Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-07-22
BUTTER AND CHEESE CULTURE.
A New Operation and How 1t Is Put
Into Effect.

In the beginning of this article 1t
will be necessary to make short ex-
PLANTATION of terms. The word butter
culture" as it is generally used, applies
to a substance which is purchased from
the bacteriologist, and is seen general
iy in bottles. After this has been add
ed to a quantity of milk, which in
turn will be added to the large quantity
of milk for the cheese or to the cream.
it is called starter Starter Is a small
quantity Of milk that is to be used to
put into larger quantity of milk to
aid in the ripening process. This
starter may or may not have had cul-
ture added to it.
The use of butter cultures has come
as one OF the NATURAL consequences Of
the idea that small plants which go by
the name of bacteria are responsible
for all of the changes which take place
in organic bodies or material. They
are responsible for the good and bad
tastes of milk and butter. The souring
of milk is due to one form of bacteria.
Bitter milk is caused by another when
it Is not caused by eating rag weed
Blue milk is caused by another; Shiny
milk by another, and a multitude of
other changes in milk which are not so
common, are all due to forms of this
plant.
But because so many Cf the undesir-
able Qualities of milk are caused by
bacteria, it should not be understood
that they are an unmixed evil which
should be avoided as much as possible
On the other hand, If it were not for
bacteria, it would be impossible to
make butter or cheese that would be fit
to eat. All of the delicate flavors are
caused by bacteria, and all Of the
changes which need to take place be-
fore good butter or cheese can be maze
question OF which form of the bacteria
gets the best start in the milk, which
decides the quality of the milk. If a
desirable form gets the best start then
there will be no trouble with the milk,
while if an undesirable form gets the
best start most any kind of trouble
may be expected.
With the foregoing knowledge it was
but short step for somebody to adopt
some scheme that would give the de-
sirable forms of bacteria the best start
or increase the numbers so they would
check the growth Of those that would
be an injury to the milk. Bacteriolo-
gists took up the question. They al
ready knew how to isolate different
species of l-cteria and after expert
menting re of them found out how
they could put the desirable 1rms into
some fir'd that would keep / en- until
they could be used and these bacteria
in bot 5 OF fluid is what is known as
butter and cheese cultures.
1t is well known fact that milk
which GETS a good clean sour taste to
it viii make the best kind of butter,
while any other noticeable taste or
smell is to be avoided. If we can get
the milk or cream to sour in the natur-
al way a starter is a superfluous
article. But milk will not always sour
as it should and in such q case it is
very desirable that measures be adopt
ed If possible which will force it to do
so. So it was the sour-milk germ
which the bacterologist looked for and
found and when the dairyman desires
to add to his milk. Many bacteriolo-
gists claim to have other germs in
their preparations sucn as those which
give butter its nutty flavor, or special
germs needed in the successful manu-
facture of cheese. Be this as it may,
all are designed and used for the same
purpose and to obtain the same results.
Which is the best will always be a dis
puted question the same as which is
the best separator or the best make of
churn. 1t may never be decided.
Now comes the question of how and
when this culture is to be used. Milk
as it comes from the cow is compare
lively germ free. The bacteria, both
good and bad, must get into it after the
milking. This being the case the
sooner the culture is added to the milk
the better will be the chance for the
desirable germs to outgrow and over
come all other forms of life in the
milk. If the culture could be added at
this time it would require but a very
small quantity; but unluckily, in the
case Of creameries and cheese factories,
it can not be added until the milk
reaches the factory and in the case of
butter making until the milk has been
separated. This makes it necessary
that large quantity should be used to
overcome the large numbers of evil
bacteria which have had time to deyel-
op. To furnish the large number that
will be required it is necessary that
some method be adopted by which the
number in the bottle may be increased.
This can be done by adding the con-
tents of the bottle to four or five gal
Ions of pasteurized milk and allowing
II to stand a day in warm place and
~ ha Q.