Thursday, July 16, 2009

Enjoy Responsibly

So.

I haven't written about making butter. I did. I made butter a couple of weeks ago and it was so easy! Rly.

I began with a pint of cream. I think it was a pint. Maybe it wasn't. It was one of those small waxed cardboard containers like we used to have in grade school. I let it sit out, at room temp, for at least 12 hours. Then I shook it. And shook it. And shook it hard for three minutes or more.

In the end, after pouring of the buttermilk and other stuff, I had real honest to universe butter. And it was good.

Here is the video I followed.

Otherwise. Well, I have an order from The Woolery for three pounds of Fuzzy Nuggets and have been working on that this week. It still takes me a week to create that much. And I would like to get more Fuzzy Stuff made for Susan at the Spinning Bunny.

Sweetie and I are arranging matters concerning his 401k. Rolling over and all that. And getting enough out of it to live on for a few more months, if need be. He invested well, and has not lost money in spite of all the stock market upheaval. Yay, us. But he wants to get it into some sort of FDIC account.

The little garden I planted is beginning to yield fruit. Think I will have about ten jillion little yellow tomatoes, (tommy-toes, as my Pap called them,) by years end, which is great because they are so small and sweet. There are baby zucchinis, at last, which should be grown up zucchinis in three or four days. Still waiting for the all of the other tomatoes. The sunflowers are magnificent. Cut five stems to bring inside this morning, and they still follow the sun even as cut flowers in the window.

9 comments:

Mouse said...

Mmmm... I love butter, sadly its SO expensive that its out of our budget. I have a single tomato plant that has flowers on it but it seems as though it has no intention of producing actual fruit. I do have 2 lovely basil plants that are producing in its stead.. at least I can have pesto.

FUZZARELLY said...

Really, now, Mouse! A carton of cream is less than a dollar!

Knitting Linguist said...

Isn't it great the way sunflowers do that? And tomatoes are so good this time of year, I keep eating them cut up with just salt and pepper, mmm... Love the butter idea! A few years ago, I got the stuff to make mozzarella, which was so much fun -- we may have to do that again this weekend, to eat with fresh tomatoes. :)

k said...

A pint is a pound rolled around,

there's 16 ounces to a pound.

So what you had was a half-pint!(Wow.An actually visually appropriate place to insert that thing from my mom. I've had that stuck in my head for over 50 years - one of the more useful things.)

FUZZARELLY said...

Ah, yes. Half pint!

What I remember is: A pint's a pound the whole world round.

zippiknits...sometimes said...

I used to make cheeses, like cream and yogurt cheeses but never butter. That looks like fun!

And tomato plants sometimes have to be hand pollinated because of the lack of bees lately.

Anonymous said...

Inquiring minds want to know: the video talks about letting the bacteria develop the lactic acid content for the 12 hours that the cream is left out at room temp. But modern heavy cream is ultra-pasteurized, and stable at room temp, so how does this happen? Or is it just part of the lore of butter-making? I'm mystified. Can you smell any slight souring? Should I write to the video guy?
Nancy NeverSwept

anniebelle said...

Nancy,

I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you. I've been sick and dealing with depression myself actually. We have alot in common, truth be told; wich is why I was drawn to your blog. I really am glad that you have found a good husband in your Sweetie. My husband (I refer to him as Himself online) really was the best thing to ever happen to me.

Any way, Yes I would like to aquire some of your yarn, so let me know how much it will cost. It feels good to be back in the land of the living again. I think it hurt more that I didn't want to do any of my beloved needlework or baking even more then it did physically. Weird, huh?

As for the name Scalf, Himself's clan comes from around Knoxville Tennesee and he was born and raised in Leitchfeild Kentucky. My poor brother was more put out by the fact that I was marrying a farm boy from Kentucky named Clyde than anything else! (we are from New York)



Thanks for your patience,

Nancy (called Ann by friends) Scalf

Shay said...

We have just learned that a dairy farmer twelve miles away has decided to cut out the middleman and sell milk directly to the public. I may sound the spousal unit out on the possibility of butter-making.