Martha+Tom

Tom’s next project?

Butter

Amy Thielen has an article in the The Star Tribune today entitled “MYOB {make your own butter}” that is very much worth looking over, even if it may seem like a far-out idea for some. It’s true: Tom is now making all of our bread, all of our yogurt, pickles of all kinds, and has attempted cheese on a few occasions. However crazily I may sometimes view these mysteries of home cooking and creation, Amy’s piece makes me want to MMOB (that’s make-my-own-butter). I especially like how she recounts the differences between winter butter and summer butter here in Minnesota:

Excepting the green months (May to October), your homemade butter made from Minnesota cream will be stone-white, which is a bit of a shock if you’re used to yellow butter, as most of us are. I thought immediately of Ma Ingalls in “Little House in the Big Woods,” and how she would color the winter cream by grating a carrot into a fluffy mass and squeezing its juice into the cream before churning…. Ma was a genius. Not only does the carrot juice tint the butter so it looks like it came from July’s prairie-grazing cows, but it also lends it a faint sweetness.

We are in the green months! There’s no better time to try… For the Strib’s recipes, try here. Have any of you done this before?

As projects go, what else is on the horizon? This is, of course, pure speculation as I can’t speak for Tom… Maybe beer, but with our hot water heat it’s hard to know if that’s a good idea. Canned goods fresh from the market to keep for winter’s un-bounty are a must (I look forward to learning more about this and helping as well), perhaps home distilled fruits concoctions? Our recent visit with my Aunt Martha and her husband Peter has inspired us down this road at some point for sure. My only (food) contribution of late has been sprouts, glorious sprouts grown right on my countertop. Once my day by day photo series is complete I will happily share how fun sprouts can be.

photo: http://belladia.typepad.com

2 comments | , , , ,

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2 comments on “Tom’s next project?”

  1. Uncle Don 17 July, 2009 at 6:14 pm

    Just wonder if you can get milk direct from a dairy. I had it available in the 60’s and it was the best milk I ever had anywhere.

  2. Aunt Sue 19 July, 2009 at 2:54 pm

    I was making our own butter a couple of years ago and loved it. Used my food processor to make it. It was very fresh and creamy but got expensive since we were eating so much more of it so haven’t made it in a while.

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