The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-03-27
AGRICULTURAL.
BUTTER MAKING.
Some Practical Hints That May Help
Someone Who Ii Looking for a

BUTTER MAKING.
Someone Who Ii Looking for
"Detter Way"
With the best butter selling at Is to 80
cents per pound and not enough to supply
the demand, while the market is over
loaded with rolls, prints and tubs offered
at from 10 to Is cents per pound. Some of
1t very good, but degraded by bad COM
pany. some greasy, bitter, sour mottled or
streaky; it is a good time for the butter
makers to ascertain in which class they
belong and how to improve.
In the March Epitomist E. c. Bennett
very ably discusses:
CAUSES AND PREVENTIVES.
Each season has it's advantages and it's
disadvantages. We are speaking Of pri-
vate dairying more particularly this month.
Nearly all the butter made on the farm
is poor butter. AS rule the makers do
not know this fact, or when they are con-
scious of a defect they are ignorant of it's
cause, or they think it a natural condition
which it is idle to try to change. But the
many letters received show that good but
ter Is moro and more appreciated and
we will try to point out the most COM
mon mistakes of this time of year, and
also the natural difficulties to be overcome.
BITTER FLAVOR.
One lady writes that the cream becomes
bitter instead Of sour, and the butter Is
not fit to eat. She has but one COW, but
contemplates having others II she can learn
to make good butter. At present she has
plenty of trouble with this one cow The
feed is corn fodder, corn meal and bran.
This feed ought not to cause bitter butter,
SO we must fall back on another condition
which will cause bitter butter and assume
that 1t is the correct one until experiment
shows it is not. This is holding the milk
and cream at too low temperature. Cream
or milk held at or near freezing tempera-
ture will not sour but it will become bit
ter The acid producing bacteria require a
temperature ranging from about SO to 1876
degrees for propagation. Scalding kills
them, so does freezing, and a low tempera-
ture In general is unfavorable to their
growth. But there are other species of
bacteria which propagate at lower tenn
perature, and the class which causes bit
ter ferment is one of them: Do not keep
the milk and cream at so low a tempera
ture.
SOUR BUTTER.
This comes from too advanced fermenta-
ton of the cream. The cream should be
churned sooner. A mild acid, slight
thickening Of the cream, smooth appear
ance and a consistency like pancake bat
ter, with the whole matter homogeneous,
that is, alike from top to bottom, and the
buttermilk properly removed after churn-
ing will insure butter free from ObjectiOna-
bible acidity. 1t is better to wash out the
buttermilk than to work 1t out. To do this
stop churning when the -granules are like
grains Of wheat, draw off the buttermilk,
fill the churn with water, agitate and draw
off the water. Repeat the washing if nec-
essary, using less water. In practice it is
generally best to add water before attempt
ing to draw off the buttermilk, as this will
float the butter and make the granules
stand separate and facilitates the washing.
WHITE Jumps.
These are due to clOts of curd. They are
caused by improper handling of the cream.
1t has become too sour and "wheyed off,
In other words it has lost it's homogene-
business; it Is partly decOmposed The
scum of the cream has partly separated
and settled to the bottom, and the solids
have gathered in clots. These clots cohere
so strongly that they are not broken up in
churning, and so they are found in the
butter unchurned. They are unsightly.
They spoil the price of the butter If sold
and the pleasure Of eating it if used at
home. AS a preventive, store the cream
well when fresh cream is added to that
already in the cream can, and also stir it
when ripening it, so it will all ripen alike.
Churn at the right stage of ripening as
stated above, and there will be white
Jumps in the butter. But it is always best
to strain the cream into the churn, so
as to make it absolutely sure that no clots
of curd can get into the churn. An Or
binary meal sieve will do for a strainer
but one made with a bottom of perfora ted
tin is much better While upon this SUBJ
ject, we mention the fact that very small
white grains are sometimes found in butter
made from separator cream. These are
not the same as the white Jumps spok en- Of
above, but are due to the mechanical ac-
ton of the separator. which partly churned
the cream while separating it, and these
little butter particles did not take color
like the unchurned cream. In other words,
butter color is added to the cream when
put into the churn, and it colors the butter
particles as they free themselves from the
cream. OF course, the larger particles
caused by being churned in separating will
be colored only on the surface, and when
Nut in two the white interior is laid bare.
NOTIFIED BUTTER.
Salt deepens the yellow color. If the
sailing is uneven the color will be uneven
Notified butter is probable when the butter
granules too large too cold when
the salt is added, SO that the salt does not
"strike i'm to every part The preventive
is plain.
STREAKED BUTTER.
The cause is similar to the cause of mot
tied butter the difference being that the
different layers of butter have different
degrees of salt. The variations in color
are in layers rather than in notifies In
sufficient working is the trouble An even
Incorporation of the salt will prevent both
notifies and streaks. and the working must
be sufficient to secure this 1t is possible
to mix the salt with little or no working,
Each butter maker must examine his but
ter few hours after it has been made and
find out whether he has worked out all
streaks.
CRUMBLY BUTTER
Good butter will melt in the mouth
and yield up its pleasant flavors. If it is
too hard it will not do this Hard butter
will crumble when spread Crumbling but
ter is not good butter. There are three
separate causes, any of which leads to
crumbly butter. One is that the cows have
been MIXED too long. The butter fats
become hard and tallowy as the cow ap-
proaches the end of her milking period
The best treatment of such milk is to heat
1t and soften the fats. 1t can be heated
by setting the pan the kitchen stove
and warming until the surface "crinkles"
Setting the milk vessel inside of larger
vessel containing hot water Is better. A
second cause is feeding scottonseed meal
This causes hard butter and it must be
churned warmer than when cottonseed is
not fed. A third cause is trying to finish
the butter when it is too cold. 1t must be
worked or pressed together. remedy for
this cause is to warm the last water in
which 1t is washed to e. or thereabouts,
and soften the butter granules. then salt
and as soon the salt has dissolved
finish the butter quickly.
GREASY BUTTER.