For the past week I have been learning about farming. I have visited the local mart during a livestock auction, visited an open farm with a shop selling locally produced foods and I've studied a variety of topics related to farm life. One of the topics was the production and processing of milk. As an extension of this lesson, today I made butter from scratch.
 |
| My Dad grew up on a farm in the midlands and Nana used to make butter using a rotary churn like this one |
- I used 500ml of full cream and whisked it on full speed for about 3 minutes. You can see the fat starting to separate at this point.
- I drained off the 'buttermilk' (which I'm going to use to make pancakes tomorrow morning)
- Then I started the process of 'rinsing the butter' with ice cold water. It took us 3 rinses to ensure that the water ran clear off the butter.
- Once this was done, I squeezed any excess water out of the butter with my spatula.
- Then took it out of the bowl to shape it on a board.
- I wrapped it in baking parchment and made a little label before sealing it in a container in the fridge.
- My homemade butter will keep for a few weeks in the fridge.
You can follow me making the butter on my instagram stories @kids_homeschool-life
I really enjoyed this activity and will definitely make butter again. I like understanding where my food comes from. I'm going to melt some and have it on my pancakes with lemon and sugar tomorrow morning. My next lesson is researching how to make cheese. I think my grandad Dan (who was a farmer and died when Dad was my age) and my Nana would be proud of me.
 |
| My Dad, me and Nana having my first football birthday cake in Nana's farmhouse kitchen |
