Meet The Maker: Churncraft

Our new winter issue features a kitchen tool most modern cooks have likely forgotten about. Kristin and Hannes Frey’s new personal, hand-cranked butter churn is likely to change that. 

The idea to create a new kind of butter churn came from Kristin, who first learned to churn as a young kid in the 70s, growing up on a hobby farm in the Hudson River Valley. Kristin’s family had acquired a Holstein cow named Tranquility (Willy for short) and eventually found themselves in a unique predicament: Willy was producing over 40 quarts of milk a day, and they needed to do something with it. 

Kristin, who had been gifted an antique butter churn by a neighbor, decided to process some of Willy’s milk and was rewarded with fresh, creamy, golden butter. She also made yogurt, cheese, and ice cream, but butter was always her favorite. 

The antique churn finally began to wear out about five years ago, and Kristin searched for a modern replacement. Feeling unsatisfied with the churns available on the market, she made the decision to build her own. 

Kristin and her husband “did not want to compromise on quality and design.” The couple met with several designers and engineers, and went through many redesigns and prototypes until they created a churn that satisfied them. Three years after Kristin’s plan began, the couple launched Churncraft.

Churncraft’s butter churn is beautifully-designed, ergonomic, and efficient. And though churning may sound old-fashioned, this tool is modern, through and through. And trust us, the end result is definitely worth it. churncraft.com.

This blogpost was originally published on The Coastal Table website on 12/19/2016.