Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1858-05-14
now TO MAKE GOOD BUTTER.
Mr t,I,o,. Z

Mr.. Andrew B. Dickinson of fHornby, NY.
makes the following very sensible remarks on
Butter-making.
:. Will endeavor to give the general out
lines, the essential leading principles without
attempting to give all the exact details, as it
would be much easier task to teach n
man how to make watch, than how
to make the first quality of butter; as it is
the most sensitive, it is the most liable to in
jury OF all the catables extracted from the
vegetable kingdom. The first important
thing Tor making butter, is the COW. With
out stopping to give a iull description for
selecting, she must give good rich milk as
first quality of butter cannot be made from
poor pale milk, as the pale milk lacks the es-
sential quality of good butter
The idea Of coloring butter with ANYTHING
after it is made, is absurd as would be paint
ing rye bread to make it white, with the ex-
pectation of changing its flavor. Butter is so
sensitive. it partakcs of every thing that can
affect it that it comes in contact with, as
onions, carrots, parsnips, turnips, fish or any
thing else that would make it unpalatable,
either in the butter Or the milk churning
Not only SO, but the butter partakes of every
thing the COW eats or drinks and the longer
it stands after being made the more percent
ible will the unpalatable things on which she
fed make themselves manifest. Bv this il
will be seen that the most important thing
Tor first quality butter, is the food for the
cow. Neither from roots of any sort or kind
nor grain OF any description, can first quality
butter be extracted 1t must be from some
thing that imparts sweeter and finer flavor,
and from nothing that grows in this country
that know, except timothy, white clover,
blue grass, red-top and foul meadow, can first
quality of butter be made, that will stand the
test so as to remain sweet until the next
Winter or Spring after it is made; and each
OF these grasses must have been sowed or
seeded down sufficiently long and SO we'll
cared for as to have n sod thick enough to
make it produce fine solid grass, to make it
perfect dairy pasture, though many other
grasses will make good butter for immediate
use-but not to keep.
The cow, too, must be well wintered, how
ever good she may have been, to make good
butter; because if poor, her milk will also be
poor and white, and, of course, the butter
ditto Your correspondent says: "If you
had seen, as have done, the farmers wives
and daughters with tears in their eyes, when
told that the product of their summer S labor,
as shown in their butter, was poor article,'
&c, &c For none of these things are the
dairy. women in the least responsible, and no
one else but the dairy-man, or provider of the
cows food; yet in this, as in many, very
many instances. the wrong persons are held
accountable for things over which they have
no control.
The manufacturing is an essential part of
the business. yet the neglect of any of the
above requirements is fatal to first rate dairy
for Winter use.
The COW must be looked after as soon as
Sha IN o,,J l,ol
prevent her bag from becoming feverish and
caking, as one making from feverish COW
would spoil u whole churning, and that
would spoil u whole tirkin in which it was
packed though it might not be perceptiblo for
immediate use, and none but the skilful but
aker would perceive it in the churning
OF the butter Such milk froths and foams,
and when it does this. as well as from other
causes, it is always safest to sell it for i'm
mediate use, or pack it separately in iirkin
to sell for what it will bring. The churn should
be as nearly straight and down as possible,
as the dash should stir all the milk every
stroke 1t makes, 50 that the butter in the
churn should all come at the same time. If
the milk is too cold, the only safe way to
warm 1t is to place pail of milk in large
boiler OF warm water, to bring it to the exact
temperature, which is about 55 deg. to 60
deg,,-a few degrees warmer in cold than
warm weather. AS soon as the butter has
come and gathered, take it Immediately from
the churn in its warm state, and put it in
large wooden bowl, which is the best vessel for
the purpose; then put it in cold, soft water;
then commence pulling the butter over with
the ladle in SO gentle a manner as not to affect
the grain, for as sure as that is injured at
the washing or working, the butter becomes
oily and can never be reclaimed Every mar |
ticle of milk must be washed out. and then
eason with the best of LiverpoolSalt. Set the
bowl away until the next day, and when suf-
fciently cool, work the mass thoroughly, but
not SO as to affect the grain, and on the third
day pack it away if it has assumed the right
color. Examine it well before packing, and |
be sure there is no milky water runs from it,
for as sure as it is packed with the least drop |
in the butter, you will hear from it the next
March or April. The sooner you dispose o
unwashed butter the better, as a little milk |
would not harm it much for immediate use
If your spring or well is hard water, | |
would advise saving ice from rivers or streams
though the water is hard, as the lime never |
congeals with the Ice. Save rain water, and |
then with ice you will have soft water sutfi-
ciently cool to wash your butter, ,c,thom
,chich no man nor ,ronan can get the mK out
pthom inJuring The grain, so that the inju-
rious effects of the lime water will not exhb-
it itself in six months. Soft water is as indis-
ensablc to wash butter as fine linen. From
all this do not wish to be understood that
washing butter is positively necessary if it is
to be used within few weeks.
A. B. DICKINSON.
Hornby, March Is, 1858.