Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1903-11-21
Cause of BITTER Rutter.

the winter season and mostly in the
products of dairies rather than OF
creameries- Bitter taste may be found
in any dairy product as well as in but
ter and is often found in milk, cream
and cheese, said C. H. Eckles in an
address at Missouri dairymen's con-
vention. The cause is the same. how
ever, and what is said of it, applies
to the conditions wherever found. But
ter may be of good quality when
made, but develop a very bitter taste
later. Milk may be perfectly normal
when milked, but become extremely
bitter with age. This bitter condition
hos been credited by most dairymen
to stripper cows or faulty feeding.
Milk from stripper cows very rarely
Will have peculiar, somewhat bitter
taste, but hardly sufficient to show in
the butter under any circumstances.
1t is safe to say not one case in
hundred is due to this cause. II feed
Is used with very bitter taste. it may
go into milk in sufficient amounts to
cause the same bitter taste. but our
fact 1t is as well to leave this cause
out of consideration altogether, as 1t
is of SO little Importance.
The common bitter taste is due to
an abnormal fermentation. To pro-
duce the desired flavor in butter, we
want the cream to sour with clean,
sour taste, and in fact want to keep
everything else in the way of bacteria
out, as much as possible. To get the
cream to sour as much as we wish, we
want to furnish the bacteria which do
this and keep out the bad bacteria as
the bitter producing kinds. The bac-
terra which produce the bitter prod
ucts, we find, are generally in hay dust
and stable dirt, and some always find
their way into milk, especially when
the cows are in the barn. This is one
of the two reasons why the bitter
taste is more apt to be found in win
ter-made butter than in summer. The
second reason, and the one having the
most influence, is that cream in win
ter, in small dairy especially, is
often kept for a long time between
churnings and at a rather low tenn
perature. These bitter products will
seldom, if ever, be developed in cream
or milk kept at a temperature of 20
degrees or rs degrees, as it will then
sour but not become bitter, although
it may become rancid if kept too long
at that temperature.
These bitter producing bacteria can
not work in the presence of any
amount of acid or sourness. AS soon
as the sourness begins the bitter prod
uct is not made any more. The bac-
terra which produce the bitter taste
work best at a temperature SO low
that the milk will sour very slowly.
The butter maker has the means of
prevention always at hand. The first
n q n q q v-f-
er In the cream at once after separa-
ton, to start souring and check the
other lamentations. Every butter
maker who expects to make q high
grade Of uniform butter should make
constant use of good starter. The
other point is to keep the temperature
up until souring begins, and then
cool, If necessary, to hold a day OF
two. Sour first and the bitter bacteria
will not work, even If the cream be
kept cool a couple of days. Keeping
cream over at a temperature of fifty
to sixty degrees, and later warming
for souring is the condition that al
lows development of the bitter defect
Butter Yield Illustration.
From the dairy department of Pur
due University we have received the
| following relative to the college butter
exhibit at the recent Indiana State
Fair:
For several years Purdue University
| has operated a working dairy at the
Indiana State Fair Each morning ant
| afternoon -separators have been run
| butter made and milk tested by stu
dents from the dairy department un
| der the supervision of the Professor
| of Dairying This year was no ex
ception. The quarters have been re
| modelled some and fixed up, so as tt
/ allow the display of large number
| of charts. giving much instructiv,
data AS people spent a good deal O.
time watching the work, these chart.
/ attracted considerable interest. Sucf
| facts as to the relative loss of fertilit,
i in various farm crops, records of In
/ dividual COWS, an Illustration OF bal
| anced rations, etc., occupied the space
These often furnished an excuse fol
! questions on the part of those watch
/ ing the work, so that the middle o
each day was continual question bo,
with answers by those in charge. 4
| new feature was three columns o
1 print butter, containing in the frs
| case the actual number Of pounds o
I butter made by the average COW o
| the state, as shown by the census
which was 140 lbs. The second col
umn contained 300 lbs, and was Ia
| beled: 1.-The amount Of butter a goot
COW should make" and the third col
umn, containing 374 lbs, was tn,
amount of butter made by one of tn,
! university COWS at q feed cost o
| $500. The relative size Of the col
| umns attracted attention, and un
doubtedly Set q good many people Il
thinking