Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1910-07-01
VALUE OF WATER
IN BUTTER

There must be certain amount of
water In butter to make It perfect
article-not that the per cent of water
must come within certain fixed or mar
row limits. but the amount that Is
present In butter made under normal
conditions where quality is the main
object.
To the average consumer the water
content Is not greatly noticeable I'm
less there is a small quantity Of free
water left In the package In which the
butter was originally packed Now
ever, this free water bears no direct
relation to the amount present in 3ut
ter, but 1t is an indication of the plan
followed in Its manufacture.
Butter mechanically perfect may con
tain between 10 and 10 per cent of
water. AS rule. this extreme differ
ence cannot be detected except by men
who have made the subject study.
The value Of butter IL based ON It's
quality and general makeup and not
where 1t has been carried to an ex
IRENE
The factors In composition that will
affect its quality are the extremes in
dissolved.
The limit which was placed upon
the water to be incorporated into but
ter was In part to do away with the
growing tendency on the part of some
to make an article that should contain
the lowest possible amount Of butter
fat and yet bear the name Of butter.
If this had not been checked there
would have been danger Of placing the
ability Of the buttermaker upon the
question, Can you get us the over
run% In place of. "Can you make good
butterY II seems as If that idea Is
still encouraged In certain localities
The 0verrun bears certain relation
to the composition of the butter. but Is
not sure indication that a high per
cent of water means a correspondingly
high overrun.
buttermaker should have an over.
run that checks fairly we'll with the
fat in his butter. provided the loss of
fat in the process of manufacture has
been kept at It's minimum. 1t cannot
always be said that an Overrun Of only
10 per cent Is an indication of butter |
having high fat content any more |
than a high overruu indicates low fat |
content butter.
The greatest factor In overrun con,
troll Is the accurate determination of |
the total butter fat delivered to the |
creamery. If more butter fat was de- |
Iiyered than was actually paid for It
cannot help but increase the overrun.
and vice versa.
Naturally the question arises. "Can
butter be made to always contain less
than the legal 16 per cent limit for wa
ter% The answer is positively YES"
with fair margin for safety. In fact.
butter can be made to not exceed even
1 Is per cent limit. A good CONNER
,ial product can contain IA to ID per
cent Of water. This. added to the S2.5
Der cent standard for fat. makes a to-
al of 96.5 to 97.5 per cent, leaving a
)alance Of 2.5 to 3.5 per cent for salt.
.asein and ash.
Since the average casein and ash
content need not exceed l per cent.
his leaves l.5 to 2.5 per cent for salt.
This amount Of salt Is not sufficient
or all grades of butter. nor will it
meet the demand of all consumers. In
rider to Increase the salt content there
must be a decrease In the water. A
commercial product will pass to GER
ain consumers containing 35 per cent
alt, but need not exceed per cent.
1t Is not safe to work too close to
ny standard because of variation IN
imposition due to sampling. One
ample Of butter taken to represent a
may or may not be al accu-
ate representation Of the butter In
uestiOn. An average variation of at
east one-half per cent must be allow
d with an extreme Of at least ! per
ent =