Churning (butter) - Types of Butter Churns

Types of Butter Churns

Butter churns have varied over time as technology and materials have changed.

1. Butter was first made by placing the cream in a container made from animal material and shaking until the milk has broken down in to butter. Later wood, glass, ceramic or metal containers were used.
2. The first butter churns used a wooden container and a plunger to agitate the cream until butter formed.
3. Later butter churns used a container made from wood, ceramics or galvanized (zinc coated) iron that contained paddles. The hand-turned paddles were moved through the cream quickly, breaking the cream up by mixing it with air. This allows the butter to be made faster than by simply agitating the cream.
4. Centrifugal cream separators allow the properties of centrifuge to be applied to butter making. Instead of having spinning paddles, the paddles are fixed and the container spins. This allows better separation of the butter from the buttermilk and water.

With electric mixers and food processors commonly available in most household kitchens, people can make butter in their own homes without a large churn. These small appliances are used to mix the cream until it is close to forming solid butter. This mixture is then mixed by hand to remove the buttermilk and water.