Will the next EcoTrail runners, this Saturday and Sunday, have cream in their hydration vest? For several days on social networks, athletes have been doing their runs with freezer bags filled with liquid cream. For what ? To see if they could make their own butter while running.
At the origin of this experience, we find two Americans (again them) living in Oregon. One morning, they tried a simple experiment: running with cream in a bag to see if the agitation produced by running could turn it into butter. At the house of 20 Minutesso we also tried the experiment to find out if it was really possible and if the product was of quality.
Churn more to move more!
Running can be useful for once. This new trend called “churn and burn” challenge, which means “churn and burn” is a hit on social networks. According to the runners, making your own butter would be child’s play, just pour a whole brick of cream into a bag with a zipper and then run. This is the easy stage, in terms of sport, it is advisable to run at least 10 km and at a good pace. Although this may seem totally crazy, this idea is not so stupid.
“To make butter it’s simple, it’s a product that comes from churning milk then cream. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to stir some cream. When we make butter today, either in factories, but even by hand, the idea will be to beat the cream until the whey and butter separate from the bulk of the fat,” explains Augustin Monnier, artisan cheesemaker at Fromagerie Chataigner in Paris.
The artisan adds that “if you shake the cream vigorously and long enough, you will get exactly the same thing. The fats will clump together and little by little you will have some sort of solid lumps. To then have a solid ball and whey which will separate.” This is why by running fast enough and shaking the bag some people can make butter.
Beware of contamination
If this trend is fun and can encourage people to run through fun challenges, a health question arises. Is it safe to make your own butter and eat it? “Professionals follow strict rules to avoid the risk of contamination as much as possible. And here, that’s not the case. There are several risks,” warns Roxane Fourgous, an agronomist who very much doubts the hygiene of the result. “When we make butter in a cheese factory or dairy, after packaging the product is immediately put in a cold cell to reach 2°C at the core as quickly as possible. This is to limit contamination as much as possible. And here, in our homes, we cannot guarantee it. »
Even if the idea makes the cheesemaker and the agronomist smile a lot, the latter strongly doubts the result, “the original idea to understand the concept of how we make butter, it’s interesting to understand. But from there, to making your own butter while running, there is a gap. For questions of food safety and product consistency. »
A trend that brings together what we love most
While some Americans take the risk of tasting the butter once the race is over, others just have fun trying the experience. But why then do we like to watch and do such bizarre challenges? “This kind of content is quite viral on the culinary test side, a bit What The Fuck. There, we are right in it. The second format that is working extremely well at the moment is the whole Do it Yourself component. This will make us want to try making our own butter while running or sourdough bread,” explains Anaïs Loubère, digital communications expert who adds that a third piece of content is popular on the networks: “running.” “Today, for those under 40, it becomes the only somewhat legitimate content to post. Because it is healthy and it shows that we are moving. Sport becomes, in quotes, the new acceptable social proof,” concludes the expert. The “churn and burn” trend then brings together the three biggest formats which are currently popular on the platforms.
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Good journalists that we are, we checked if what we saw on video on TikTok was real. For this to work, the temperature must be between 13 and 18 degrees, run more than 10 kilometers and at a good pace. That’s what we did. Once a freezer bag was filled with cream, all I had to do was slip it into a hydration vest and get going. Forty-five minutes after running on paths and at high intensity, the result is astonishing. The liquid is indeed a little more solid but it is very hot when it comes out of the bag. We will therefore avoid making a sandwich.
Find our test video at the top of this article.
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