School: Kinnitty

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1. Churning

   

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   Churning

   We have a churn and it is turned around with a handle. It is a barrell churn and we have it about eight years. It is two feet long and one and a half feet wide.

   We churn once every week. In Winter we make eight lbs of butter. We have a thermometer for the cream. It must be sixty degrees churning point.

   Sometimes the cream is too cold and we have to add soft water to it. Sometimes it takes a half an hour to make the churn, and other times twenty minutes. First we wash the churn and scald it. We put the cream in then and churn it for about twenty minutes. When the butter is on the milk, the glass gets very clear and a heavy sound comes on the churn.

   When the butter is made the butter milk is separated from the butter. It is put into a clean bucket and it is used for bread making and pig feeding. The butter is washed three times in cold water and salted. Then we weigh it and keep it for our own use. No one would think of giving away milk on a May Eve.

   Writer's name: Hannah Conroy, Currabeg, Kinnitty, Birr, Co. Offaly.
   Informant's name Mrs. Conroy, Currabeg, Kinnitty, Co. Offaly.

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. agriculture (~2,659)
            1. butter and churns (~3,280)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Hannah Conroy

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Currabeg, Co. Offaly

   Informant

   Mrs Conroy

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Currabeg, Co. Offaly