While explaining the process of butter making to sister she suddenly asked “what is churning?” that’s when I realized that many people out there might not really know the meaning of churning, so here I am writing an entire blog about churning.Churning according to the dictionary is to shake, agitate, or stir vigorously. In cooking terminology churning usually refers to shaking or agitating full fat milk or cream to make butter. Milk is basically an emulsion of milk fat, water, and milk solids. Substances called as lecithin and phospholipids act as emulsifiers and help the milk fat remain finely dispersed the milk. Churning or agitating the milk breaks up the lecithin and phospholipids membrane and the milk fat separates out of the milk, if agitation is continued the fat globules adhere to each other and form butter, the liquid or whey that remains is called as buttermilk. 

The process of churning milk was probably practiced by man right from the time he realized how to milk cattle. There is a mention of churning techniques and butter in ancient texts, mythologies, and biblical verses. Until the industrial revolution churning milk was a very simple though strenuous process, which involved agitating raw milk with a plunger or shaking the milk in a skin bag to produce butter.

Sophisticated butter churners or churns were invented sometime during the 1800s, which made churning and butter making much easier. Today with the easy availability of butter in the grocer’s shop one rarely churns milk at home. However, for those who still make homemade butter a variety of electric and manual butter churns are available in the market. 

So the next time you spread butter over your toast, think about the long churning process that the milk has had to undergo to form butter. 

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