Antique Lidded Stoneware Crock

Antique Lidded Stoneware Crock @ Time’s Tin Cup !

Stoneware crocks are very sought after. They once were needed to store perishable foods. Still are used for this purposed; but now many like to decorate their homes with them. They are used for planters, flowers, holding kitchen utensils and artists brushes.

An easy to make food item that the stoneware crocks were used to store is butter.

First start with cream.

• 2 cups heavy cream
• Salt to taste

Add the heavy cream to an electric mixer. Start whipping the cream on low speed until it thickens slightly.

Gradually increase the mixer speed to medium-high and continue to whip for 5-7 minutes, scraping down the sides every now and then. Continue mixing past the whipped cream phase, and you’ll see the cream begin to break into butter (fat molecules) and liquid (buttermilk).

Remove the butter from the mixer (save the buttermilk for use later!) and squeeze out any excess moisture by repeatedly squeezing the butter through your hands.

Cream is derived from whole milk, because when milk is left out, fat molecules float to the top, creating a layer of cream that we skim off and use for other purposes. People usually whipped cream with it.

Homemade butter is one step past whipped cream. To get butter, you have to agitate, whip or mix the cream long enough for the fat molecules to begin to clump together. After enough time mixing and shaking, the fat molecules clump together into butter, leaving the liquid and butterfat behind.

All that’s left to do is squeeze out any excess liquid between the fat molecules, and then voilá, you have butter!