Yes, you read that right, make your own cream. All you need is is one of the above, a cream maker. Brilliant, yes?
This was another little ‘find’ I came across on my foragings at markets and charity shops. Just before Christmas I spied it at a loca vintage goods fair and bought it even before I knew exactly what it was or what it did. It just looked so lovely and the pump handle action seemed sound. I snuck it home and quickly googled it up. The top green section is bakelite and the bottom moulded glass. The maker’s name, Empire (and model number), is on the pump handle on one side and a brand name, Bel, on the other side, with a description Cream maker, Made in England. It was made in the 1940s/50s when getting hold of cream may not have been as easy as popping into Waitrose on the way home. Subsequent models have plastic top sections instead of bakelite but the pretty mottled green top was what caught my eye.
Look at it, lovely isn
Of course, this all meant I had ammunition for when ol’ T saw it and started on his usual “What the hell is that?/Why?/Do we really need it?/Where on earth is it going to sit?” which is his normal reaction to my ‘finds’. Phew! Because if there’s one person that dislikes waste it’s T. So quick as a flash, just as he went into full flow I countered with; “Now we can always have cream when we want and the exact amount too”. Like I said, brilliant!
You certainly give your arms a workout pumping the melted butter and milk. Which is a fine excuse for a bigger dollop of the end product in my opinion.
Last weekend T made a very tasty apple & mincemeat tart which cried out for… you’ve guessed it, cream. So I set to with instructions I had found on the internet. 70 grams unsalted butter, 70 mls full fat milk* (organic, unhomogenised, delivered by milkman in glass bottles, natch!) was melted together to below boiling point. Then I poured this into the top green section, pumped it through and hey presto… cream. It needed two passes (as per instructions) to really come together but come together it did. Left in the fridge to thicken I then added some vanilla essence and a splash of brandy before pouring over the tart. Excellent.
The final cream was further enlivened with a glug brandy and a dribble of vanilla essence which made it runny, then poured over a slice of the tart.
So now I have a wonderful cream maker and a happy T. Now that’s what I call a good result.
*we did have leftover cream, ssshhh.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
What a lovely item to find!
I am amused as I have been carrying out the reverse process and making butter and buttermilk from cream!
Which can be just as much a workout on the arms. We used to ‘help’ my grandmother with her butter churning when on holidays in the West of Ireland, yeeaars ago. Unpasturised, cow-flavoured, very salty, farm butter didn’t appeal to us city kids though and we had to persuade our mother to buy ‘proper’ butter. Funny old world, would probably like it now!
Well done you for recognising the gadget.
I wouldn’t have known what it was, I confess.
I tried making cream once, out of interest. And it looks the part, but it tasted like fluffy butter. And I used it as butter in fruit cakes.
https://picasaweb.google.com/112770427412470290342/HomemadeCream#
I think I need to test making cream with various butters next to see which one gives the best taste. It was creamy alright, but not quite the same creamy as regular cream if that makes sense.
It’s a gorgeous gorgeous piece of kit.
But wouldn’t it be cheaper to, er, buy cream?
Given that butter is quite expensive these days?
Ah possibly but I always have unsalted butter (prefer unsalted in general) and full fat milk in my fridge so I (theoretically) don’t need to buy cream just for a one-off occasion. And when I do buy cream I usually don’t use it all in one go. Never really goes to waste mind, soda farls made with cream are fab, if fattening.
wonder if you can make butter from reduced cream and then remake it into butter!
Lol love the idea – need to try that out. Reminds me of that Young Ones scene “we sow the seed, nature grows the seed, we eat the seed. Then we sow the seed, nature…” A never ending circle.
It does look so very prettty. I’m glad that it works and makes you – and T of course – happy.
Ingenius little gadget- I want one! And the fact that it’s vintage makes it even more attractive. : )
Love it! Have been waiting to see these results
Glad you like plus it’s a good workout too. So you can make your cream and eat it and (in my mind) not gain weight.
What a superb looking gadget! Never seen one of those before. I love bakelite stuff
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