Connecticut western news., 1900-01-25
><%<~~<eSSSGs3<eHSsas@sess : Winter Butter Making :
Several Essential Changes From .
 the Methods of Summer.

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 q more even grade of winter butter produced in this coun- try, says George E. Newell in The American Cultivator, not only to en- nance the reputation of our domestic makers, but to insure the confidence and stable patronage of the consuming public.
 However much the creamery system nGy 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. It 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 1 wish especially to speak.
 It 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 m edible standard for their goods. First must be secured a 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 a long time in turning sour, else there Is danger of It's having a bitter flavor also. It Is much better to skim it while sweet and allow 1t 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 GA 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- l 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 a warm place till its contents have ceased to be l frothy, at the same time keeping track of its temperature with a thermome- | ter.
 It Is not advisable to let the temper ature of cream inclined to swell to rise above 66 or 67 degrees F. A very warm heat, like 70 degrees r. or above, might | bring a very speedy separation of the oleaginous matter from the casein without graining 1t firmly. Because cream is obstinate in granu- lating do not churn 1t violently, for that will rupture the globular compo- sition of the butter. When cream Is coming" properly, 1t
 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 full sepa- ration has taken place and the butter milk Is ready to be drawn of.
 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 l than sour.
 | This bitter flavor 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.