School: Cortubber
- Location:
- Cortober, Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: Mary A. Burke
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0237, Page 060
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- XML “Butter-Making”
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- Butter making and selling was a great business in old times. The farmers then churned all the milk at home and filled tubs with the butter. The milk was strained into crocks and left to ripen for some days in a dairy or other suitable place.
The churn was cleaned and scalded aired [?] etc also the dash cover dabbler. Then in the cool of the evening or early morning the churning was made. The men doing some of it while the women did their bit too. Hot water would be added if wanted to raise the temperature of the milk. This method of churning was very laborious. No person could come in or leave the house without taking a brash of the churn and dare any man come in for a coal for his pipe he wouldn't be let get it.
The butter when churned would be gathered in the churn and left for a while before being made. Then the woman of the house would make the butter, keep what she wanted for the house and pack the rest into the tubs for the market. The buttermilk did for bread and for drinking - a wooden cup was always left near the churn.
