On Saturday June 28, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in celebration of National Dairy Month, visitors to Wade House will have the opportunity to help make ice cream and butter in 1860s fashion as well as learn about the process of making cheese. Hands-on activities will include hand cranking an ice cream maker and plunging a dash up and down to churn butter.
The Wade House kitchen will be busy as staff and guests alike take turns working dashes and cranks until their arms get weary. Butter will be made from fresh cream by moving a dash (staff) up and down within a stoneware plunge churn. Homemade ice cream will be made using a hand crank ice cream maker, comprised of an outer bowl and smaller inner bowl with a paddle for stirring. Guests will be rewarded for their hard work with a sample of the dairy products that they helped to make. There will also be ice cream from Kelley Country Creamery in Eden for sale that day in the site’s Butternut Café.
Besides making butter and ice cream, Wade House staff will demonstrate the craft of cheese making following a detailed recipe of Miss Catharine Beecher, a 19th century pioneer educator and home economist. Visitors will see milk being strained, heated, and stirred until curd is formed. Interpreters will break and press the curd to separate and remove whey. Then they will immerse the curd in a kettle of warm water and stir. Next, the curd will be drained and placed into cheese hoops and put in to a press. Once taken from the press, the cheese will be placed on a shelf in a dark, cool room for approximately six months until firm.
“Dairy Day” will take place at the Wade House Historic Site in Greenbush, WI. Visitors will begin the special experience at the new Wade House Visitor Center and Wesley W. Jung Carriage Museum located at W7965 State Highway 23. Admission is as follows: adults – $11; students/seniors – $9.25; Children (5-17) – $5.50; family (up to two adults and two or more dependent children 5-17) – $30. For more information about the event, please call Bridgitt Zielke, Wade House manager of marketing, public programs and event services, at (920) 526-3271.