Has anyone here actually made any Butter. (Be truthful).

Floki

So with the markets the way they are. I was wondering has anyone actually made butter and would you know how to do it?
My father used to make it when he was younger and do a kind of barter for groceries in the local town.
So seeing as we are going back to the future.

Has anyone here alive now actually made the golden elixir that is BUTTER.

George Sunsnow

We made loads one day during the summer when I was a kid,the bulk tank stopped cooling and kept agitating
My Ma,God rest her,gathered most of it up in parchment paper,it was beautiful

Floki

George Sunsnow wrote: »

We made loads one day during the summer when I was a kid,the bulk tank stopped cooling and kept agitating
My Ma,God rest her,gathered most of it up in parchment paper,it was beautiful

Any salt?

George Sunsnow

I couldn't tell you whether salt was added,I just remember it happening
We and the neighbours were melting it on the curn cake for weeks

rangler1

I grew up doing my turn turning the churn....butter and eggs paid the groceries....used to sell milk too to neighbours and no one died

mattthetrasher

I made it here with the kids it was really good

Who2

Used to always milk a cow here for the house up until about 25-26 years ago. The cream would always be kept each day and butter made of it. I hated it as a child but it grew on me. A decent lump of it on a nice flowery spud and you've a good meal.

Base price

I remember my Grandmother making it when I was a child. She always used a dash churn even though my Uncle bought her a barrel one (with a handle on the side) that sat on the table.
Fond memories of helping Grandad digging new spuds, Granny would boil up the small ones for the hens and both of us would sit down and eat a puck of them smothered in fresh butter and a good shake of salt. I'd eat until I was fit to burst

Nekarsulm

There's a square glass jar in our house, holds about a gallon and a half. Has a paddle coming down from a geared handle on the lid.
Made butter once with it years ago, arm nearly fell off before it was finished.
Nowadays, with vari-speed battery drills, you could rig something up quite easily.

Dozer1

made a small amount this summer with our daughter didn't take long,

there was a butter trail tour on in Cork over summer showing the history of butter in the Cork area was pretty interesting

http://thetaste.ie/wp/old-butter-roads-food-trail/

coolshannagh28

Was made at my Grandmothers when I was a child and we would have made it a couple of time since with the churn, unforgettable taste.

atlantic mist

grandfather makes it with a used 7 up bottle, no fancy churn, sea salt added

orm0nd

yep, hand separator & end over end churn in the summer time,

small glass churn for the winter months

had built up a nice clientele but got depopulated with brucellosis & decided for every one's safety to give it up.

kowtow

Was everybody using a separator before the churn or just letting the cream rise and/ or skimming?

Bass Reeves

Made it in the 70's when butter rose in price to nearly a pound a pound. My mother got a butter churn from an old widowed farmer. We used a while enamel pan ( about 15-18'' in diameter) to separate the cream. You just put fresh milk into it every day or second day and skimmed the cream off. We also skimmed the cream off the milk for the house.

About twice a week we churned it. It was around churn with a handle that spun paddle inside the churn. When the butter was formed you removed the paddle if I remember right you put all the butter into the white enamel bowl. You washed it and salted it and made it into pads about 1/2 pound in weight. We used to use 6-8 lbs of butter a week so it was some saving. It took a while to develop a taste for this butter as it was stronger and saltier than store bought butter.

Not sure how long we did it for but it was at least 12 months. Loads of people started to buy blue band maragine at the time. Horrible stuff.

orm0nd

my mum used to make lovely home made bread with the "buttermilk"

it had a distinctive sharp taste , maybe not to everybody's liking

KatyMac

I have a glass churn that sits on the table and make butter regularly in it. But, recently discovered that an electric mixer will do the job with a lot less effort (daughter accidently made butter while whipping cream for an apple tart!!) I have a few neighbours who would take the hand off me for home made butter. A small bit of salt and there is nothing nicer!

Sam Kade

Floki wrote: »

So with the markets the way they are. I was wondering has anyone actually made butter and would you know how to do it?
My father used to make it when he was younger and do a kind of barter for groceries in the local town.
So seeing as we are going back to the future.

Has anyone here alive now actually made the golden elixir that is BUTTER.

Could you run me through the process of butter making as I'm thinking of drawing a bit of milk from the tank to make butter

Talking about bartering, my mother used to produce eggs for a shop in Mallow back in the 70's and got groceries in exchange, nobody died and the towns people went mad for the eggs, the good old days

Base price

orm0nd wrote: »

my mum used to make lovely home made bread with the "buttermilk"

it had a distinctive sharp taste , maybe not to everybody's liking

When I was a child my Granny and Mam used to make white and brown soda bread (with buttermilk) every day. Everyone household baked bread to feed the family. In those days there was no Johnston Mooney & O'Brien or Pat the Baker etc bread available to buy in shops, so the women had to bake daily. I remember 4 stone cotton bags of Ranks flour (both plain and wholemeal) sitting in the scullery.
My Mam told me that in her day her Mam (my Granny) used to boil the flour bags to remove the blue Ranks print from the bags so that they could make bed sheets and pillow cases from them as cotton cloth was very expensive/not available after the War.
To this day I still make white and wholemeal soda bread using buttermilk. Unfortunately the shop bought buttermilk today is nothing like it was a few years ago.

Subzero3

Made it in college a few times but in a kitchen aid. The first time I made it was by mistake, I was whipping cream and went to the other kitchen and forgot about the kitchen aid whizzing at high speed it was the last of the cream to so got a bollocking lol

Sam Kade

Base price wrote: »

When I was a child my Granny and Mam used to make white and brown soda bread (with buttermilk) every day. Everyone household baked bread to feed the family. In those days there was no Johnston Mooney & O'Brien or Pat the Baker etc bread available to buy in shops, so the women had to bake daily. I remember 4 stone cotton bags of Ranks flour (both plain and wholemeal) sitting in the scullery.
My Mam told me that in her day her Mam (my Granny) used to boil the flour bags to remove the blue Ranks print from the bags so that they could make bed sheets and pillow cases from them as cotton cloth was very expensive/not available after the War.
To this day I still make white and wholemeal soda bread using buttermilk. Unfortunately the shop bought buttermilk today is nothing like it was a few years ago.

You remember the war :eek: only joking you're the same age bracket as myself

looksee

I've always been a townie, but yes, I have made butter (cream in a jar and shake like mad), cottage cheese and yoghurt (years ago, admittedly) and soda bread and scones using (bought) buttermilk.

Floki

Sam Kade wrote: »

Could you run me through the process of butter making as I'm thinking of drawing a bit of milk from the tank to make butter

Talking about bartering, my mother used to produce eggs for a shop in Mallow back in the 70's and got groceries in exchange, nobody died and the towns people went mad for the eggs, the good old days

Someone help Sam out on how to make butter.
I wouldn't have a clue and I've never seen it made.

I'm sure not all the old days were good but sure anyways.

Edit: just spotted the post above. It's probably as good and simple a way as any.

orm0nd

Base price wrote: »

When I was a child my Granny and Mam used to make white and brown soda bread (with buttermilk) every day. Everyone household baked bread to feed the family. In those days there was no Johnston Mooney & O'Brien or Pat the Baker etc bread available to buy in shops, so the women had to bake daily. I remember 4 stone cotton bags of Ranks flour (both plain and wholemeal) sitting in the scullery.
My Mam told me that in her day her Mam (my Granny) used to boil the flour bags to remove the blue Ranks print from the bags so that they could make bed sheets and pillow cases from them as cotton cloth was very expensive/not available after the War.
To this day I still make white and wholemeal soda bread using buttermilk. Unfortunately the shop bought buttermilk today is nothing like it was a few years ago.

remember the pillows stuffed with feathers

local shop used to have the flour in a store out back, people used to buy paraffin oil by the gallon for lamps and heaters, often the flour smelled of paraffin oil as the shopkeeper wasn't too careful,


my maternal granny used to make griddle bread baked over turf on the open fire

anyhow sorry for pulling thread off topic, maybe thoughts for a thread for childhood memories for the more mature boardies on here

sylvinias

My mother made it with a Kenwood Chef. Just kept whipping cream til it turned to butter.

I don't know at what stage salt went in.

We had two butter pats - but probably something like two fish slices or thingies for flipping a fried egg would do. She gathered the butter up from the liquid (the buttermilk) and flipped it back and forth between the wooden pats, to form it into the familiar rectangular shape.

Relatively simple to make.

My grandfather had the traditional big churn: if you were in his house as he made it, you had to turn the churn before leaving. That was some sort of superstitious thing; a belief that the butter would sour.

Sam Kade

Floki wrote: »

Someone help Sam out on how to make butter.
I wouldn't have a clue and I've never seen it made.

I'm sure not all the old days were good but sure anyways.

Edit: just spotted the post above. It's probably as good and simple a way as any.

I saw it made at the Charleville show a few years back, just wondering does the op practice what they preach

Base price

Sam Kade wrote: »

You remember the war :eek: only joking you're the same age bracket as myself

I always loved talking to my Mam about the "emergencies" and the problems that she had in those days. She was born in 1928 and lived in the aftermath of Independence and WW1. I loved hearing her stories of when she came to Dublin to be a trainee nurse (@16yo) and the rationing books and how they couldn't get stockings during the WW2. Apparently the girls would "tan" their lower legs with tea so as to pretend they were wearing stocking and draw a line up the back of their legs with a bit of coal so it looked liked they were wearing real silk stockings.

Base price

orm0nd wrote: »

remember the pillows stuffed with feathers

local shop used to have the flour in a store out back, people used to buy paraffin oil by the gallon for lamps and heaters, often the flour smelled of paraffin oil as the shopkeeper wasn't too careful,


my maternal granny used to make griddle bread baked over turf on the open fire

anyhow sorry for pulling thread off topic, maybe thoughts for a thread for childhood memories for the more mature boardies on here

+1

Suckler

This thread reminded me of this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZlPN8i8wX8

I've "made" butter.....badly..it didn't taste nice. Must have another go.
Made soft cheese recently. Picked up a kit at the Strokestown show. Creative cheese works is the company name. You could add different flavours to the cheese to your own taste.

rangler1

Base price wrote: »

I always loved talking to my Mam about the "emergencies" and the problems that she had in those days. She was born in 1928 and lived in the aftermath of Independence and WW1. I loved hearing her stories of when she came to Dublin to be a trainee nurse (@16yo) and the rationing books and how they couldn't get stockings during the WW2. Apparently the girls would "tan" their lower legs with tea so as to pretend they were wearing stocking and draw a line up the back of their legs with a bit of coal so it looked liked they were wearing real silk stockings.

Same as my mother, she was born 1912 and told us about the IRA taking over couple bedrooms in their house and one of them sleeping under a portrait of King George.....Didn't write down enough of their stories

Floki

rangler1 wrote: »

Same as my mother, she was born 1912 and told us about the IRA taking over couple bedrooms in their house and one of them sleeping under a portrait of King George.....Didn't write down enough of their stories

I wonder did any of them make butter??

The "on the runs" on both sides during the war of idependence and civil used to stay here as well not in a bedroom but on two different lofts. It was the "perfect" safe house as a prody farmhouse would never be searched.
That time you kept your head down and your mouth shut if you didn't want to be hung from a tree.

kowtow

Base price wrote: »

I always loved talking to my Mam about the "emergencies" and the problems that she had in those days. She was born in 1928 and lived in the aftermath of Independence and WW1. I loved hearing her stories of when she came to Dublin to be a trainee nurse (@16yo) and the rationing books and how they couldn't get stockings during the WW2. Apparently the girls would "tan" their lower legs with tea so as to pretend they were wearing stocking and draw a line up the back of their legs with a bit of coal so it looked liked they were wearing real silk stockings.

My Mother was born the year before yours - she's getting frail now but still living on her own, in the UK most of the year, and she still makes soda bread most days. Until recently she would get strong flour and buttermilk sent over from here because she claimed she couldn't get it in England but I think - to her disgust - the "ethnic foods" aisle of Waitrose now has it!

KatyMac

sylvinias wrote: »

My mother made it with a Kenwood Chef. Just kept whipping cream til it turned to butter.

I don't know at what stage salt went in.

When the butter is formed you have to wash it until the water runs clear ie, make sure the buttermilk is all gone because it will go off kinda quickly otherwise. You then sprinkle salt (to taste) on it and mix it well in before forming it into whatever shape/size pats. It will keep well, but in this house it has a very short life expectancy:)