PICTURES OF THE WEEK
A serious amount of cream!
As the World Churns
Or, I just made butter for the first time, and I think I am in love.
Also, an idea for Easter?
We live in a world that is a in turmoil, and full of churn. But, when life gives you churn, why not make butter? I mean, really, when you are at a point where you don’t quite know what to do with yourself, the vigorous activity of turning cream into butter provides a very satisfying bit of visceral creative magic.
D.P. has been telling me for years about how fun it is, and how they like showing people the process: the look on people’s faces then they hear that first “clunk clunk” when the butter is formed. I finally got around to trying it myself tonigh:, K.B. has been telling me about the wonders of heavy cream for everything, and I was due for a good restocking at Costco, so a HALF GALLON was obtained.
I followed the directions here:
https://thestayathomechef.com/how-to-make-homemade-butter-in-a-mason-jar/ - the video was the most helpful part! I really like how she gave timings for things, so I made sure to set a timer so I knew how long I had been churning. One thing I noticed is you need to do longer arm motions. Too short, and you just get whipped cream, which isn’t so bad… (And savory whipped cream could be AMAZING…)
After about 6 minute, I had done it! The cream had turned to foam, and then the foam turned to butter and butter milk! It was so cool to hear the “thunk thunk” just like D.P. said! And, well, it’s delicious! I am really going to have to reconsider buying butter in the future, it’s sort of so simple to make!
As for Easter - while I will most likely be volunteering on Sunday to move hay bales for the Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race, if I was going to be having an Easter lunch, I might do this as an activity:
Growing up, the butter lamb was sort of a thing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_lamb
So, here is the idea: Give people jars, add the cream, and have them make butter. Don't forget to set a timer, so people know how long they have been shaking.
Once they have butter, dump it out into their bow, then have them sculpt the butter they made. Maybe into a lamb. Or not.
Display the butter sculptures. Then, have some toast and dig in!
Hope you all have a great Sunday, no matter how you enjoy it!
Mid-process - which is basically whip cream...
The final product!
