Butter Churn Unit: Cooking

When you milk a cow and leave the milk to stand, the cream rises to the top. Now we buy milk and cream separately and we store it in the fridge.  Churns were used to turn the cream into butter.  Why was that important? Put some cream into a glass and leave it in your classroom for a day or so. What has happened?
Making cream into butter was important as it keeps fresh longer, especially if salt is added. 

If you beat the cream it first turns into whipped cream, then after a while longer it becomes butter. The butter is then ‘patted’ or squeezed into blocks, this gets the buttermilk (whitish liquid) out, which helps the butter to last longer. 

Children often helped to make butter.  The younger ones turning the handle on the butter churn while the cream was still very runny.  An older brother or sister would take over as it thickened and the handle became harder to turn.

What types of chores or jobs do you do to help at home?