The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-05-12
AGRICULTURAL.
n. Y. Tribune.
Churning,

Churning.
All other circumstances being
the same, cream from the milk of the Jer-
sey and other Channel Island COWS, in all of
whose milk the globules are large will
churn as well at o5S as that from the aver
age native at go or from the Holstein at 092.
But the size of the globules varies not only
with the breed but with the individuals of
each breed, and with the food used by the
cows, and also the with the length of time
they have been in milk. Then, again, the
temperature needs to vary with the relative
proportion of liquid to butte; in the cream.
If we churn the whole milk in a certain
temperature; if only pure cream is churned,
then still lower degree will be better 1t
will, therefore, in each particular case, be to
some extent matter OF judgment and expe-
rience as to the temperature to begin with.
The churn itself is an item which enters
into successful churning. 1t should be
adapted TO the work. The poorest churns-
those which operate by friction or merely
stnring-will churn cream made up of large
globules, especially if from well-fed COWS
not long i'll milk, because such cream churns
very easily. But when the globules are
small and from cows long in milk, and par
ticularly if the cows are poorly fed so that
the globules are not well filled, the friction
churn or stirring machine fails. The butter
at all. What is wanted for such cream is
successive shocks of strong pressure or pre-
cussion, which will operate ON the entire
contents of the churn at once and alike,
such as can be obtained in the old dash
churn with larger dasher, or by lifting the
cream and letting it fall with a thud, as
when dropping from side to side in rectan-
gular rotating churn with deep sides in the
direction it revolves or by the blow given
Inv tho a0aipc Of tho ap6 IF Of
ing churn as it suddenly reverses it's motion.
The large and small globules are all affected
alike and come at the same time, which they
would not do in simple stirrer. Owing to
the fact that cream is generally made up of
large and small globules mixed, stirring ma
chimes are commonly inefficient and unprofit-
able. They churn the larger sooner than
the smaller globules, and either leave the
latter unchanged in the buttermilk, or if
churned till all come, the butter which comes
first is worn out and becomes greasy before
the last is churned.
A very common error arises from allowing
the cream to become too sour. The excess
of acid decomposes the butter fats into fatty
acids and glycerine, inclining it to become
ropy and stale in favor and the stale taste to
be transferred to the butter. The churning
too is more difficult as the souring increases.
Early churning will avoid such faults 1t
pearance of acidity. and it is better if the
cream or milk has been well aired to churn
just before acidity begins. This will secure
higher flavor and better keeping quality to
the butter, and the churning will be quite as
easy. Though it is notorious that in COM
mon practice sour cream churns easier than
sweet, and makes more desirable butter
yet it is by no means certain that souring
the cream adds anything to ease in churn-
inc ic hQDaft to no INIT
observation seems to point to the corrosion
OF the delicate membranous envelope of the
butter globule by the free oxygen in the air
as the cause of making the envelope so ten
der as to be easily ruptured. Cream churns
easily, not according to age or sourness, but
according to the atmospheric exposure it has
received. Facts are also tending to the in
ference that the fine aroma and flavor ac-
quired by giving the cream some age are due
to similar oxidation of the light oils in the
milk, and that the effect upon flavor is finest
when the oxydation is pretty rapid, as it is
when the exposure is somewhat elevated or
not below go.
Well-aired, sweet cream, twelve hours old
taken from milk heated from go to o12O or
o130 and then cooled down to go within the
twelve hours, churns as readily and makes
as fine and better-keeping butter than cream
lightly soured at forty-eight hours old and
taken from milk of the same quality and
kept all the time at o60. Such facts, which
have often been noted, and many others of
similar character, go to corroborate the in
ference that the free oxygen in the air has
been doing the work we have all along been
ascribing to acidity. The common observa-
ton that sour cream churns easier than
sweet does not initiate against such con-
clusion, because the sweet cream. in the
common practice, is taken too soon-before
the envelopes of the globules and the flavor
ing oils of the milk have been sufficiently af-
fected by atmospheric action. 1t may well
be supposed that the results would be better
both upon the churning and the flavor, when
the cream was allowed to stand little too
long, than when taken much too soon.
There is point somewhere between the ex-
tremes at which the best results are secured,
and facts seem to be fixing it little in adj
vance OF the appearance of acidity. The
presence IN milk Of cream or.acid as the pro-
duct of fermentation is indicative of incipi-
ent decay, condition Of things not very
likely to contribute to the welfare of such a
sensitive product as butter
One of the largest errors in churning is in
doing too much. Not one in hundred
stops when he has done enough. To get the
the best butter and bring it into the best
style for cleansing it of buttermiH, the
churning should be steady rather than VIC
lent, and stop when it has come enough to
rise and separate distinctly from the butter
milk, and appear in fine particles or granules
which, though soft, will be nothing but pure
butter. Then the whole contents of the
churn should be reduced with cold water or
what is better, cold brine, to about o55, and
churned very moderately till the granules
become so distinct and hard that they can
be handled without sticking together; all the
churning needed will be DONE After this it
may be washed either in the churn or out,
with cold water brine, till the liquid runs off
clear, when it will be ready for stirring in
salt without any working at all. If the
churning continues, as is usual, till the but
ter is all gathered into one or a few Jumps,
1t will enclose SO much buttermilk as to re-
quire an amount of skilful working, even if
done in the most skilful manner, that will
materially injure the grain of the butter and
make it appear greasy, and lessen its fine fla
vor and hurry on stale and strong flavor.
All this labor and injury can be avoided by
stopping in time, while the butter is in
granules, and cooling and washing as de-
scribed.