The Log Cabin Living: Artifacts from 19th Century Life exhibit at Job Carr Cabin Museum encourages visitors to take a closer look at more than 20 objects in the museum's collection.
Butter Churn on display at Job Carr Cabin Museum. The churn was donated by John and Margo Gooding.
Many folks in the 1800s used butter churns like the one on display at Job Carr Cabin Museum. When traveling on the Oregon Trail, they could take a cow or goat along to provide fresh dairy products for their family.
Fresh milk from an animal is not the same as milk that you buy at a modern grocery store. First, the warm milk is allowed to sit while the cream slowly rises to the top. To make butter, the cream is scooped into a churn. Manually moving the stick, or dasher, up and down agitates the cream. The thick white liquid develops into the whipped cream stage. After enough stirring, the butter forms into a yellow solid and separates from the liquid buttermilk. On the Oregon Trail, travellers could attach a churn to the wagon and the rocking motion along the bumpy path would mix the cream into butter. The amount of time needed to create butter varied based on the weather; the process is quicker when the weather is warmer.
Students on a field trip at Job Carr Cabin Museum explore the science of shaking cream into butter.
Butter paddles were used to scoop the butter from the churn, press out the excess liquid, and mold it into sticks or decorative shapes. Without refrigeration the butter could spoil quickly, so salt was added to help it last longer. The remaining buttermilk could be added to various recipes like biscuits or pancakes.
Wooden butter paddles and a tin milk jug on display at Job Carr Cabin Museum.
In the heritage kitchen display at Job Carr Cabin Museum, you might notice a photo of a woman demonstrating how to use a butter churn. The person pictured is Esther Doyle Uhlman. Esther and her husband lived in Old Town Tacoma from 1886 to 1910. He operated a butcher shop in the area. Their descendants remain active in the Old Town community today.
Old Town Tacoma resident Esther Doyle Uhlman churning butter, ca 1910. Photo on display at Job Carr Cabin Museum, donated by Kathy Manke.
Take a closer look at the Museum's butter churn in this short video:
Sources
Flagg, Nancy. “Oregon Trail Foods: On The Journey.” Job Carr Cabin Museum, Job Carr Cabin Museum, 2009, www.jobcarrmuseum.org/blog/oregon-trail-foods-on-the-journey.
“Learning to Look: Butter Mold.” MSU Museum, Michigan State University, museum.msu.edu/ltl-buttermold/. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.
Locker, Melissa. “The History of the Butter Mold-and Why It’s Making a Comeback.” Southern Living, Dotdash Meredith, 7 Nov. 2022, www.southernliving.com/news/history-of-butter-molds.
About the Authors
Madeline Teddy completed an internship with Job Carr Cabin Museum in Fall 2023. She was a graduate of University of British Columbia majoring in history and classical Near Eastern religious studies. She hoped to take her studies further and become a museum curator.
Brendan Michael Beltran volunteered with Job Carr Cabin Museum in Summer 2023. He is a student at University of Washington, majoring in history. One day, he hopes to get into the history field.