The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-05-11
Keep Cream Cool.

A
have refrigerators and many do not
have cool springs. For this reason
very often in the hot summer the milk
will sour and clabber by time the
cream has risen. The problem then
of making good butter becomes a
hard one. Extra precautions should
be taken in the summer to see that
the vessels are kept clean for the
bacteria grow best in hot weather.
If no spring is at hand, a very good
plan is to build a small milk house
near the well and have troughs in
it in which the milk vessels may be
placed If the troughs are filled with
fresh water several times a day it
/ will be found a great help in keeping
the milk sweet.
SOuring the Cream.
But under ordinary conditions in
the sumemr the cream will have be-
cSme sour by the time it has risen.
When this does occur it will be best
to churn at once. even though a very
small quantity of butter be made.
The souring of milk is due to the milk
sugar being changed into Tactic acid
by certain bacteria. The flavor of
butter largely depends upon the
amount of acid formed and for this
reason cream should not be allowed
to become too sour before churning,
and thus give too high a flavor. The
acid bacteria work best at a tempera-
ture between 20 and 80 degrees, there
fore the cream should be kept as cool
as possible until time to ripen or
sour it for churning. This is a very
important step in the making of good
butter. Much of the poor quality of
country or farm butter is. due to the
cream being soured too fast, because
it has been kept too hot. When
enough has been collected to churn,
the cream should be well mixed and
placed where the temperature will be
between 20 and 80 degrees. In a few
hours it will be sour enough to churn.
As a general rule churn when it has
soured enough to thicken. A too
common practice is to put the cream
in the churn (if it is a stone churn,)
and put it on the stove or before the
fire. Too much cannot be said
against such a practice, for when this
is done the cream gets too hot, sours
too fast, and the result is butter that
is both poor in body and flavor. The
cream should never be soured in. the
churn.
How to Warm Cream.
If the cream is to be warmed the
vessel in which it is should be placed
in water. the temperature of which
is not more than 10 degrees higher
than that to which cream is raised.
Or a dipper or bucket Of warm water
may be placed in the cream and kept
moving until the desired temperature
is reached. Hot water should not be
poured directly into the cream
Churning.
AS has been stated. the butter-fat
in milk or cream is in very small
globules. In thick cream they are
much nearer than in thin cream. The
object in churning is to bring these
globules together with enough force
to make them stick together. This
may be done in various ways, and
must depend upon the amount of
cream to be churned and the con-
venience of the person who doe the
work. So we find churns vary from
the small stone dasher churn to the
large combined churn and worker of
the creamery In fact, the writer
has seen good butter made by shak-
ing the cream in a fruit jar or stir
ring it in a bowl with a spoon. The
fo~t chrrn for the farmer who makes
from 3 to 5 pounds of butter at a
churning is a small five gallon barrel
or swing churn. Where less is made
he con do no better than to use the
ordinary stone churn with a wood
iasher.
Difficult Churning.
Care should be taken never to
fill any churn more than half full and
better, not even one-third full. If
too full, not enough agitation can be
given to the cream, hence the but
ter globules will take longer to stick
TO each other and the butter longer
to come. This and trying to churn
! cream that is too thin are common
causes of difficult churning. Other
j causes of difficult churning are try
ing to churn cream that is too sweet
ard ch"rDipg at too low or too high
a temperature.
Importance Of Temperature.
The relation of temperature to but
ter-making is very important, but lit
TIE uuu0fSLOOu. IL has dII0duy D00u
stated what an important place tenn
perature has in the proper souring
of the cream. 1t has just as impor-
tant in churning. No definite tenn
perature can be given at which cream
should be churned, but the following
rule should always be followed.
Churn at such a temperature that
the butter will come in from 80 to
45 minutes. No definite rule can be
given. because it will vary with the
breed. feed. individuality Of the COW,
and how long since the COW calved.
If the butter comes too soon, much
of it will be left in the buttermilk
and the quality of the butter injured.
Too much cannot be said against all
churns that are guaranteed to get
the butter in from three to five min
utes. By getting the cream to the
proper temperature such churning