Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-03-20
ArnattO Red I'm Butter.

Every dairyman ought to know that what
ever the advertisements may say Tor seem to
saw, the basis of all mercantile butter colors
is arnatto. Some people are so /" color-blind !"
land this is real affection of the eyes, rec
ognized by physicians) that they cannot
correctly discern colors, especially the diff
ference between green and blue, or yellow
and red. This accounts to us for some of
the differences of opinion regarding butter
coorings. But the chief cause is the fact
that those dairymen who sell their butter as
soon as made, or at all events do not keep it
long, do not see the red develop itself in
their butter, when tinged with arnatto color
ing" perfected or otherwise.
Mr.. Cheever of the Nev England Farmer,
who is without question one of the very best
farmers and most skillful dairymen of his
state, has for some time advocated the use
of chemical coloring Il. e., arnatto). We
have accounted for his satisfaction with
this dye-stuff by the fact that his butter is
marketed as soon as made, and he con-
sequently has not seen the development of the
red which always takes place when arnatto-
dyed butter is subjected to long keeping.
But Mr.. Cheever is wide-awake man, and
any point in farming that he does not see,
sooner or later, must be a very small point
indeed. That he has at last found out that
arnatto is red dye, and only wants little
time to develop that tint in butter which is
dyed with it, is shown by his recent paper
before the Vermont Dairymen's Association,
the substance of which he prints in a recent
issue of the Farmer
In this paper he informs us that he has
ascertained by experiment (what dyers and
chemists all understand that it requires an
acid to bring out the red of arnatto quickly
and strongly. In butter the acids which
perform this function are the Tactic acid of
sour milk, and the slight amount of muri-
attic acid contained in salt No butter ever
is, or can be, washed so free from milk that
some Tactic acid will not, in time, be found
in it, and even the purest salt has an acid
reaction.
In preparing arnatto for butter-cooring,
caustic soda is used to make it dissolve.
This makes the solution alkaline, and the
alkali neutralzes-as Mr.. Cheever observes
any Tactic acid already existing in fresh
made butter from sour cream. But if the
butter is from sweet cream, the soda will
unite with the butter itself, and form soap.
If the butter is heavily sailed there may be
acidity enough in the salt to neutralize all
the soda in the arnatto dye.
But when butter is kept, the sugar of
milk which it contains ferments and forms
Tactic acid, and this slowly strikes an or
ange red color by combining with arnatto.
There is no way to prevent or avoid this. The
best chemists have made it the subject of
exhaustive study in vain. Arnatto-dyed
butter is sure to develop an orange tint
when kept.
Notwithstanding this discovery, Mr.. Chez
yer is still in favor of using aruatto instead
OF carrot color for butter. His reasoning on
this point is that the labor of preparing the
carrot is too great, the color too weak, and
consequently the quantity required is so
large as to give the butter carrot taste.
This opinion is probably based on the use
of such carrots as contain but little coloring
matter. But variety has been grown for
several years in Vermont which possesses
such deep rich color that all these obiec-
tions are obviated. The best and highest
priced butter made in Vermont has been for
several years colored with the juice of the
"Vermont Butter Carrot" aud there is no
complaint of carrot flavor ever having been
observed in it.. As to the labor, the employ.
ment of proper carrot-grater, such as is
used and recommended by Mr.. Douglas, and
can be easily and cheaply made by any me-
chanic reduces this to so slight an affair
that the color for fifty pounds of butter can
be prepared in five minutes.
That the agricultural editor OF this paper
was the fist to undertake and effect this I'M
provement of the carrot for butter coloring,
is no reason why he should not state the
facts, for there is no monopoly of the results
The seed is now raised in many localities