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Background of Grandma's Buttermilk Bar

Grandma's Buttermilk Bar was named after my mother, Doris Lehman.

As children growing up we all had to take our turn in churning cream. A job no one wanted, but on our small farm on the outskirts of Kirschnerville, NY (population 24), everyone had to help with one thing or another.

The cream came from our pet Jersey, Bessy. This small cow produced cream like no other. I remember the cream being so heavy, you could practically skim it from the milk with your hands. In her flush, Bessy could produce enough cream to make 7 pounds of butter a week. More than one family could possibly use. Mom sold the excess butter and used the buttermilk for baking. Some folks were certain that mom added yellow food coloring to the butter, for they had never seen butter so yellow. As a witness to the production of her superior product, I can attest that she did not.

Mom's first churn (pictured below left) could produce butter in approximately 20 - 30 minutes, depending on the temperature of the cream and how fast we were willing to plunge! Room temperature was always best. As the butter started forming and the plunging would get a little more difficult, mom would take over, perfecting the final product. She would then take the butter from the churn, rinse and squeeze the excess buttermilk from the butter, add a little salt and then pack it into containers. Mom eventually acquired a hand crank churn (pictured below right). Although it couldn't hold as much cream, it became our favorite method for butter churning.

Bessy's been long gone, but the childhood memories still remain embedded in our hearts. Back in a time of innocents and wonder.