Activity Suitable for Home or Classroom (Preschool/Early Elementary)
Background Information
Before refrigeration was invented, ancient societies had to discover creative ways to make their foods last longer. Turning milk into butter is one way to help keep it from going bad. Additionally, butter was easier to transport than liquid milk, and could be brought to nearby towns for trade. Milk is made up of fats and liquids. When it is shaken or beaten for a long time, the solids break apart from the liquids and attract to each other. The end result is a solid fat-based product, butter, and a liquid with a low amount of fat in it, buttermilk. Butter will last for a great deal longer than milk, even left at room temperature.
Butter has long been made by shaking a container of cream. How does this work? To make butter from cream, the cream is shaken so that the fat particles get shaken out of position and clump together with other fat particles. The clumping first allows tiny air bubbles to be trapped in the cream, forming a light and airy product you might have had, called whipped cream. But if the shaking continues, the fat particles start to clump so much that the air can no longer be held by the cream, and butter forms. As you can probably see now, butter is basically the milk’s fat. By time the butter forms from the cream, the fat particles have clearly separated from the liquid in the cream. The butter-making process is called churning.
Jar Shaking Method
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Pour heavy cream into a jar, filling it half-way full. Do not overfill past the half-way mark. Screw the lid on tightly.
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Shake jar! The amount of time it takes will depend on how vigorously you are able to shake the jar (about 15-20 minutes). Observe the jar as you shake. You will see the cream go through various stages. The cream will first turn into whipped cream and then will start to separate into butter and buttermilk.
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Pour the buttermilk out carefully, or using a strainer. You can save it in the refrigerator (for about a week) to drink or use in recipes.
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Pour cold water over the butter. Discard water and repeat rinsing 2 times more. Shape into a ball or any other shape (you can purchase butter molds for interesting designs).
- Store for about a week in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped or in a sealed container.
Electric Mixer Method
- Pour a cup of heavy whipping cream into a mixing bowl.
- Mix at high speed until you have whipped cream.
- Turn the mixer down to a low speed and continue mixing.
- Watch the cream as it transforms to butter and buttermilk, do you see any differences between this process and the previous method of making butter?
- As before, pour out and preserve the buttermilk for later use.
- Continue mixing and pouring out buttermilk until no more is created.
- Fill the bowl with cold water.
- Rinse butter in the cold water.
- Pour off the water.
- Continue until the water runs clear.
- Wrap butter & place in the refrigerator.
Additional Ideas
- Compare the taste of your homemade butter to store-bought butter. Can you see and taste the difference?
- Weigh the amount of cream that you start with. Weigh the amount of butter that you end with. What percent of cream turned into butter?
- How does making butter with an electric mixer compare to making butter by shaking cream in a glass jar?
Source: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/
Source: https://www.education.com/
Source: https://thestayathomechef.com/
