BLACK BUTTER

Rich in history and taste

 

Jersey black butter is a very old and traditional farm-house delicacy of Jersey, and the product is important not only in gastronomic terms, but as a constituent of the now declining, traditional rural culture of the Island.

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Between 1600 and 1700, twenty percent of Jersey’s arable land was made up of orchards. Cider was made by farmers to give to their staff, making up part of their wages. A great tradition that exists as a result of Jersey’s proliferation of apples is the production of ‘black butter’ or ‘Le Niere Buerre’. Made from cider apples, the new cider is boiled over a fire for many hours - up to two days! When the cider is ‘reduced’ by half, apples, sugar, lemon, spices and a hint of liquorice added. The mixture is continuously stirred with a wooden ‘rabot’ or paddle. Production of the butter is a very popular community event following each winter crop with traditional singing, dancing, storytelling and chatting going on into the early hours of the morning.

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