Читать книгу The Taste of Britain - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - Страница 50

Whey butter has probably been produced by cheese-makers in Britain for many centuries. Whey is the by-product of cheese-making, a thin liquid separated from the curd in the early stages. Depending on the type of cheese, the whey carries with it a small proportion of butter-fat and, in some areas, this is collected and churned into butter. Val Cheke (1959) states that, in the early medieval period, one of the duties of the dairy maid was to make whey butter and there are many references from later centuries relating to this practice. Maria Rundell (1807) gave details of how to manage cream for whey butter, a process which required the whey to stand a day and a night before it was skimmed, then boiled, poured into a pan of cold water and skimmed again ‘as the cream rises’ - this is not unlike making clotted cream. She remarks, ‘Where new-milk cheese is made daily, whey-butter for common and present use may be made to advantage.’ This statement still holds true today, and it is made in many cheese-making areas.