Not intentionally and like Fun2BHere, it was with a mixer…..I was a lot older than 12.

When I was a kid, we had a farm that was a second home, and a farmer down the road, who raised dairy cows, would give us fresh cream from his cows, and we and our friends/cousins would sit in a circle and take turns shaking the glass jar with the cream in it until it turned into butter. Then we ate it. It was sooooooooooooo good.

It was my job when I was young to shake the butter jar! I loved making butter because I knew I would get to eat some on some fresh hot from the oven cornbread my grandmother always made. She also had one of the butter churns but I always did it in the big glass jar.

My mother used to make country style butter, and my sister and I had to churn it in a butter churn (before Mom got the butter churn we used to "shake" jars). To make country butter, you skim the cream from fresh milk and put it in a container (the jar or the churn). Let the container sit on the counter top until it separates into curds and whey. Then you start churning. Once the butter has made, you carefully drain the buttermilk off into a separate container while holding the butter back from escaping. Once the buttermilk is drained, put the butter into a deep bowl and start washing it under running cold water; you want to do this until the water runs clear. Then you add some salt and mix it in well, form/shape the butter and put it in the refrigerator to chill and set. That is my memory of churning butter. And, my on my, was that butter good on fresh bread. We made butter every week. Bought the raw milk from the neighbors. I still prefer the "sour cream" butter to sweet cream butter, but it is impossible to find now.

I was in charge of 4H club when teaching home ec. My 4H members enjoyed making butter in a jar.

No, never thought about it but now that you mention it, I bet it would be fun to try! Just like the home made ice cream we used to make, I bet it tastes better than store bought!

I remember as a kid shaking a jar with some kind of milk in it, and eventually butter formed as I recall. I wonder what we used.

In the second grade, sitting in a circle, we shook a mason jar full of whipping cream until it became butter. Then we each got some on a cracker. Delicious!

I've made it a couple of times for the experience. We just used heavy whipping cream and a hand mixer. The kids made it in school by shaking a jar several times.

One time. In grade school. Cream in a jar passed around for the class to shake. I still remember the teacher saying how she made a mistake the last time she tried it and used half and half instead of cream.

Grew up with it. "Come butter, come butter, come butter come, Little Mary is waiting for some." Chanted in time to the movement of the dasher. In cold weather we sometimes put the churn by the fireplace to help the milk clabber. Mama would mold the butter into a mound and put designs on the top with a wooden paddle. I have a pretty wooden mold now but did not then. Always something to do!

Never made butter, but I have made whopee!

When I was a little kid there was a truck that went around to all the schools with milk cows in stalls. They taught lessons about milk and cows and dairy work, then we'd make butter in a contraption that looked like a big pickle jar (commercial sized) with a rotary egg beater through the lid. We'd each crank for awhile. I assume the milk or cream came from the cow truck. When the butter was finished, the teachers served it on soda crackers.

Since then the only way I've made butter is by whipping cream in the mixer, three stops past whipped cream, to make whipped butter.

In my 30s, we had cows and the cream would go to the top - we used a butter churn to make butter and the extra I traded for eggs - I lasted about two years...

...and no, I didn't milk the cows...

We had a cow.

She gave so much milk that even after we drank all we could & made butter & took milk & butter & buttermilk to my grandparents, we still had enough for the dogs & cats.

I bet you can find someone in the same boat, somebody with maybe an acre or so.

I can't remember exactly (it's been at least a few years since I rode the school bus with a boy whose parents had a dairy!), but I'm thinking that the dairies may not be able to oblige;

they likely have to comply with health regulations for selling milk.

but if you see a pasture with a lot of black & white cows, it won't hurt to ask!

Used to buy farm milk, and save the cream from a couple of gallons of milk to make butter in an old fashioned glass jar with wooden paddles churn.

Really yummy butter.

Then I moved in to the city, and gave the butter churn to a friend of mine. She collects antiques.

Moni

Never milked a cow, but my uncle attempted to teach me how to milk a goat :o) My cousins were allergic to cows milk, so they raised goats. That was way back in the early 1940's.

Twoacres, no need to find a cow. Use heavy cream or whipping cream from your grocery

Yep, I followed the directions Alton Brown gave on one of his Good Eats episodes and used a food processor to make butter out of heavy cream.

Yes I did-I milked,made the butter from the cream and did it in the jar as well-for years.

Thanks for all of the replies. I'm in S East Wisconsin surrounded by dairy farmers. There's a couple that I am going to stop in and see if I can purchase their raw milk and I'm going to give it a try. Been researching butter churns, found some at Lehmans - non electric. We are making a trip to Amish country this fall for our meat so I may wait and see what they have in terms of butter churns. I'm sure once I start making it I wont want to go back to store bought. Thank you again.

Unless you use a lot of butter, your homemade product won't have near the shelf life as the commercial stuff. Especially if you use cream from raw milk.

Remember, you must have the cream....not milk.

I've made butter a couple of times, when I thought it would make a difference for a special meal for guests who were bound to appreciate the effort. I very lightly salted my butter.

Got it, thank you. It would still be nice to get the raw milk as I have a lactose problem as well.

Glenda, there's a guy in my area who keeps a herd of milk goats;

he uses organic feeds & no chemicals.

A lot of his customers are people with milk allergies or chemical sensitivities or medical problems.

How will raw milk help your lactose problem?

The stores around here (in PA) sell raw milk from dairies certified to be able to do so. Otherwise it's illegal. But maybe state laws differ.

I've had raw milk before, doesn't affect me. The store bought stuff does. It's kind of a hush hush thing, farmers can't sell it!

When I was a child, I learned how to milk a cow, and then sit on my aunt and uncle's porch....shaking the milk in a mason jar, to make butter.....down in Possum Holler, Tenn.

Monica, my dad had a brick plant in Owl's Holler where I grew up :o)

Many times...using raw milk that had been soured overnight. I have also made it from cream just because. I love doing old timey things. I recently made corn cob jelly.

I've made it from cream....but only because I whipped the cream too long.