Ingredients – to make about 10 pounds of butter:
2 gallons of cream
Cold water
Boiling water
Salt
You’ll need:
A churn
Boiling water to scald the churn
Scald the churn and all its parts with boiling water, then empty the water out.
About a pint of cold water is poured into the churn before the cream is added, in order prevent it sticking.
Add the two gallons of cream.
Begin to churn consistently – once you start you shouldn’t stop.
After 10 minutes add one pint of hot water and one pint of cold water, so that the butter doesn’t become too thick. You need two people at this point, because these two pints of water have to be added at the same time – while the butter is being churned.
Put the lid back on and continue to churn. You will gradually feel resistance as the cream starts to become thicker in the churn.
After about another 20 minutes have a look at the mix and scrape any cream from the lid or the sides back into the churn.
Begin to churn again, but more gently. At this stage you’re really only gathering the butter together. Another 5 minutes or so of this slower churning, and it’s starting to look like butter.
The leftover buttermilk (which tastes fantastic) is emptied into a container and the remaining butter is rinsed a few times with cold water. The butter is then beaten with a paddle to get rid of any water that may be left. The last step is to add the salt.