CHURNING BUTTER

                         CHURNING BUTTER

     After Grandpa Fred Shikoski bought our farm in 1918, he raised a herd of Guernsey cattle.  The Brooklyn Creamery had been organized by local farmers about 1902, but our farm did not have a milk house until after Charlie built a block building, a combination swill house and milk house.  It had a wooden partition to separate the two activities.  The southern room had a large iron kettle under which a fire could be built to heat mash made for the swine.  The northern room had a cement water tank which was big enough to hold two cream cans, each having a capacity of about five gallons.  Cold well-water was pumped into the tank through underground pipes.  An overflow pipe carried water out into the stock watering tank.

     In those days most farmers in this area did not sell whole milk.  Instead they sold their cream to a creamery where it became butter and buttermilk.  The skim milk would be fed to the farm livestock, especially pigs.  Each farmer had a cream separator to separate the cream out from the rest of the milk.  This was done by centrifugal force.

     Centrifugal force illustrates one of Sir Isaac Newton's law of motion which states that a body at rest tends to remain at rest and a body in motion tends to remain in motion at the same speed and direction unless acted upon by an external force.  If an object is tied to the end of a string and twirled in a circle it continues moving at the same speed, but the string exerts a force on it which prevents it from flying off at an angle, so it continues moving in a circle.

     The cream separator worked on the same principle.  It consisted of a circular container which was twirled by the means of gears and a hand crank.  The whole milk was poured in and the container spun.  The cream, being lighter in weight than the rest of the milk, was hurled to the outer edge, while the heavier milk solids remained nearer the center of the circular container.  When the proper speed was attained, the farmer would open a valve on a tube which allowed the cream to fly off at an angle, into the tube which led it into the container catching the cream.  The skim milk would be drawn off through another tube nearer the center.

     Times changed.  The nutritional value of milk and cheese were praised and butter fat became less desirable.  Creameries, which had been paying only for butter fat, started paying more for whole milk and it became more profitable for the farmers to sell whole milk.  Guernsey milk had a higher percentage of butter fat, but Holstein cows produced a greater volume of milk.  It became more profitable to raise Holstein cows.

    
When Charlie acquired the herd, he added some black and white cows and used Holstein bulls exclusively.  The herd lost most of its Guernsey inheritance, producing a greater volume of milk which was lower in percentage of butter fat content.  The cooling tank, which he had built for his father in the milk house, was too small in which to cool the large 10 gallon milk cans now necessary to send to the creamery.  He bought a large metal stock-watering tank and placed it in the barn to cool as many as ten milk cans.

     We sent our milk to the creamery, saving enough out of it for our own consumption.  We used it without it being pasteurized.  Most farmers did the same.  We bought butter and cheese from the creamery by leaving an order slip with a can of milk.  It was delivered to us the next day when the empty milk cans were left.

     When the twins were born we bought formula for them, not allowing them to drink any of our milk until after we had bought a home pasteurizer.  We then had our own milk which was pasteurized but not homogenized.  If left to stand the cream still rose to the top and could be skimmed off.

     Katherine and Michael Jankowski owned a few acres of land across Irving Park Road from our farm.  For years they had kept a cow or two pastured there.  Mrs. Jankowski had a small churn which she had used to make butter.  By the time we acquired our land they no longer had any cows.  One day she offered me her churn so we could churn our own butter.

     The milk containing the cream that I used in making butter was cooled as quickly as possible by placing the milk can in cold running well-water and then refrigerated.  Before disturbing the cooled milk, I carefully skimmed the cream off from the top and refrigerated the cream until ready to churn.

     To get the best possible butter, cream from several milkings should not combined until just before churning.  The different amounts should all be of the same temperature when being combined and gently stirred while being mixed.  It should not be allowed to stand and become warm before churning.  After placing the cream in the churn, the dasher should be turned in a steady medium rate, and continued at that steady rate until the flecks of butter appear and then adhere in a solid mass.  When all the butter particles have collected together, the butter should be taken out of the buttermilk and squeezed in a kneading manner by the hands to remove all milk particles.  It is then washed in clear, cold water and kneaded again.  If salt is wanted it should then be added and kneaded again, then placed in the butter container.  If the cream or water used is too warm, the butter will become soft and not as easily kneaded, leaving more particles of the buttermilk in it.  The buttermilk left in the churn may be used, but it will not taste like creamery buttermilk which has had a culturing agent added.  Homogenized cream as bought in a store will not allow its butter fat to be separated out as butter.