Butter

We are learning about the Pioneers in school right now.  And of course, when you learn about Pioneers, you MUST read a Laura Ingalls Wilder book.  I decided to start with Little House in the Big Woods because so much about their way of life is talked about in that book.  Hunting, trapping, food preserving, gardening, cooking....all that good daily life stuff.  I hope to finish this book and move into Little House on the Prairie next, where they are true Pioneers setting off on a trail to the West, before the end of March when our home school group will have a tour of our local Pioneer Museum. 

I wanted the kids to get a sense of how hard the Pioneers had to work for the things we take for granted today, such as the ease of a grocery store.  So, we made butter.  We did it as close as we could to how the process was described in the book.  We didn't have a churn, so we used mason jars with a marble inside to act as the dasher.

First we grated a carrot, added the shredded carrot to just a bit of milk, boiled it together, and strained out the orange colored milk with cheese cloth.

 Milk boiled shredded carrots, orange milk, and 3 jars of cream (plus someone's cup of milk from breakfast) :).

 

 In the book, Mary and Laura argued over who should get the biggest portion of the milk boiled carrot.  But in our house, no one argued.  We all tried it, but only Felicity and I liked it.  She happily downed it all.

 

We added a bit of the orange milk to each jar of cream, plopped a marble in each, and then the real work began!

 

 They rolled their jars........

 

 .....and shook their jars like crazy.

 

 But in the end, they decided the best way to make butter was to run circles through the dining room and living room area, shaking as they went, while listening to the Narnia soundtrack, and By and By by Selah  (if you take a listen, the dance part starts a minute into the recording).

 

 After what felt like eternity to Kian, the butter started clumping up in the jars!  When the sides of the mason jars became clear again as everything was clumping together, there was much excitement!  The kids each scooped their pads of butter out of the buttermilk, which these two then guzzled down.

 

We then washed and salted our butter. 

For lunch, we ate buttered sourdough, apples, cheese, and meat slices.  We each tried one slice of bread with store bought butter on it, and one slice with our homemade butter on it.  We all agreed we liked our butter best, though, we may have just been proud of our accomplishment and biased. 

:)

 

 

Note to self: This house NEEDS boy aprons.  Add that to the ever growing, sadly ignored sewing list.