Butter: the lore of the churn

 Many of our garden herbs are putting out new green leaves, so we decided to make something special to celebrate their delicate flavor: a quick cultured butter with new shoots of sage and thyme (recipe below). We will have an entire post, if not more than one, dedicated to the properties and lore associated with sage and thyme. In the modern kitchen, the magical uses of butter are less celebrated and less well known, which is surprising, given that butter is almost globally associated with rich and dramatic tales of magic, spirits, gods, and witchcraft.

Butter is used in folk and hoodoo magic to smooth relationships and support tenacity. These uses date back to ancient Mesopotamian society, according to some historians. Butter in ancient culture is almost always associated with magic. In Ayurvedic medicine, ghee, a special clarified butter made with cow or buffalo milk, has a wide variety of healing uses. Leaving a small knob of butter out as a gift or offering to faerie or wee folk is a common custom in lore and folk practice in Scotland and Ireland.

Much of the lore associated with butter in the West has to do with protecting livestock, milk, churning, and cheese from malevolent fairies, witches, and enemies. There is a lot of dark magic attached to culturing and fermentation in general. Churning is associated with sex and the magic of sexuality. Because of significant commonalities in traditional lore, I tend to assign these magical properties to butter: powerful magic, sex magic, change, transformation, relationships with otherworldly spirits, and the dead. Beyond smoothing difficult situations, butter can also be used for eloquence, to fight stress and panic, and as a symbol of spiritual and material wealth. Butter is associated with the Moon, the fae or wee folk, and the deep magic of lunar, dark, and mother goddesses.

In addition to eating, butter can be used as the base of magical ointments. Check our milk, dairy, and butter tags here for more lore and recipes about this fascinating topic: we are really looking forward to delving more deeply into this one in the future. For now, though, the Spring Equinox is less than a week away, and what better time is there to make some fresh, delicate herb butter-- and perhaps gift a little to a friend?

Quick Cultured Butter with Sage and Thyme

Ingredients:

• 1 pt. heavy whipping cream
• 3 tbsp cultured buttermilk
• salt
• 9 small fresh sage leaves
• 1 sprig fresh thyme

Tools:

• food processor or stand mixer
• coffee filters
• cheesecloth
• mesh strainer
• a very clean bowl

Directions:

1. Ferment/culture. The night before you plan to make the butter, put the cream and buttermilk in a clean bowl, stir gently together, and cover with a cloth. Place in a warm but not hot location in your home: the kitchen counter should be fine, as long as it is undisturbed. Leave for 12 hours (or more-- the longer it ages, the tangier the butter will become).

2. Churn. To churn the butter, pour the mixture into your food processor or mixer and blend on high speed until the butter solid pulls away from the liquid. This will take a few minutes but it is noticeable when the change occurs: see photo below. Gently pour off the buttermilk: you can save this for baking or to make another batch of butter.

3. Rinse. Put the butter into a mesh strainer and rinse it with cold water, turning it and smashing it several times. You will see more cloudy buttermilk come out with the rinsing. Place the butter in some cheesecloth and continue to rinse it with cold water, and squeeze out as much excess buttermilk as you can. Add a couple of teaspoons of salt and knead this into the butter. Roll it into a ball and wrap with dry cheesecloth, place on the strainer, and put the strainer above a bowl. Place in the fridge. Let the butter drain like this a little more: give it at least an hour.

4. Season and store. Reserve 3 sage leaves. Chop the rest of the herbs very fine. Remove the butter from the fridge and work the herbs into it until they are evenly mixed in. Using a coffee filter, form the butter into one large ball, or divide into three smaller portions. Garnish with sage leaves and extra herbs. Store refrigerated or well-covered in a very cool location. This also freezes well.