School: Headfort

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1. Churning (continued)

   

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   them to the desired temperature which is about sixty eight degrees. Everything ready, my mother pours the cream into the barrel churn and lids it. Then she turns the handle for about five minutes releasing the steam occasionally. At the end of that time she takes the temperature of the cream. After half an hour or twenty minutes she pours in soft water and shakes it back and forward or rocks it in order to gather the butter.
   Then she pours hot water on the trencher (a small round wooden affair resembling a plate) the spades or clappers and the strainer. She uses the strainer to take off the butter of the churn and puts it into a butter-tub. Taking a clapper she squeezes out all the buttermilk and washes it several times until the water comes off almost as clearly as when it was poured on. She then shapes it on the trencher with the clappers.
   The buttermilk is used for making bread and is also given to the calves and pigs. There is always the fear, if a stranger comes in while the churning is in progress, that he will bring the butter with him or "overlook it". On that account he is asked to take a "brash" "to put luck on it".

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   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

   Una Lynch

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Lisduff, Co. Cavan