Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-08-05
BUTTER MAKING
On THE FARM.


entire process of butter-making as on the
farm, for here he receives the milk as 1t is
drawn from the COW and can control its
treatment until it is finally sold as butter.
Yet, with all these advantages, the
quality of farm butter is not what it
should be, due partly TO ignorance and
partly to carelessness, but the competition
with cresmeries is becoming so great that
the farm butter must be and is becoming
better all the time.
There are few conditions, over which
the butter maker has no control, such as
different fats, which form the butter fat,
but with care, attention to details, and a
study of his own particular conditions,
any person should make better butter on
the farm than at a creamery where the
supply comes from various sources.
Cleanliness is important in all dairy
practices, and butter making is no excep-
ton to this rule. The milk produced
should come from healthy herd of cows,
properly fed and cared for and should be
produced under conditions which are as
sanitary as it is possible to make them.
As soon as separated, the cream should
be cooled down to temperature OF so
degrees or lower, and maintained at this
temperature in order that it may be kept
sweet until ready for churning. Cream
thus cared for will remain sweet for sew
eral days, and it is always advisable to
churu more often, even though the churn-
ing may be small, than to wait until the
cream is sour or old.
Warm cream should never be added to
old or cold cream, as this will warm up
the resulting cream and give bacteria a
better chance for growth.
Sweet butter is not very popular in this
country and cream is soured or ripened
before churning, in order to give butter
the desired acid taste. Many may think
ii is useless to use 80 much care in keeping
the cream sweet, il it is to be soured be-
fore churning, but the danger in allowing
cream to sour as soon as separated, lies in
the fact that undesirable bacteria will
develop, as we'll as the desirable ones, and
the cream is more liable to have an old
taste or the flavor is sour.
While common practice is to allow
cream to sour naturally, a more to- be-
desired method is that of using
starter. A starter is simply sour whole
or skim milk or buttermilk, with good
clear acid taste and contains desirable
bacteria, which give to the finished butter
its good taste and keeping qualities, with
out the undesirable odors, tastes or putri-
flying or gas forming properties.
While almost any kind of milk may be
used for starter, skim milk is recog-
nized as the best. Several bottles of milk
are allowed to sour and the best one OF
these is kept for use.
Cream is usually ripened the evening OF
the day before it is churned and it con-
sists merely in adding the starter (the
amount of which varies with the length
OF time for which it will stand before be-
ing churned, and with the richness Of the
cream, the time usually being about
twelve hours, and bringing it to temper
allure OF IS degrees to 70 degrees, snd al
lowing it to stand until the desired degree
OF acidity has been reached, when it is
cooled to the churning temperature,
which varies from SO degrees to 60 degrees
with conditions.
There are special tests on the market
for determining the acidity Of the cream
(Which should be about 5-10 OF per cent. J,
but the taste and odor Of the cream is
usually fair guide.
The cream should be cooled to the
churning temperature several bours be-
fore being churned, as the butter fat cools
with difficulty or very slowly.
There are several styles Of churns, any
one of which may be used, as practically
all OF them have advantages and disad-
vantages. The churn should be rinsed out
before being used and the cream should
then be strained into 1t from the ripening
vat.
The object OF churning is to collect the
butter into.a mass so that the buttermilk
may be removed, and this is brought about
by conclusion or agitation. There are
several conditions affecting the churning
of cream, but the main ones are: amount,
temperature, test and acidity OF cream,
speed OF churn. These conditions can all
be controlled, and each butter maker
should so control them as to churn the
butter in from thirty to forty-five minutes.
When the butter is collected in small
granules about the size of grain OF
wheat, the buttermilk should be drawn
off through strainer, in order to catch
any PARTICLES of butter which may escape
with the buttermilk. The wash water
should be nearly the same temperature as
the cream before churning and the same
amount used.
When all the buttermilk is removed,
the butter is ready for sailing. The rate
of sailing varies with the market, but the
average is about one ounce of salt to one
pound Of butter. The working may be
done in a combined churn or worker, in a
separate worker or in bowl.
The salt is added and the butter worked
for short time and should then be al
lowed to stand from one-haif to one hour,
as the salt will work through the butter,