Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-06-13
Butter.Making.

oUCC0xe00K1n&.
Packing is nice and important
work. First-the tub, firkin or pail
must be all right. 1t must be made
of wood that will not impart an I'M
pleasant taste to the butter. White
oak is considered the best. White
ash is good, but only young timber
must be used, as the old brash wood
moulds badly; and spruce and hem
lock are used. Some prefer spruce
to any other timber. The tub should
be thoroughly soaked-frst in pure
water, then in hot, pure brine. If.
there is any bad odor about it at
first, let sour milk stand in it and
sweeten it. Sour milk is a great
absorbant of odors.
We should have said, under the
head Of churning, that it is claimed
by some that because sour milk is
an absorbant of odors, sweeter but
ter can be made by churning the
whole milk sour than by skimming
off the cream. If there are any
taints, it is claimed that the sour
milk will carry off the greater
share, which is likely to go into the
butter if the cream is churned sep
arately. This may be better for
butter made from tainted milk; but
we would, if possible, keep the milk
free from faint. Then we could
skim off the cream or churn the
whole milk, with the certainty of
having good butter.
Your tub all right for packing,
sprinkle little salt in the bottom,
and spread over the salt wet cloth
cut to the size of the bottom of the
tub. Press your butter into the tub
gently, so as to leave no holes, but
do not pound it in. FIT Injuries the
grain Of the butter to churn it or
work it too much, it mnst injure it
still more to pound it into a tub or
firkin. Fill your tub to within an
inch or so of the top, spread on a
clean, wet cloth, and spread over it
a layer of salt. Many people fill up
the tub with pure brine, which is
replaced as it dries away, and the
butter kept covered with it. When
ready for market the brine is drain
ed off. This may be done by loosen
ing the hoops and taking out the
head of the firkin, or by taking off
the cover of the tub; or it may be
done through holes bored near the
chime in either head, or both heads,
and carefully plugged.
When your tub is full carefully
cover it, or put in the head, and SET
it in the cellar or some other place
where you can keep the temperature
down to fifty or sixty degrees. We
would not let it get chilled, If we
expect it to remain long afterward
in warm atmosphere, as the chill
ing hastens decay. The object in
packing it is to exclude light and
air as much as possible. Hence the
idea of using brine and Of setting
the butter in a dark place. We do
not think we are out of the way
when we say that one-half of the
butter in the country is allowed to
injure, if not spoil, for the want of a
suitable place to keep it in. Apron
inent New York commission mer-
chant told us last summer that he
just seen dairy after dairy in Lewis
comfy nearly ruined, because not
properly packed and not kept in a
cool, dark place. Few common eel
lars are fit to keep butter in. Our
butter-makers should think of these
things and not allow their butter to
depreciate on their hands for want
of proper packing and proper
place to keep it in. The air and
light must be excluded, and it must
be kept in place that is cool and
sweet.
We would like to see some OF onr
butter-makers try the California
method of packing. They take
suitable barrel, make sack to fit
closely in it, tie up their butter in
small sacks, something like small
table-salt sack, pack in the barrel
and cover it with sweet brine. OF
course brine is thrown over it, suffi-
cient to cover it, as soon as the
packing is begun. In this way the
air is entirely excluded, and it came
into the New York market last
spring as rosy and sweet as the day
it was packed. The only objection
is the additional weight of the brine
to transport. But when carried a
short distance and sold at once, the
brine might be turned off. Half
barrels could be used to pack if bar
rels are too heavy. Bnt there can
be no more objection to brine on
butter than on meat. One advan-
tage of this method of packing is
its convenience for retail ling. The
long rolls may be put up to weigh
anywhere from one to ten pounds.
These can be taken out of the brine
and delivered to the customers; and
when taken home the sack can be
rolled back and slices cut off as
needed. The cloth can be drawn
over the cut again to keep it clean.
We think these nice, sweet rolls
would be very popular in the retail
market, if once introduced.-Ut Utica
Herald.
A New Departure in Agriculture.