The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-11-09
From :. Plain and Pleasant Talk about Fruits,
Flowers and Farming" By II. Ward Beecher.
The Science of Bad Butter.

From Plain and Pleasant Talk about Fruits
Flowers and Farming" By II. Ward Beecher.
The Science of Bad Butter.
We once took occasion to give our-opin
ion of the butter which was largely brought
to our market. The article was deemed Sc
we're; but if they who think so had eaten the
butter, they would have regarded that a;
the more pHngent of the two. We have
waited year; and are now prepared more
/ fully to testify against that utter abomina.
ton, sIanderously called butter SO unright-
eously exchanged in our market for good
money.
For the most part, the cream is totally
| depraved at the start, and churning, work
| ing, and packing, are only the successive
| steps of an evil education by which bad in
clinations are developed into overt wicked
ness. We determined to keep an eye upon
the matter, and now give, from life, the
natural history of the butter sold.
Before doing this, we will give an opinion
of what is good butter. ..,u..,-
Good butter is made of sweet cream, with
perfect neatness; is of high color, perfect
| ly sweet, free from buttermilk, and possess.
es a fine grass favor. tf.i. E.ss.7
Tolerable butter differs from this only in
not having fine flavor. 1t is devoid of all
unpleasant taste, but has not a high relish.
Whatever is less than this is bad butter
the catalogue is long, and the descending
scale is marked with more varieties than
one may imagine.
Variety l. Buttermilk Butter.-This has
not been we'll worked, and has the taste of
fresh buttermilk. 1t is very disagreeable to
such as love fresh buttermilk; but as it is a
flavor not expected in good butter, it is
usually disagreeable.
Variety 2. Strong Butter.-This is one
step farther along, and the buttermilk is
changing and beginning to assert its right
to predominate over the butteraceous flavor;
yet it may be eaten with some pleasure ii.
done rapidly, accompanied with very good
bread.
Variety 3. Frowy or Frowsy Butter.
This is second degree Of strength attained
by the buttermilk. Ii has become pungent,
aud too disagreeable for any but absent
minded eaters.s -
Variety 4. Rancid Butter.-This is the
putrezcent stage. No description will con-
vey, to those who have not tasted it, an
idea of its unearthly flavor; while those
who have, will hardly thank us for stirring
up such awful remembrances by any de-
scription.
Variety 5. Bitter Butter.-Bitteluess is,
When one has but little cream, and is long
in collecting enough for the churn, he will
be very apt to have bitter butter.
Variety 6. Nasty Butter-In summer,
especially in damp, unyentilated cellars
cream with gather mold. Wbenevep this
appears, the pigs should be Sc, to churn it.
But instead, if but just touched, il is quick
ly churned; or, if much nodded, it is slightly
skinned as if the flavor OF mold, which
has struck through the mass, could be re-
moved by taking off the colored portion ; I
The peculiar taste arising from this affection
of the milk blessed he the man who needs |
to be told it
Variety Z. Sourmilk Butter.-This is |
made from milk which has been allowed to |
sour, the milk and cream being churned up |
together. The flavor is that of greasy, sour
milk. -s.- a ssss-saszs ~ ==
Variety 8. Vinegar Butter.-There are /
some who imagine shat all milk should be |
soured before it is fit to chnrn. When, in
cool weather, it delays to change, they ex-
pedite the matter by some acid-usnally |
vinegar. The butter strongly retains the
flavor thereof. reAE q ~za -F-- %at9s
Variety 8. Cheesy Butter-Cream comes
quicker by being heated. If sour cream be
heated, il is very apt to separate and adepo-
sit a. " hey. If this is strained into the
churn with the cream, the butter win have
a strong cheesy flavor. ia-11 10 l.i,.s
Variety 10. Granulated Butter. When,
in winter, sweet cream is orer-heated, pre-
paratory to churning, it produces butter full
Of grains, as if there We're meal in it.
Variety l1.-ln this We will comprise the
two opposite knds-too salt, and unsalted
butter We have seen butter exposed for |
sale with such masses of salt in it, that one
IS tempted to believe that it is put in as
max e-weight. When the salt is coarse the
operation of eating this butter affords those
who have good teeth pleasing variety of
grinding. -a
! Variety II. Lard Butter-When lard is
cheap and abundant, and butter rather dear,
t is thought profitable to combine the two.
Variety ID. Mixed Butter.-When the
'hrewd housewife has several separate churn-
ngs of butter on hand, some of which would
hardly be able to go alone, she puts them
ogether, and those who buy, find OUT that
union is strengthi' Such butter is pleas
ngly marbled; dumps of white. of yellow,
and of dingy butter melting into each other
until the whole is ring -streaked and
'peckled.
Variety IA. Compound Butter--fy COM
pound butter, we mean that whieh has re-
;eiyed contributions from things inmate
and inanimate ;ssfeathers, hairs, rags OF cloth,
threads, specks, chips, straws, seeds-in
short, everything is at one time or another
to be found in it, going to produce the three
degrees of dirty, filthy, nasty.
Variety 10. Tough Butter.-Nhen but
ter is worked too long after the expulsion of 7
butter r-milk, it assumes gluey, putty-like
and is tough when eaten. But,
oh, blessed fault we would go ten miles 10
pay our admiring respects to that much-to-
be- praised dairy maid whose zeal leads her
to work her butter too much. We doubt,
however, if a pound of such butter was ever
seen in this place.
Besides all these, whose history we have
traced; besides butter tasting of |
from being made in pine churns;
butter bent on travelling in hot weather;
butter dotted, like cloves on boiled ham,
with flies, which Solomon assures us caus-
eth the ointment to stink; besides butter in !
rusty tin pans, and in dirty swadsiling