The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-09-07
COMPARATIVE VALUE FOR SPECIFIC FUR
POSES.


roses.
Milk which may be thus wasted in
butter making, is peculiarly adapted to
cheese making purposes, or for trans
portation and family use. Great skill Is
required in the chcese-making art, to
retain the fatty matter especially where
separation has commenced by standing
over night, and by its transportation to
factory. Rennet does not coagulatc
cream, and consequently it is only held
mechanically in cheese making. Case
inc constitutes the great bulk of cheese,
and consequently that milk containing
it in the largest proportion, and in
which the fatty matter is most firmly
held, is the best adapted to that purpose.
The housewife who buys her milk in
the morning wants that which will re-
main sweet until evening, and for that
reason she should select that which is
slow to separate and mature.
THE BUTTER GLoBULE.
Let us now consider the character
and structure of the butter particle OF
globule, as it is called, which constitutes
so important part of dairy milk, and
which so materially influences its char
acter and determines its value for speci-
iic purposes.
have given as my ideal of perfect
butter an article in which the globule
is found in its mechanically perfect
state. lam aware that accepted author
ity upon dairy science hold that the but
ter globule is composed of fatty matter,
encased in a sack of caseinc, and that in
order to produce the desired separation
of the butter in churning, the globular
structure must be broken down by the
application of force. Prof. l.. b. Ar
mold advocated this theory at meeting
of dairymen held at Essex Junction,
two or three years since, and claimed
that the covering of caseine was of so
firm and shelly texture that when
broken and removed by churning, they
could be seen by the aid of the micro
scope floating i'll the buttermilk, like
hulls of wheat chaffon threshing floor.
Mistaken theories often lead to bad
practices, and in this fact rests the prac-
teal importance of this question. A
belief in such theory would lead me
to a precisely opposite practice in churn-
ing from that which have adopted.
Let, lis then enquire,
WHAT is THE STRUCTURE OF THE BUTTER
GLoBULE?
! hold as | have already indirectly
stated, that it is pure butter, that if
there is an investing membrane, il is an
essential part of the globule itself, and
should not be removed or broken, ex-
cepting when it is desired to reduce the
mass to oil as is sometimes required i'm
culinary operations. can not better
state my reasons for that belief than by
repeating my remarks upon this subject
made at meeting of the State Board of
Agriculture of Connecticut in 1874, and
which were at that time heartily en-
dorsed by Prof. w. ii. Brewer, of the
New Haven Scientific school, and 0lso
by Prof. w. o. Atwater, now in charge
of the State Experimental Station. My
argument was as follows:
"lf we submit our cream or butter
to conditions in which the globular
structure is known to be broken down,
as i'll melting or by the application of
grinding force, we ruin the product for
table use. And Just in proportion rs
we approach this state by improper
protection from summer heat, by over
churning or over working, we Just so
far injure the product for the same pur-
pose. Butter can be just as effectually
reduced to oil by the application Of
force as by heat. The process of chang
ing good table butter to oil is simply
process of breaking down its glObular
structure, whether it is accomplished
by the use of force or heat. If, as sci
cntists claim, separation i'm churning is
produced by the breaking of the butter
globule, how can we explain these prac-
teal results? Why not churn our cream
at high temperature, and thus hasten
the breaking of the globule? Or why
need we fear the use of a grinding force
and severe abrasion in the churning and
working of our butter? This long ac-
cepted theory of scientists is obviously
inconsistent with well known practical
facts, and an intelligent practical exper-
fence leads to the adoption of an oppo-
site practice from that which such
theory would suggest"
THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHURNING.
My observation has led me to accept
a more simple, and believe more "a
tional, theory of the philosophy of
churning. l hold that separation is
caused by the contact of the globules
with and their adhesion to each other,
in consequence of agitation; that the
investing membrane, if any, does not
prevent their adhesion when the cream
is of the right temperature. The effect
of temperature upon the chlnning of
cream may be illustrated by bringing
two pieces of lard or tallow in contact
at different temperatures. If too cold
there will be no adhesion, because there
will be no cohesive attraction; if very
warm, the same will be true, and q
liquid state will be the result. If the
temperature is at favorable point, the
particles will unite and form a solid
mass. In butter, the most favorable
temperature is about 60 deg. At this
point its particles unite most readily,
and its consistency is most favorable
for working and packing. Separation
begins with agitation when the condi.
tions of temperature, &C., are favora-
BILE, but the exceeding minuteness of
the particles prevents our detection of
the change taking place with the naked
eye until the work is far advanced. The
union is slow at first, but is accelerated
like the increase of an arithmetrical
progression as the union advances. In
cream characterized by large butter
globule, the process is more rapid from
the outset and the work more rapidly
completed, for two reasons, which, l
think, will appear obvious from what |
have already stated, viz: LIST, from the
greater weight and size of the globules
themselves; and, I'd, from the fact of
the more perfect separation in rising,
and the consequent presence of less
caseine to retard their contact with
each other.
THE RIPENING PROCESS.
The necessity for chemical change
in the cream before churning, called the
ripening process, will be apparent when
we consider the effect of oxygen upon
caseine. Ihave said that caseine retards
the contact of the butter particles. If
we carefully examine this subject we
shall find that the retarding power of