Online Tutorial: Butter Making
Join our virtual host Matthew as he travels back in time to early Wenatchee where he meets pioneer woman Debbie who gives him a lesson on making butter. Debbie explains the science behind separating cream into butter and buttermilk. You can make butter too! All you need is heavy whipping cream, a jar with a lid, and your muscles.
Before modern refrigeration general stores didn’t carry milk and butter. Pioneers had to milk a cow and wait for the cream to rise then turn their cream into butter in a butter churn. When cream is shaken, the fat molecules in the cream leave their normal position and clump together. After a while, all of the fat molecules cling together, forming a lump of butter and leaving the buttermilk behind. Want to give it a try? Watch Debbie and Matthew make butter from scratch!
You can learn more about the history of butter making, home churns, and utensils at http://www.oldandinteresting.com/history-butter-churns.aspx. You can study the chemistry of milk and why it’s molecular properties make it possible to make butter and buttermilk at https://dairyprocessinghandbook.tetrapak.com/chapter/chemistry-milk
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