How to make butter: at home edition!

Posted in Education on April 15, 2020

We can’t be together during this time so we’re coming up with at home activities for you to learn and participate in. Check our blog, Facebook and Instagram each Wednesday for a new at home activity. This weeks activity is:

How to make butter: at home edition!

Materials:

Heavy Cream
Salt
Honey, cinnamon, garlic, rosemary, sage (any or all of these depending on how you wish to flavor your homemade butter)
Small jar with a tight fitting lid
Knife
Slice of bread
Your own two hands

Directions:

The first thing you want to do is take your heavy cream out of the fridge and let it sit out for half an hour. Letting it warm slightly beforehand will speed up the churning process.
After the heavy cream has sit out for half an hour, pour it in your jar of choice. It’s a good idea to start small and work your way to a larger batch as you gain more experience. You can add a pinch of salt to flavor.
Leave a little bit of head space in your jar. You want room for the butter to mix when you are shaking it up.
Now get ready to do some shaking! Lose a layer if you have to, roll up your sleeves, cause this part is hard work. Make sure the lid is on tightly, and start shaking vigorously!
This whole process might take 10 to 20 minutes.

Here is a fun song for you to sing while you are churning your butter. It does indeed make the time go by faster. It is called:

“Shake It”

Sung to the tune of “I have something in my pocket” or the “Brownie Smile Song”

We’re going to make some butter
Rich and creamy too,
with milk from a cow’s udder
before you can “mooo”.

Chorus:
So shake, shake, shake it,
Shake it if you can,
Shake it like a milk shake
And shake it once again.
Pour some cream into a jar,
Get a friend or two,
Make sure the lid is on tightly,
That’s all you have to do.

Chorus

We’re learning while we’re churning,
Hey it’s a lot of fun,
It’s easy to make butter,
Let’s eat when it is done.

Chorus

Oh, listen very carefully,
It’s sounding different now,
Hooray, it’s finally butter!
Be sure to thank a cow.

Song courtesy of Shelburne Farms

6. After about 3-5 minutes, take the lid off your jar and check the status of your butter. It may look like liquid still, or it may look more like whipped cream like this photo! If it is looking like whipped cream, keep going you’re on the right track.

7. Keep shaking and singing. Listen while you’re shaking too. You might start to hear your butter changing. Take a peek, it might start to look chunky like this.

8. As it gets closer to the finished product it will release something called butter milk. You will hear a little liquid starting to slosh around while you shake. You are almost there!

9. This is the home stretch of shaking. Are your arms tired yet?

10. You will know your butter is complete when you hear the buttermilk separate from the butter. Take a peek! You should have a glob of butter surrounded by all the buttermilk, like in this photo.