Gloucester County Democrat., 1900-01-25
Winter Butter Making
Z Several Essential Changes Fro
the Methods of Summer.

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Producing good butter in winter re-
quires several essential changes from
the mode of procedure followed in the
summer, and making an insufficient
allowance for such alterations is the
cause of most of the failures to turn
out a fine winter article.
We want to see a more even grade of
winter butter produced in this coun-
| try, says George e. Newell in The
American Cultivator, not only to en-
hance the reputation of our domestic
makers, but to insure the confidence
and stable patronage of the consuming
public.
However much the creamery system
may have supplanted butter manufac-
ture at home in many sections. there
are still large areas where dairying has
only a secondary interest in its rela-
ton to agriculture. 1t is to the farm
| ing inhabitants of such localities. those
who maintain cows only sufficient in
number to supply their own wants and
that of the local markets. that l wish
especially to speak.
1t is oftentimes very difficult to es-
tablish scientific facts in regard to but
ter making in communities isolated
from the creamery system. Dairy
housewives sometimes possess a more
exalted opinion of their own ability
than the quality of their butter would
warrant.
In the manufacture of winter butter,
however, there are certain points
which they must observe to establish
an edible standard for their goods.
First must be secured proper acidi-
ty or ripeness of the cream. Unless
purely sweet butter is desired, which
is limited in demand, moderate cream
maturity is essential as an initiatory
step.
Cream should not be long time in
turning sour, else there is danger of its
having a bitter flavor also.
1t is much better to skim it while
sweet and allow it to sour slightly aft
erward.
| A wrong temperature at churning
time more than anything else plays
havoc with the even quality of domes-
tic made winter butter.
For cream in properly mature con-
dition ca degrees f. cannot be improv-
ed upon for churning during the cold
months.
Cream will sometimes swell in the
churn at this season of the year and
prove very obstinate about granulat-
| ing.
A low temperature and lack of acid
ity, or both, are usually the causes of
such expansion. and the remedy lies
in warming up the mass and, if neces-
sary. maturing it.
Permit the churn to stand in warm
place till its contents have ceased to be
frothy, at the same time keeping track
of its temperature with a thermome-
ter.
I 1t is not advisable to let the temper
ature of cream inclined to swell to rise
above 66 or 81 degrees L. A very warm
heat, like 20 degrees f. or above, might
bring a very speedy separation of the
oleaginous matter from the casein
without graining it firmly.
Because cream is obstinate in granu-
lating do not chu-n it violently. for
that will rupture the globular compo-
sition of the butter.
When cream is coming properly, it
will begin to grain about the size Of
mustard seed. and these particles
should unite in kernels the dimensions
of wheat corns by the time a full sepa-
ration has taken place and the butter
milk is ready to be drawn off.
An immediate gentle washing with
cold water should follow till the water
flows clear
Remember that cream in the winter
time needs something the same treat
ment as in hot weather and that if
kept too cold it will turn bitter rather
than sour.
This bitter favor is the bane of much
farm made winter butter, and it is one
Of the agencies that encourage the sur
reptitious sale of oleomargarine in the
towns and cities under the guise of real
butter