The churning of butter is an important part of

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

ese livelihood. Not only a part of day-to-day activity, it is a component of traditional culture and identity of Nepalese society. It involves the separation of

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

from

curd Curd is obtained by Denaturation (biochemistry), coagulating milk in a sequential process called curdling. It can be a final dairy product or the first stage in cheesemaking. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet, a Kefir cheese, ...

by the action of

centrifugation Centrifugation is a mechanical process which involves the use of the centrifugal force to separate particles from a solution according to their size, shape, density, medium viscosity and rotor speed. The denser components of the mixture migrate ...

using a series of traditional devices.

Devices used in churning butter

''Theki''

''Theki'' (Nepali: ठेकी) is the largest of all devices used in churning butter, and is the primary device used. Cylindrical in shape at the body, it has a narrow neck while the mouth is a spreading fan-like structure. It is most commonly made up of ''darigitho'' (Nepali: दारीगिठो) wood, so commonly called as ''Daar ko theki'' in rural areas. ''

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

'' (Nepali: गुराँस) is also used. It is used to hold the curd during the process and is where the ''Madaani'' is inserted.

''Madaani''

''Madaani'', (Nepali: मदानी) also known as ''Ghupa'', it is the most important and major functional device used in the churning process. It is a tool made with the following parts: # ''Saro'' (Nepali: सरो) It is a long, solid, cylindrical structure made up of ''Falat'' (Nepali: फलाँट) or ''Katus'' (Nepali: कटुस) wood. It is connected to ''Pora'' at the end and is where ''Neti'' is wound around. # ''Pora'' (Nepali: पोरा)-It is the fan like structure at the base of ''Madaani'', made of same wood as ''Saro''. It has four blunt blade like structures used for whirling of the curd. It can be considered as a centrifuging machine in technical words. # Neti (Nepali: नेती) is the rope wound over ''Saro'', with two free ends made up of small cylindrical woods tied on the rope called ''Koila'', for holding by a person to move it to and fro. It can be made up nylon or paddy straw.

''Torso'' or ''taro''

(Nepali: तोर्सो/तरो) It is a flat structure consisting of hole at one end to let the ''Saro'' of ''Madaani'' in and thereby holding it in place while tied with a rope at the other end to hold it on a supporting structure. It can be made up of any wood but ''Falat'' (Nepali: फलाँट) and ''Katus'' (Nepali: कटुस) are considered the best.

''Dhungro''

(Nepali: ढुंग्रो) It is a hollow, cylindrical structure made up of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

(Nepali: बाँस) used for holding the churned milk at the end of the churning process.

Process of churning

The curd accumulated over a period of few days is brought and collected in the ''Theki''. Then, ''Madaani'' held onto the ''Torso'' is inserted inside the ''Theki''. Then ''Neti'' is moved to and fro until butter separates from the curd. Addition of hot water at the middle of the process can fasten the process but care should be given to the period and amount of water to be added. Addition of more water at the latter stages of the process can significantly decrease the butter content. The completion of the process is detected by moving the ''Pora'' around the surface of the churned liquid where butter separates from rest of the liquid and accumulate into a mold. It takes about 20 minutes. Then, butter is taken out and collected, while churned milk (Nepali: मोही) is collected in ''Dhungro''. Werner Egli described the butter churning process as follows:Werner M. Egli (2014). ''The Sunuwar of Nepal and their Sense of Communication: A Study in the Culture, Psychology and Shamanism of a Himalayan People'', p. 137.

After three to four days f fermentationbutter churning can be started. For this purpose a wooden churning-stick is used, which is rotated by moving a cord back and forth. By the drill movement butter lumps are produced which are skimmed off by hand. Afterwards the butter is wrapped into a leather blanket and is pressed until it reaches the desired consistency.

Gallery

File:Addition of hot water during butter churning.jpg, Addition of hot water in the middle of the process can speed up the process Madaani (मदानी).jpg, Madaani, the upper fan-like structure is called Pora while the lower cylindrical one wound with Neti is called Saro. Dhungro (ढुंग्रो).jpg, Dhungro (ढुंग्रो)- two at the sides, the middle one is small Theki Torso (तोर्सो).jpg, Torso (तोर्सो) Neti (नेती).jpg, The whole rope set up is Neti (Nepali:नेती), and the small wooden blocks tied at the end are called Koila. File:A woman extracting butter.jpg, A woman extracting butter at the end of the process File:Theki2.jpg, Butter churning pot

References

{{Authority control Butter Science and technology in Nepal Nepalese cuisine