[HN Gopher] Runners who churn butter on their runs
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       Runners who churn butter on their runs
        
       Author : randycupertino
       Score  : 68 points
       Date   : 2026-03-12 19:21 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.runnersworld.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.runnersworld.com)
        
       | bitwize wrote:
       | Of course she's from Oregon. This is close to the most Oregon
       | activity imaginable.
        
         | SunshineTheCat wrote:
         | You know, I don't mean this to be rude in any way, but what
         | kept going through my mind as I read this was "I wonder if they
         | drive a Subaru Outback."
         | 
         | And then I clicked the Instagram link and I'm almost positive
         | that is a hunter green Subaru Outback.
        
       | teruakohatu wrote:
       | > "It was probably 40 degrees outside, but there's a lot of heat
       | going on in the back,"
       | 
       | Would this is safe to do on a sunny warm weather? Would body heat
       | plus the sun ruin the cream?
        
         | helph67 wrote:
         | On warmer days you could swap doing the washing for food
         | preparation!
        
         | macintux wrote:
         | > This tracks with the science; according to Scientific
         | American, room-temperature cream turns to butter much faster
         | than cold cream because the molecules move more quickly at
         | higher temperatures. Of course, if the temperature gets too
         | high, everything will just melt, so their experiment probably
         | wouldn't have worked on a summer run.
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | Cold cream becomes whipped cream. colder yet icecream.
        
         | KolmogorovComp wrote:
         | I assume they shamelessly were talking in Fahrenheit degrees.
        
         | cogman10 wrote:
         | > Would this is safe to do on a sunny warm weather? Would body
         | heat plus the sun ruin the cream?
         | 
         | It's fairly safe. You can leave dairy products unrefrigerated
         | for an uncomfortable amount of time :) Butter, in particular,
         | can last for days outside a fridge.
         | 
         | The bacteria that tends to infest dairy products will usually
         | (but not always) turn it into something tasty like yogurt.
         | 
         | Don't get me wrong, you can definitely get sick from spoiled
         | dairy products, but it's not a 100% thing.
        
         | iamacyborg wrote:
         | > Would this is safe to do on a sunny warm weather?
         | 
         | I'd be more concerned about having plastic bags against my skin
         | when I'm sweating heavily than the effect the heat would have
         | on the butter tbh. Hot weather is an excuse to wear less
         | clothing, not wrap yourself in ziploc bags
        
       | teach wrote:
       | This is amazing but even as a runner who loves to make my own
       | "processed" food this really reads like a submarine article for
       | the dairy industry.
       | 
       | "I used to be vegan, but you know I just can't liveeeeeeee
       | without that real butter!!!!!!!"
        
         | wilg wrote:
         | The idea of butter being good doesn't strictly seem like it
         | demands a conspiracy theory.
        
           | ssgodderidge wrote:
           | The implication is that the lack of good butter made someone
           | abandon veganism ... while possible, it seems unlikely?
        
             | DetroitThrow wrote:
             | I've known people abandon veganism (for vegetarianism) over
             | cheese, since it's such a common ingredient in restaurant
             | food. Butter feels a little less likely.
        
         | ok_dad wrote:
         | Some people call themselves vegans but will still use animal
         | products that they feel are ethical. Also, some vegans do
         | occasionally use animal products just because they want to.
         | 
         | I don't think it's a conspiracy but it's weird that the vegan
         | topic even came up in this article because it is immaterial to
         | the main topic.
        
           | SunshineTheCat wrote:
           | I think about 90% of the time veganism has come up in
           | conversations I've been a part of, it's been unrelated to the
           | main topic being discussed.
        
             | phowat wrote:
             | Regardless of the vegan part the point still stands. It was
             | also my first though reading the article before I came here
             | to read the comments.
        
       | rolph wrote:
       | the next fad fringe sport.
       | 
       | seriously, if you can do butter, you should also be able to do
       | ice cream, with some ingenuity.
        
         | cicdw wrote:
         | There's a guy (insta: trailswithzach) that did successfully
         | make ice cream like this
        
         | tekla wrote:
         | Naw, you make Ice Cream on car wheels. Everyone knows that
        
       | zby wrote:
       | I laughed - but I don't want more of this
        
       | comrade1234 wrote:
       | This is really funny. My wife and I watched all of New
       | Scandinavian Cooking over a few months and there was an episode
       | where he made butter. It blew our minds at how simple it was. We
       | had no idea!
       | 
       | So we bought a couple of liters of cream (35% fat), put it in the
       | stand mixer and made butter. There's a Serious Eats page about
       | it.
       | 
       | The butter we made was better than what we normally buy. We live
       | in Switzerland so the normal grocery store butter is very good.
       | Our butter had less water in it (you can tell in a frying pan)
       | and more flavor. Plus we take the resulting buttermilk and make
       | ricotta cheese and then we take the leftover whey and make
       | Norwegian cheese (more like fudge). So we get three products from
       | one batch of cream. The butter comes out to be about 20 cents
       | cheaper per 250g than store bought and then the ricotta and
       | "fudge" are free, so financially you come out ahead. The cleanup
       | is a bit of a pain though.
       | 
       | We've also made cultured butter from creme fraiche. It's tasty
       | but even when the creme fraiche is on sale it's still like 2x the
       | cost of using cream so probably not worth it other than gifts and
       | special occasions. We made mandarin sorbet with the sour
       | buttermilk after the creme fraiche butter and that was excellent.
       | 
       | When I tell old Swiss people (people in their 70s/80s) that we
       | make butter they think it's hilarious. They tell me about how
       | when they were kids their parents made their own butter and also
       | at parties/gatherings the parents would give the kids a jar of
       | cream and it was their job to shake it and pass it around until
       | it was butter.
       | 
       | If you have an hour on the weekend and if you have a stand mixer
       | I suggest just trying it. Start with the balloon whisk and when
       | the peaks start forming switch to the paddle watch it because
       | when the butter forms it happens quick and you get a big clump of
       | butter rattling around in the mixer knocking it off balance. It
       | takes maybe 25 minutes and then you have to wash it in ice water,
       | mold it, then clean up. About an hour.
        
         | MisterTea wrote:
         | In preschool our teacher brought in a jar of cream that was
         | passed around and everyone took turns shaking it. Then we had
         | buttered bread. I believe this was done for thanksgiving.
        
           | carabiner wrote:
           | Ok we did this in elementary school. They gave us crackers
           | and let us spread the butter we made on it and we ate them. I
           | still have no idea as to the purpose of this exercise.
        
             | hrimfaxi wrote:
             | It was memorable and you learned something at least. :)
        
         | darreninthenet wrote:
         | My wife and I have occasionally made our own butter for years
         | now... one thing people always forget to mention is that it
         | goes bad really quickly. The trick is either to cut it up into
         | chunks and freeze most of it and the remainder you keep in the
         | fridge/defrost later will last about 3 days. Or you can add
         | salt after you've done the separation but this does of course
         | mean you now have salted butter... this will last up to two
         | weeks usually.
        
         | EdwardDiego wrote:
         | Roughly how much butter do you get from a certain amount of
         | cream?
         | 
         | Our butter prices in NZ are ridiculous right now (as our
         | domestic prices are driven by export prices), so I'm wondering
         | if making it from cream would be slightly more cost effective (
         | assuming my time has no value lol).
        
       | lbeckman314 wrote:
       | Good competition for Fatih Karakaya (@runners_pie)!
       | 
       | https://www.instagram.com/p/DCuSImnocL7 (November 23, 2024)
       | 
       | > Fatih is a master pastry chef and marathon runner, and he baked
       | a Sachertorte during his marathon at the Ring Running Series at
       | the Hockenheimring.
       | 
       | > Fatih ist Konditormeister und Marathonlaufer und hat wahrend
       | seines Marathons bei den Ring Running Series am Hockenheimring
       | eine Sachertorte gebacken.
        
       | KempyKolibri wrote:
       | "So, are you exercising much?"
       | 
       | "Oh yes doc, I get out for a run most days of the week."
       | 
       | "Wonderful news, got to look after your heart."
       | 
       | "Yeah, and with my new butter churning bags, not only do I get to
       | stay fit, but I also consume ungodly amounts of butter!"
       | 
       | "Sorry what"
        
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       (page generated 2026-03-12 23:00 UTC)