Butter (recipe)

Butter is used in all sorts of cooking, and tastes great! To make your own, you will need:

• 1/4 pint cream (which you skimmed from the milk of your cow which you bred using completely period farming techniques and raised on entirely period food. And of course the cow was milked into a period bucket)
• a clean and dry screw top jar (okay, not completely period, but you got the first step right. You can make it using a period jar, and I hope you have fun getting all creamy and buttery)
• a spoon and a jug of cold water
• 2 wooden spoons or "Scotch Hands"
• 4 ice cubes
• a bread board
• a container for your butter
• salt, if you wish

1. Carefully pour the cream in to your jar, with your optional salt, screw down the lid tightly. Shake the jar vigorously for 15-20 minutes, or until the fat (butter) has separated from the liquid (buttermilk). Carefully pour off the buttermilk from the butter, using a spoon to keep the butter in the jar.
2. Add half a pint of the cold water, screw the lid back on the jar and shake vigorously for a few minutes, to help remove more of the buttermilk. Pour off the liquid, and if necessary repeat washing the butter.
3. Add the 4 ice cubes to the jar and shake until they have melted. Pour off the water from the melted ice cubes.
4. Tip the butter out of the jar and squeeze it using the wooden spoons or scotch hands to remove more water and shape the butter. Place the finished butter in your container.

Mmmm.. pure buttery goodness.

And for even more tastiness, try apple butter! Huzzah!