- By Davoc
- 14 November, 2008
- Comments Off on Buttermaking
All through the centuries in Ireland the making of butter was an important
industry. In fact by the end of the 18th century butter was Ireland's
largest export. Even cattle, at this period, were judged not by beef but by
milk production. Besides the churn the old time farm would have a wide
range of other wooden dairy utensils, some stave built others carved from
the solid. These would include, milking-piggins, cream-skimmers, strainers,
ladles, butter-scoops, and prints, butter tubs and buttermilk butts. A
shallow stave built keeler, or a turned bowl is kept for setting milk. The
solid and often shapely carved cups and methers (literally mead bowls) are
already archaeological specimens.
Every household made butter and all sorts of methods were used. They say
that if you were to put some cream into any sealed container, tie rope onto
it and swing it for hours over your head, eventually it would turn into
butter!
Once the butter was formed and cleaned, butter pats were used to mould it
into round shapes, butter balls or wedges, onto which an emblem could be
printed with a special butter stamps - in Irish stampai ime.
But by far the most charming were the wee butter prints or moulds. These
stamps came in a huge variety of styles and shapes, with different carvings
- a sheaf of wheat, a swan, a cow beside a gate, an acorn, or maybe the Act
of Union emblems of the thistle, shamrock and rose.
Some of these prints were activated by the plunger, others were just pressed
on the surface of the butter. These were always made of sycamore as it was
the only timber that would not put an odour on the butter. It was also easy
to scrub clean.