Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1916-10-24
Improve Farm Butter.

of handling milk and cream and improv
ed practices in the making of farm but
ter will reduce rather than increase tht
trouble incident to home production ol
this food, say dairy specialists of the de
partment, and will result in a superior
product which can be sold more easily
and for better price than the average
farm butter. Last year about 80, ,0OO, ,OO(
pounds of butter, much of which origi
mated on the farm, was washed or reno
waited because it was of such poor quail
ity that it could not be proftably offered
on the regular butter markets.
CHURN CREAM ONLY.
Cream alone should be churned. II
may be skinned as soon as 1t rises OF
| may be separated by mechanical sepa
rator. The latter plan Is the more Ell
cient, and though requiring consider
able initial outlay often will be profit
able. The cream should be set aside In
clean place by separate milkings. A
temperature of 500 F. or lower should be
maintained until from II to Is hours be-
fore churning time, when the various
patches should be stirred together we'll
and brought to temperature of about
70o F. by placing the container in buck
ct of warm water. One of the first acts
of the farm housewife who decides to
adopt improved methods should be to
purchase q dairy thermometer. Tenn
peratures play an important part in the
development of flavors in butter, and al
ways should be determined with fair ac-
curacy. After the cream is mixed 1t
should be kept at approximately 7O' F.
until just before churning time, when it
should be reduced to about $50 F.,
where this is possible Tor to such tenn
perature not above 65o F. as to complete
the operation of churning within 25 or
80 minutes.)
CHURNING.
The barrel type has been found by
dairy specialists to be one Of the most
satisfactory churns. The dasher or
plunger type requires somewhat great
er expenditure of labor. Earthenware
churns are especially undesirable unless
perfectly glazed, since If pores are ex-
posed they absorb milk and cream which
later decay. Churns with mechanical
devices inside them are difficult to clean
and sometimes injure the body OF the
butter.
The churn should be scalded prepara-
tory to churning, but should be cooled
with water before the cream is placed
inside. The cream should be poured in
through coarse strainer: Every few
minutes during the early part of the
churning gas should be allowed to e..
cape from the churn. If the tempera-
ture is right the churning should re-
uuirs about 25 or 80 minutes. The proc
ess is completed when the granules of
butter are about the size of large wheat
kernels. The buttermilk should then
be drained off and the butter granules
repeatedly washed with cold water while
still in the churn. The washiugs should
be continued until all milk is removed.
Under no circumstances should working
be depended on to remove surplus milk.
WORKING AND PACKING.
When the butter is free from all milk
it should be taken from the churn with
paddle and placed on worker. The
bands should never touch the butter,
both on account of sanitary reasons and
because TUG OOuy 'hoy hSAs Wv
fat. The working should be done care
fully to avoid making the butter greasy.
Before the butter is worked, fine salt
should be added at the rate of about an
ounce per pound of fat.
The butter should be prepared for
market in a rectangular mold, since,
when in this shape, the product is more
easily wrapped and handled and is more
pleasing to customers. Regular parch-
meut butter wrapping paper should be
used around the prints, as ordinary wax
ed paper tears easily and sticks to the
butter. The placing of the wrapped
prints in pasteboard boxes is desirable
final step, as 1t protects the package,
gives it better appearance, and permits
the use of the makers name or trade
mark as an advertisement.
After the butter-making operations
are completed the churn should be rims.
ed carefully with warm water. 1t should
then be scrubbed with hot water, cleans
ing powder, and fiber brush, and final
ly should be scalded and set in a clean,
sunny plsce to drain and dry.