Churn on...Monday?

So I know churning is supposed to happen on Thursdays, but I couldn't wait that long. I did my churning on a Monday. Laura first describes this process on pages 29-32* of Little House in the Big Woods: "At first the splashes of cream showed thick and smooth around the little hole. After a long time, they began to look grainy. Then Ma churned more slowly, and on the dash there began to appear tiny grains of yellow butter." (31).

I made myself a butter churn out of an old plastic peanut butter jar and a wooden spoon. I know many elementary school classes just put it in a jar and shake it, and apparently you can also just use a mixer.



After making my butter churn (with the help of an Xacto knife), I grated half a carrot and microwaved it for 45 seconds with 2 T skim milk and 1 T heavy cream (to make the yellow color, as described on page 30). Then I strained it and cooled it for about an hour. I poured the milk/cream mixture into my churn and then added enough heavy cream for it to be filled halfway (a little over a half cup).



I churned for about two hours (while watching Ace of Cakes), alternating twirling the spoon in my hands and stirring. Once it was finished, I rinsed it and salted it. The final step--eating it. It tasted like...butter!

Once upon a time, not too many years ago, a little girl lived in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area in a little yellow house made of wood...

I love cooking, I love Laura Ingalls Wilder, so now (at the suggestion of my mother) I have undertaken a task somewhat a la Julie & Julia--to cook things from the Little House series. Laura wrote very vivid descriptions of all the cooking she and Ma did. For many years I've joked about finding an empty tree at my grandparents house (in the Big Woods of Maryland) and smoking some meat. Maybe I will still try that someday (MAYBE) but for now, I'll begin at the beginning and accomplish what I can. That means skipping all the butchering activities and starting with something very simple: butter. If I were born in the 1800's, I would probably be able to do this by myself by the time I was eight, but, alas...well, I'm only ten years behind.