“Where is your milk jar, honey?” Mama asked as I put my book satchel down.
I was in the first grade and had just come from school. The schoolhouse was over a mile from my home and I was hot and tired after walking that distance. I went over to the water bucket to get me a drink of cool wter. “I forgot it Mama. I could not get it open so I put it on the shelf in the cloakroom and forgot to bring it home.”
Each morning Mama, after milking the cow, would strain the milk and fill a pint jar with it for me to have at school with my lunch. It was always so good. However, that day for some reason I could not get the lid of the jar off. I tried and tried but could not loosen it. I should have asked my teacher to help me, but I was too bashful. So I put the jar of milk on the shelf and intended to bring it home that afternoon, but I had forgotten it.
“Well, I’ll fix you another jar for tomorrow, but be sure to bring both jars home.”
The next day I had no problem taking the lid off of the jar of milk that Mama had fixed for me that morning. So I enjoyed it with my lunch. After lunch I was careful to put that empty jar into my book satchel. I also took the jar of milk that I had brought the day before from the shelf in the cloakroom and put it in my book satchel.
That afternoon, as usual, I walked home from school. I was proud I had not forgotten my empty milk jar nor had I forgotten the jar of milk from the day before. I walked into the house and shout to Mama, “I have my milk jars, Mama.”
Mama took the empty jar and placed it in the dishpan to be washed. Then she took the jar of milk, opened it, and exclaimed, “Come, look Lorine, come see your milk.”
I looked in the jar. My
eyes grew large at what I saw. There
was the prettiest little ball of butter floating on top of what was now
buttermilk. The continuous movement
of my walking home had churned the milk and made butter.
In case you do not understand, let me explain. We had our own cow. When milk is first milked it is “raw,” meaning it is not pasteurized. The dairies put it through a heating process, called pasteurization, to kill any bacteria that could be in the milk. People, who had only one or two cows to provide milk only for their family, did not pasteurize it. They used “raw” milk.
This milk will become sour in less than a days time
and will “clabber.” That is,
the milk will become very thick and the cream or “butter fat” will fise to
the top. The bottom part is called
clabber and the cream on top is what forms the butter.
As the milk is churned, the cream becomes butter and the rest becomes
buttermilk. This method for making
buttermilk is seldom used by dairies today.
Churning is the continuous movement of the milk until the butter forms on
top.
That night at home I enjoyed my fresh buttermilk and butter with hot cornbread.