Our Demonstration
Last report on the 47th Annual Goschenhoppen Folk Festival (well, one or two more recipe submissions to come).Key reminder: Melody, Xyra
This is the butter churn?
I thought they were upright.
Some houses used those, but we have a barrel churn. It holds more cream and makes more butter.
How much cream does it hold?
I'm not sure about the maximum, but the minimum is 3 gallons...otherwise the paddles don't reach the cream.
How does it work?
Inside are 4 paddles with holes. As you crank the paddles whip up the cream. Churning the cream like that makes it thick and then fluffy and then you get whipped cream (without sugar, of course).
But you keep turning the crank and soon the fat that is in the cream solidifies and hugs the side of the churn. The buttermilk lays in the bottom of the churn.
Buttermilk? We see that in the grocery store, right?
Yes, but fresh churned buttermilk is much different. It's really skim cream as all the fat has turned to butter.
Is that the only way it is different?
No, when you read buttermilk cartons you can see they add cultures to it to make it thick and a bit sour tasting.
Ew.
Well, many people like the store bought version. Both fresh and store bought are great for baking.
How do you get the butter and buttermilk out of the churn?
Underneath is a cork. The buttermilk drains out there. The butter is scooped out from the top by hand.
Nope. The butter gets split into these bowls and everyone takes a butter paddle or spoon and presses the butter to get the rest of the moisture out of it.
What are these?
We have a friend under the table! She's a pretty chicken.
I hope you enjoyed our brief tour of the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival. As I mentioned the other day this doesn't even scratch the surface of all the great demonstrations you can see when you visit. The festival is always the second weekend in August. Next year the dates are August 8 & 9, 2014. You can click the Goschenhoppen link throughout our posts for more information. They have a nice Facebook page. Plus you can Google it and get local newspaper coverage articles too (Pottstown Mercury, Morning Call, Reading Eagle, Town & County).
Best wishes for a great weekend!
#Goschenhoppenfolkfestival
Oh wow, that's so interesting about the butter! I accidentally made butter once when I was much younger and I wanted to make whipped cream. I was pretty disappointed when I couldn't put it in my hot chocolate :)
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews
I think a few people have done that. :-)
DeleteI've seen cookbooks that give warnings, but can't remember if they are the newer ones or the older ones.
Yeah, butter in hot chocolate doesn't work all that well. :-(
Thank you for stopping.