Cooks Churning Butter

Churning Butter – Churning butter is a traditional Russian / European activity that was introduced to Metini / Fort Ross after the arrival of the Russian American Company. It’s a fun activity that requires a fair bit of elbow grease! Freshly churned butter is delicious and pairs perfectly with warm bread.

How to Churn Butter – The cream will turn to butter more easily if it is at room temperature. Take cream out of the cooler shortly after you arrive at the fort. Wrap a towel around the churn, including the top, to keep it from cooling from the action of churning. Churning the butter takes a long time, start early to ensure the butter is ready in time for dinner. The crock is very fragile. Please be very careful with it. Place it on the ground and straddle it. The churning action is up and down with a twist of the wrist in both directions. As the cream is churned, clumps of butter will start to form. Churning must be continuous! Don’t stop before butter clumps have formed. Once you have a good amount of these clumps, you can strain the butter from the buttermilk. We recommend you save the buttermilk for the Cooks Activity Group to taste or add to your other dishes.

Supplies to bring to Metini / Fort Ross –

• 1 Half-gallon of Heavy Cream should be plenty
• Cheesecloth or other cloth for straining butter
• Dishcloth to help with the splashing
• Optional to flavor your butter – salt, herbs

Note – If your class has a Farmers & Gatherers Group, you might see if they will be gathering herbs for the Cooks Activity Group or visit the garden as a group for seasonally available herbs.

Provided by your ELP Instructor –

• Churn
• Instructions provided by your ELP Instructor. However, it helps with timing if the teacher or Parent Leads are familiar with butter churning and can help lead this activity