Kitchen Lab: Shake, Shake, Shake that Butter!
Did you know that people have made butter for at least centuries and maybe for as long as 10,000 years?!
In fact, the first butter might just have been made on accident. Long ago, nomads transported cream inside bags that they kept on the backs of their horses while traveling. The rocking motion of the horse’s gait would shake the cream so much that it would turn to butter.
Can you imagine their surprise to discover butter floating around when they opened their bags of cream? These nomads quickly decided that they really liked butter, both as a spread and as a fat for cooking.
So, when people stopped traveling and started settling down, they found other ways to jostle the cream, such as by using wooden butter churns. In the 1800’s, American settlers used wooden plunger churns and barrel churns to make butter, a process that took about 40 minutes of constant churning.
Luckily, you won’t need a horse or a butter churn for this lesson, but you will need some strong muscles for vigorous shaking and a timer to see how long it takes to turn cream into butter. By turning your kitchen into a lab, you can help support your child’s curiosity about cooking and science.
Click here for a PDF of our Butter Making Lab
Quick Steps:
1. Gather your supplies: cold whipping cream from a cow, a clear container with a tight-fitting lid (like a mason jar or a water bottle), a measuring cup, a small bowl, a butter knife, and a slice of bread.
2. Begin by pouring cream into a jar. Fill the jar halfway and make sure the cream is very cold. Measure the amount of cream you use.
3. Let your kitchen scientist shake the jar to see what happens! Record how long it takes for the cream to first turn to whipping cream and then to butter and buttermilk. Along the way, talk about the color changes, test how it feels, and taste the differences.
4. Use the background information and your results to determine how the cream turned to butter.
You can taste your butter by itself, or on a piece of bread or a cracker. Does it taste different than the butter you buy at the store?
Remember, butter can also be used as a fat for cooking. In the vegetable kitchen lab, you may have used oil for sautéing your carrots, broccoli or cauliflower. Next time, experiment by sautéing your veggies in your homemade butter instead!
Time to start shaking!