Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1903-11-12
Cause Of Bitter Butter.

Cause OF Bitter Butter.
Bitter butter Is generally found In
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 asSn but
ter and Is often found In milk, cream
and cheese. said c. II. 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 MIXED. but become extremely
bitter with age. This bitter condition
has been credited by most dairymen
TO stripper cows or faulty feeding
Milk from stripper cows very rarely
VIII have a peculiar, somewhat bitter
taste, but hardly sufficient to show in
the butter under any circumstances.
IL Is safe to say not one case in a
hundred is due to this cause. II feed
Is used with very bitter taste. 1t may
go into milk In sufficient amounts to
cause the same bitter taste, but our
common feeds are not bitter, and in
fact 1t is as well to leave this cause
out OF consideration altogether, as 1t
Is or 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 keeI
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 dc
this and keep out the bad bacteria as
the bitter producing kinds. The BAG
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
tornado butter than in summer. The
second reason. and the one having the
most influence, is that cream In win
ter, In a small dairy especially, is
often kept for long time between
Cummings and at rather low TEN.
perature. These bitter products will
seldom, If ever, be developed in cream
or milk kept at temperature of 10
degrees or 7b degrees, as it will then
sour but not become bitter, although
1t may become rancid IL 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,
terra which produce the bitter taste
work best at temperature SO low
that the milk will sour very slowly.
The butter maker has the means CT
prevention always at hand. The frs;
thing to do Is to use good sour-start
err 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 day OF
| two. Sour first and the bitter bacteria
will not work, even If the cream be
kept cool couple of days. Keeping
cream over at temperature of fifty
to sixty degrees, and later warming
for souring is the condition that al
| lows development of the bitter defect