeze it
> through the cake before you mold it.  Keep refrigerated and use within two
> weeks or until it grows hair, whichever comes first.  It freezes quite nicely
> and will keep for an unlimited time.  Reserve and refrigerate the buttermilk
> for making scones, biscuits, and cornbread.
>
> To make a small amount, you can put 1 pint un-homogenized heavy cream into a 1
> quart canning jar, allow to sit several hours at room temperature, then gently
> ROLL the jar steadily until the butter forms.
>
> By the way, clarifying butter is something else again.  To clarify real butter
> you place over very low heat until it is separates into a clear liquid and a
> cloudy liquid, skim off the clear liquid, this is clarified butter.  Here in
> The Valley of the Sun, we just sit it outside for a half hour or so.
>
> Mordonna