Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-07-26
THE MANUFACTURE
OF WHEY BUTTER
INTERESTING BULLETIN ON SUB
JEcT FROM DAIRY SCHOOL,
FOR CHEESE FACTORIES
suits of Long Series of Expert
ments for Benefit of Swiss Man.
Observation-Disclosures Scientific
Methods.

recent bulletin issued by the
agricultural experiment station deals
with the making of butter from whey
in Swiss cheese factories. Under
certain conditions it has been found
profitable to work the whey into
butter, rather to feed it to swine
The process is somewhat scientific
and seems to be beyond the capacity
OF The average cheese maker, but
the dairy school at the university
has given to the matter thorough
study and formulates The results of
its investigations and experiments
In this bulletin, which is edited by
Professor E. H. Harrington.
The making of whey butter at a
Wisconsin Swiss cheese factory, we
are told, is of secondary Importance
to the cheese making. AS a rule
the cheese maker follows antiquated
methods of skimming the whey and
cnurning The cream, and obtains
about one-half pound of butter for
each 100 pounds of milk. The quail
ity OF this butter is often very in
ferlor when considered from the
standpoint of table butter. but it is
used for cooking purposes, and when
1t has no rancid flavor there is a
good demand for it by bakers and
confect1oners. When made for
cooking Or baking the butter is not
sailed and The ''hot process" butter
is often packed in jars or tubs and
kept until used.
The whey often contains as much
as one per cent of butter fat and as
it is perfectly sweet, there seems to
be no good reason why better quail
ily OF butter should not be made and
the amount recovered increased CON
siderably over that usually obtained.
The price of whey butter in Wiscon-
sin does not differ much from that
OF lard, ranging from II 10 IA cents
during the summer of 1905. No re-
liable record of the total amount of
whey butter made in Wisconsin fac
tories is available, but the books al
one factory showed sale of 1923
pounds of such butter, which brought
S412 as the returns of one year.
This undoubtedly is more Than the
average Swiss factory receives for
its whey butter, but there is little
question about the possibility of at
least doubling this figure and in
creasing the receipts at the $50 fac
tories by more than s150,O0O an.
nually.
About two years ago the skim
ming of Swiss whey with a centrifu-
gal power separator was tried in the
foreign cheese department at the
dairy school in Wisconsin agriculru-
raj college. The cream obtained
from this whey was ripened with a
starter, then churned and worked
with the appliances commonly used
for butter making in diaries and
creameries. The quality of the but
ter obtained was considered as equal
to that of creamery butter by MANY
people who examined it. A report
OF this work spread somewhat
throughout the Swiss cheese section
OF the state, and during the past two
years at least 10 separators have
been placed in factories for the pur.
pose of Swimming the whey and in
creasing the value of the whey but
ter ordinarily made at these factories.
The dairy school instructor in
foreign cheese making, who is a
Swiss cheese maker. found by travel
ing among the Swiss factories that
the cheese makers were, as a rule.
ignorant of modern methods of but
ter making and on that account were
somewhat disappointed in The results
obtained even at factories where
separators had been introduced. This
led us to undertake study of the
whey butter problem, and several
factories were visited during July
and August, 1905. These included
factories where butter is made by
the old process as well as those in
which separators are used for skim
ming the whey.
The observations made up to the
present lime show conclusively that
the amount of whey butter commonly
recovered can be greatly increased
and that the quality of this butter
can also be improved. The principal
thing which the Swiss cheese fac
tories seem to need. in addition to a
separator for skimming the whey, is
a cream vat of some sort in which
the whey-cream may be ripened and
cooled before churning. They also
need some different method of work.
ing the butter than is common with
Them