Butter Pats
Highland Museum of Childhood

During the Victorian period, most foods were made at home, including butter, bread, and biscuits.    

Butter was churned by hand, from milk, either in a large wooden barrel-like device with a long wooden plunger or smaller devices with a handle to wind that drove paddles inside the chamber. Both devices worked by moving the milk around constantly until the milk separated into butter and buttermilk. Churning butter by hand was hard work and took a long time – women would sometimes sing rhythmic songs and take turns when they were churning the butter.   

Once the butter was made, it was handled and shaped into smaller blocks using these wooden paddles or ‘pats’. The grooves in the pats stop the butter from sticking to the wood.