You read that right…If you can watch a video, you can make butter! It’s that simple. And super yummy! Nine year old Sage in all her Colonial Kid glory is going to show you how as part of our Colonial Craft Series.
Making Butter in 1700’s America
It was still pretty simple in the colonial days. The process was basically the same but it was larger and therefore long hours and tedious work.
Guess whose job it was? KIDS! Can you imagine a kiddo today sitting in one spot churning butter for hours and hours?
Ah the sweet sweet sight 
of children doing chores…
How to Make Butter Video Tutorial
Colonial Craft Supplies
All the supplies are affordable and on the Colonial Craft Supplies List at THIS FAMILY BLOG AMAZON STORE. In a nutshell, heavy shipping cream, a jar to shake it up in, a crock to keep it in. Be sure to scroll to the ‘OPTIONAL’ section before beginning this craft.
Actual 1700’s Butter Making Technique
It was low tech but it took up time.
First the cow was milked and the milk was set to rest in a cool dry place.
After a day or so the creak was skimmed off the top and chucked in the churn.
A dasher (fancy name for stick) was used to plunge up and down in the churn. The agitation beat the cream until it was separated into butter and buttermilk.
As time went on, other ways were invented but the premise was still the same. Take the cream. Agitate it. Make Butter.
Butter Churning Songs
This delightful little ditty was called Essex Charm for a churn from 1650. There are variations on the song but the chant was to help provide a rhythm for the agitation. And it’s super catchy!
Step By Step Instructions to Make Butter In an Hour
All steps are covered in the video but if you prefer to read, here they are!
Step One
Let the heavy whipping cream come to room temperature.
Step Two
Pour the cream into the jar you will be shaking. We recommend about 2 cups. Put the lid on tight!
Step Three
SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE… put on a movie because you are going to shake for close to an hour. (ALT method is a smaller amount in smaller jar: a baby food jar will make a single serving of butter)
Step Four
When it’s mostly globs and no more are appearing, (and your arms are worn out and you’ve pretty much had enough) pour the remaining liquid into a cup. That’s Buttermilk!
You Did It! The hard part is over!
You can use the buttermilk to make pancakes or biscuits or as Sage says, trick your sister….
Step Five
Gently rinse the butter globs off with cool running water. Add salt at this time if you wish. A pinch will do… a little bit goes a long way (and really, taste it first, you really don’t need it) If you do, mix in salt thoroughly.
Step Six
Take out the butter and place in a butter crock. or glass jar with a lid. Both options are available HERE.
OPTIONAL
Butter Press or butter mold. This makes the butter pretty and was very common in Colonial Days. It was early day BRANDING. We have chosen butter press, molds, and old fashioned crocks for you HERE. There is even a table top hand crank churner if the shaking is just too much. 🙂
More Colonial Crafts Please
Did you love learning about DIY butter?
See all our Colonial Crafting Videos Here. And hey, you should know… this is all Sage’s idea. Dad and I just make it happen for her and you!
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Share the experience with others with these pins! Have an idea for a Colonial Craft? Let us know in the comments below!
So cool! My sister likes to make butter this way! What a cute video! 🙂
This is awesome! I am going to share it with my girls, they will love it.
AWESOME! Do they like to do crafts? We have a whole series of DIY colonial crafts for kids!
I pinned this. My kids will LOVE making this!!!!!!
FANTASTIC! I hope they like the other videos too!!
Very cute pics and tutorial! It’s not often we think about how things were done once upon a time. Thank you for sharing 🙂
It’s something Sage thinks about all the time LOL She loves doing things the old fashioned way and I must admit, it is usually with great results!
Gotta love real butter! I have a friend that makes her sometimes, and I just don’t have the patience. However, when we were kids, my brother was supposed to be making whipping cream, and he overbeat the cream, we had butter!
hahaha I love that you have a great memory associated with it!
So fun! Sage is adorable and a natural in front of the camera. I really didn’t know that it was so easy to make butter!
Thank you for the kind words. It really is a pretty simple process. 🙂
That is so awesome! Great tutorial!
So glad you enjoyed it! Be sure to look up her other ones. They are a riot!
I love this! What a great post.
Thank you Heather! I hope you enjoy the series!!
I bet this tastes amazing! I will definitely have to try it.
What a great tutorial! I remember making butter when I was a kid!
I love that your daughter is all dressed up and learning how to make butter how cool.
I’ve never made homemade butter, but the ones I’ve tasted are tastier than store bought. You made it look fun with this post!
These little videos are so much fun to make! And the products are too!
Great video! She’s adorable and such a great teacher! My 1 yr old grandson watched along with me and smiled the whole time.
OH this makes me so happy!!!! Watch the other video too! Hopefully he will like those too!
We have actually done this! Wendud have to shake for a long time. It definitely did not taste like store bought butter. I also pinned this post.
Thank you Dawnmarie for the share! Always appreciated! Yes when you make things like this you start to realize how much ‘other’ is in mass produced store bought items. It’s a bit startling really.
Your daughter is adorable! Thank you for sharing this…so interesting!
Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed! I hope you enjoy the entire series!
WTG for your daughter! She looks like a pro doing it. I love the old ways of doing things. We used to make coffee and cocoa the same way. Everything is manual. Becoming self-sufficient is very important and that’s great that you taught your daughter about this method.
It IS important… I’m pretty sure the zombie apocolypse is a real thing and when all the computers go down… we need to know important things like how to make butter and COFFEE!!! 🙂
I remember making butter at camp in 4th grade and it was a lot of fun! Great post!
So glad you enjoyed!
Love this!!! I make homemade butter with my students. Love your website. Super cute!
Really glad you are enjoying!!
SOO good, we just did this at my kid’s school. A must and so yummy!
It really is surprisingly good right? I’m thinking I may do this on the regular.
Such an adorable video, your daughter is a natural star! I love the detailed way to make butter as well. I’m surprised at how easy it can be to make butter and I’m definitely going to need to give this a shot myself.
YES! SUCCESS!!! Let me know how it goes! Sage will want to hear too!
Adorable post. Your daughter is so cute. It is hard to imagine in our current society not having all the conveniences we do. We don’t have to make butter. We can just go and buy it. This reminded me to be thankful.
Your video was so well done, kept my interest and adorable! Great spokesman!!! She’s a natural! Signed up for your email list too!
She is a natural on that camera!! She did a great job! Thanks for sharing how to make butter – I didn’t realize how simple it could be. Definitely going to keep my notes and give it a try!
Awesome sauce! Let us know how it goes!!!