Inside Jersey's traditional Black Butter 'Lé Nièr Beurre' event

The National Trust for Jersey will again make traditional Black Butter in St Mary with cider apples from its orchard and the help of volunteers.

'Peelers, Stirrers and Fillers' are being called upon by Jersey's National Trust this week for their annual Black Butter making event at The Elms in St Mary. 

Volunteers will learn and participate in the ancient art that can be traced back to the 1600s.

Apple peeling volunteers (Credit NTJ)

Peeling commences at 2.00 pm today (3 October) until 5.00 pm.

The fire in the bakehouse will be lit at 5.30 am on Friday (4 October), and peeling resumes at 10.00 am.

Volunteers working at the bakehouse (Credit NTJ)

Peeled apples are added throughout the day to the cooper bâchin - a traditional Jersey pan -  in the bakehouse.

Into the evening, attendees can enjoy live music and supper as they peel over 1000 lbs. of apples and add them to the bâchin mixture.

The aromatic scents carry the group into the early hours of Saturday morning, when lemons, liquorice and mixed spices are added.

Black Butter cooking (Credit National Trust)

By lunchtime on Saturday, volunteers begin the ‘jarring up’ process, with the freshly made Black Butter ladled into jars, which are then labelled and topped with pretty fabric covers. 

Islanders are also invited to The Elms for the Saturday event, where Black Butter and other local produce will be on sale, including wood-fired pizzas. 

Parish 13 and the Black Butter Brass band will be performing together with dancing and other live performances throughout the day.

The Saturday event at The Elms (Credit NTJ)

Donna La Marrec, Events Manager at The National Trust Jersey, said: "It's always really well attended. It's one of those intangible cultural things that we try and preserve, otherwise it will be lost forever, the knowledge and the community gathering.

"It's been going on since the 18th Century. The National Trust has been organising Black Butter evenings for about 20 years now,

"We're inviting anyone who wants to come along and peel apples, it's a really nice gentle afternoon, we provide tea, coffee and Jersey Wonders."

History of Black Butter

Between 1600 and 1700, 20% of Jersey’s cropland was made up of orchards.

The island’s export trade in apples peaked in 1810 when 4.5 million litres left the island.

The amount of apples grown in Jersey gave birth to the production of ‘black butter’ or ‘Lé Nièr Beurre’ as tradition. 

Made from cider apples, the new cider was boiled over a fire for many hours - up to two days – and then ‘reduced’ by half, apples, sugar, lemon, liquorice and spices were added. The mixture was continuously stirred with a wooden ‘râbot’ or paddle.

Production of the ‘butter’ was 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.