Better Butter Experiment

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Better Butter Experiment

Supplies:

Clean jars or containers with tightfitting lids

1 cup heavy cream

Select at least one other liquid from this list: • 1 cup light whipping cream • 1 cup half and half • 1 cup whole milk

Optional: clean glass marble 2. If using a marble, add it now, and then put the lid on the container.

3. Check that the container is firmly closed and will not leak.

Directions:

1. Taste the first heavy cream, then pour it into one of the containers until the container is approximately half-full. 4. Shake the container and listen closely. What does it sound like? (It should sound like liquid sloshing.)

5. Keep shaking until the sound changes and it stops sloshing. Open up the container to look at the stuff inside. What does it look like? Does it taste different than it did at the beginning of the experiment?

6. Tightly close the container and shake again until you hear sloshing. Open the container and taste the liquid and the solids. What do they

taste like? What do they smell like?

7. Pour off the liquid (which is now buttermilk) and you have made butter!

Your butter should keep in the refrigerator for a few days.

Note: some people recommend rinsing and kneading homemade butter to help prevent spoiling. You may also add salt during this step, if you prefer salted butter.

Colloid:

a substance microscopically dispersed evenly throughout another 8. Repeat this process substance. with the other milks and creams, making sure to use a clean container and marble). Can they all make butter? Does the butter each one makes taste different?

Try This:

The temperature can affect the speed at which butter is made. If you warm up the liquid before shaking it (cream works best), does it turn into butter more quickly? Does the taste change? Why the Marble?

What’s Happening?

Milk and cream are not actually all one liquid but instead are a colloid: there are tiny bits of fat suspended in liquid. When you shake the milk or cream, all of the bits of fat bump into one another and clump together. Eventually, this makes butter—and the leftover liquid is buttermilk. While you were making the butter, there was also a part in the middle where you ended up with a thick foam. This was actually whipped cream! When you shake the container that is half-full of liquid, you are mixing air into your milk or cream, which makes another type of colloid! Some of the types of milk or cream that you tested may have worked better than others. This is because of the amount of fat in the liquid. Whole milk, which probably didn’t work, doesn’t have a high enough fat content to use to make butter. We also use a process called homogenization on our dairy products in the US, which means that the colloid has very, very tiny pieces of fat which may make it harder or impossible to create butter.

The marble acts as an extra agitator and may help you create the butter more quickly.

Experiement provided by

November 4 - 13

On the Waldron Stage

'Pay What You Can'

For more info visit millmountain.org

2022

Mill Mountain Theatre Presents

November 30 December 23

On the Trinkle MainStage

For Tickets Call 540.342.5740 or visit millmountain.org