Old churn cranks out delicious fun
One of the best things I learned as a Brownie Scout was how to make butter. We filled baby food jars with heavy cream and sat in a circle singing as we shook the jars to “churn” the butter.
Another thing I learned was to be sure you had the lid screwed on tight. I didn’t, so I had to get a refill and the girl beside me had to get cleaned up.
After shaking and churning for about 15 minutes, each jar held a lump of sweet butter that we spread on plain crackers. It was the first time I remember having butter instead of margarine, and it was delicious.
I wanted to teach my brother and sister to make butter the Brownie way, so the next day we walked down to the little neighborhood store to buy whipping cream. We poured it into clean jars and sat down on the cool tile floor of the front porch to “churn.”
Unfortunately, I forgot to screw the lid on tight again, and with the first shake I threw cream all over us. After another quick clean-up, we went back to shaking our jars. Soon we were spreading homemade butter on crackers.
Two summers ago I was talking to a friend who remembered making butter at her grandmother’s farm using a hand-crank Dazey Butter Churn. She went on and on about how wonderful it was to have fresh butter on her grandmother’s homemade biscuits.
That piqued my interest, as well as my appetite, and I started looking around for a churn, specifically the type with the egg-shaped gear case on top of the jar. I found a lot of them around town in the antique malls, but most were either too dirty or rusty to use, or they were missing parts. And they were expensive. Prices ranged from $75 to $150.
I looked on eBay and bid on a couple of glass churns without success. Finally, after losing a few auctions in the last few seconds, I finally won.
The seller promised that my Dazey “red top” churn from the 1930s or ‘40s was in excellent condition.
It took a couple of weeks for my check to clear and for the package to arrive, but as soon as it did we unwrapped it and found the churn to be everything the seller promised.
Again, I turned to the Internet and found directions for using the churn on a Dazey collector’s Web site.
We washed and scalded the churn, soaked the paddles in cold water, and then poured in the heavy cream. My children took turns turning the handle. In less than half an hour we had a lump of sweet butter to spread on bread or crackers. They’ve grown up with butter as well as margarine, so it wasn’t a new thing to them. But they all preferred the taste and texture of the butter we made. There was a noticeable difference.
To be honest, after buying the churn, paying the shipping costs and then picking up a couple of quarts of cream at the store, that block of butter cost almost as much per pound as caviar. But it was delicious and we enjoyed the time we spent making it. Like the commercial says, that’s priceless.
Best of all, I remembered to put the lid on tight and no one got splashed.
My Brownie leader would be proud.
Dazey information
Dazey butter churns are highly sought after by collectors. Prices can be astronomical. The more common models, like mine, sell for around $100 to $150, but rare churns can cost thousands. There are reproductions out there so be sure you buy from a reputable dealer.
For more information check out these Web sites: http://webexhibits.org/butter/ kitchen.html
http://showcase.netins.net/web/ churns/churn(percent sign)20information.html
What a find
Recently, when I asked readers to share their favorite finds, I got a letter from Pam Farkas in Spokane.
While living in Scotland, Farkas went antiquing with friends. One of the things she was looking for was a one-gallon English churn.
They stepped into a new antique shop in town and her friend found a “cobweb covered butter churn sitting on the floor in a corner.” When they realized the churn was made in the USA, they joked about “bringing coals to Newcastle” and left the store.
The next day was too rainy to do anything outdoors, so Farkas returned to the antique store.
“I took another look at the cute little churn and asked what they wanted for it,” Farkas wrote. The churn was only 15 pounds ($27.40) compared to 35 pounds ($63.92) for an English churn, so she bought it. When she checked her antique price guide, she was astounded to find that the one-quart Dazey churn was worth $800 to $1,200.
When she returned to the United States, Farkas advertised the churn in a trade publication and left it with her sister to sell. Her sister was inundated with calls. Someone from the paper in which she had advertised the churn offered her $850 and was willing to drive 500 miles to pick it up. Another caller offered to pay $1,200, if she would back out of the deal with the other buyer. Farkas described the experience as an exciting and unexpected windfall.
“I did eventually find my little British butter churn,” she wrote. “And it always reminds me of the little American treasure we found in the U.K.”
How to make Dazey butter
Pour heavy cream that is slightly cooler than room temperature into the churn’s bowl. Crank slowly until the butter is solid. Pour off the buttermilk — the liquid that remains in the glass jar — and rinse the butter with cool water.
Using wood “butter paddles,” work the butter to remove any remaining liquid by pressing the pat of butter between the paddles gently, using a rolling motion. It helps to soak the paddles in cold water to keep the butter from sticking.
The butter can be pressed into a butter mold, or bowl, or simply wrapped in wax paper and stored in the refrigerator.