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with the previous night's whole milk into a three- or four-gallon
churn: "They strain the milk up in them straight jars, and the cream
rises on the milk. And then they just take a spoon and run around the
top and push the cream off into a churn [with the night's milk]. And
when they get enough in the churn, they churn."
In actual practice, Arie Meaders would wait another day until the
churn's contents had thickened, or clabbered, before inserting her
wooden dash into the vessel. The latter, a short dowel wim a crosspiece
plunger at one end, was secured through the center of a wood
(or, very rarely, ceramic) lid which allowed it to move up and down
and which kept the milk from splashing out of the vessel. If the milk
was cold, it could take a considerable amount of churning to produce
results; if it was warm, it might take but a few minutes. On occasion,
if the milk and cream had clabbered too greatly, it would resist
churning, but this happened only infrequendy. Usually the layer of
cream would rapidly turn to butter. Then it would be skimmed off,
salted, and pressed into molds. The remaining thick buttermilk (left
after the butter had been removed) went into two gallon pitchers and
was consumed by the family immediately (fig. 39). The empty butter
churn and other dairy pots were set up on posts in the hot sun to
disinfect.
Figure 38. Four dairy vessels: The cream riser and two broad-top pots on the left were
made by Lanier Meaders, circa 1968- 70, and are coated with ash glaze. The last broadtop
pot is an early Meaders pot (turner unknown). A second type of creamriser, a handleless
variety with a broad, low profile is perhaps better known than the one shown here.
(Photo by Ralph Rinzler, 1979.)
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