Butter making...

[Kristianna]

I just got the neatest thing to help me separate my cream from the milk.

Have you ever put a straw down into your soda and placed your finger over the tip of the straw and lifted soda out of the glass? That is exactly how this works. It is called a "cream lifter" and I got it on ebay. It came with the original packaging but there was no date on it. anyway, the guy said it was from the 1930s or 1940s.

I haven't used it yet, but I am going to try it later this afternoon after I go pick up our raw milk at the farm.

My next purchase is going to be a butter churn. Next spring we are planning to look into having animals that we can get milk from.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share.

[Freeholdfarm]

Hi, Kristin, did you know you can make butter without a butter churn? When we were kids, and had the dairy, and then our own Brown Swiss cow at the house after the dairy was sold, Mom would put warm cream in quart jars and give them to us kids to shake until the butter came. It doesn't take long -- you would need to supervise, in case they got too exuberant. And Mom had us sit on the floor.

I've done it with a group of children at our church's Summer Program, also. I had to buy the cream (I didn't even have any goats at the time, and goat cream is hard to get anyway). I left it out to get warm -- on a warm summer day -- and it took all of about five minutes of shaking to get butter. I hadn't expected it to come so fast, and some of the children didn't get to help shake, but I didn't have any more cream! They did all get a pat of butter to take home, though.

The butter churns are nice if you have LOTS of cream -- we used to have one, but Mom gave it to the local museum when I wasn't around to tell her I'd like to have it. It would be expensive to replace!

Kathleen

[Kristianna]

Hi Kathleen ~

This is exactly how we currently make our own butter. We've been doing it this way since we began drinking raw milk last October.

I don't pour all the cream off because I want my kids to have that fat in their milk - we just had the healthiest fall, winter, spring *ever* and I think it is partly due to the raw milk.

If my children aren't available to shake the cream I end up doing it and my wrists get sore. That's the only reason I want a butter churn. I need to "save" my wrists for knitting and sewing - which also put a strain on them.

LOL! My husband has even taken to shaking the jars when they are sitting around.

I won't buy a butter churn unless I can find one at a super deal. I don't want a huge one, either.

Thank you for your post, Kathleen.

[pinkroses]

Hey there, I just found you all!! I live in Va. My Mom and Grandmothers use to make homemade butter. Mom made her's using the cream. I remember helping her churn using the old fashioned method. My mom worked herself silly. Sheila from Va. I think I will visiting you all always wanted to visit Canda and Alaska! But, can't travel much because of health problems.

[Jenny]

pinkroses, sounds like you've had some great experiences. We'd love to hear more about your memories of growing up with your mother cooking on a woodstove, making butter, and all sorts of other stuff. Do you still have some of her recipes, or know how she did things?

We're getting ready to get goats again since we moved back here---- probably 4 does and a buckling. At least 2 of the does are pregnant, but haven't decided on the other 2 we'll get. ANyway, I'm looking forward to trying some cheese. Would love to make butter, but with goats I don't think it will be regular thing. I'm sure I'll give it a shot just to experience it. The thread on goats with info on Nigerian Dwarf goats really got me thinking. I'll bet with the high butterfat content of their milk, it would be worth the effort of making butter for a special treat timetimes. I'm sure even NDgoats would have the cream on the top like from a cow, but seems like it would be way better than alpines. The ones we're getting are Alpines or Alpine crosses.

Jenny

[arlene]

If you're making butter by shaking the cream in a jar, can you just pop it into the canner once it turns to butter and can it???

[Chuck]

Hi Arlene, (Oops. Just saw I didn't log Chuck out. This is Jenny)

I've only made a tiny bit of butter (with a jar) from our goats, but it was so delicious that we savored every bit. I have canned butter, but it changes the texture. It would be better than nothing in a pinch so I keep some stored. I would think you could do that with goat butter. Have you canned butter before? Maybe you have a way to can it so that the texture and taste are better. I thought I put a post here about canning butter, but maybe not. I'll check and if I didn't I will. I'll find my recipe, but I think I just used a boiling water bath canner.

Jenny

[arlene]

Hi Jenny, thanks for replying. You did post about canning butter - which is what sent me off on that tangent :-) I started wondering about it because of the possiblity of not getting enough cream during the winter months to keep us in fresh butter... you know, once we actually get started.

No, I haven't canned anything before. I was going to do a practice batch with some goulash this past weekend, but discovered that Mom's canner is not a pressure canner. Even though the meat would be cooked prior to filling the jars, I was still concerned about trying to can that in a hot water bath.

I guess I'm going to have to break down and buy a canner new. Everyone is still trying to get their lives back together down here, so the thrift stores and yard sales just don't have that much available. Looks like more research for me to see which canner would be best.

[Jenny]

Hi,

I would not can meat in anything but a pressure canner. If I didn't have a pressure canner, I'd dehydrate the meat (make jerky). Now I dehydrate most vegetables instead of canning them.

Everyone has their own preference for canner types. I think they all work fine. If I could find one at a yard sale for a good price, that's what I'd get. Here are some things to consider before you buy a new one. I have the kind with the weight that jiggles. It's loud and drives me buggy while I'm canning. Keeps my boys awake during nap time. I think that's the big disadvantage to that kind. The other kind is quiet. That's nice, but I have used them and find that I often forget about it since it's so quiet. Unless you remember to check it frequently, you won't know if the pressure is dropping. The noise of the jiggling weight is something you can't ignore, so if it begins to slow, I can adjust the heat (or in my case, the position of the canner on the wood stove).

Another advantage of the weight type is that you don't have to have it checked annually like you do with the guage (sp? - spellcheck isn't working tonight). The extension service will do that on certain days. They do get "off" sometimes, so you really should have them checked regularly if you get that kind. Living out here, the simpler the better for me.

Someday, I'd like to get a double decker canner. They're quite expensive. I did find one online a few years ago that had the weight. Most of the larger ones I've found have the guage though. The disadvantage of such a large canner is that, although you can can LOTS of food at once, saving lots of time, if you only have a few jars to can, you'll have to fill a bunch of jars with water to fill the canner. It's nice to have a smaller on in addition to a larger one.

I have a small pressure canner and a medium one. The medium one holds the pressure steadier than the smaller one.

Make sure you have an extra pop-off thing. Don't know what it's called, off hand ---- the little plastic plug that will pop if the pressure gets too high. I had that happen once and was glad I had an extra. Otherwise I don't know what we'd have done with all that fish we were canning. If yours has a rubber gasket, have an extra on hand.

I hope you can find a good buy on one.

Jenny