Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-12-21
HANDLING MILK AND RIPENING
CREAM

HANDLING MILK AND R1PENING
CREAM
Fats have become one of the great
/ essential necessities in the winning Of
the world war. In this country of
super-abundance of everything needed
| for man and beast we have not thought
| it necessary to either save or conserve
fats until recently. The high price
which vegetable oils and butter now
command. however, has directed our at
tention to this subject in a very en-
phatic manner. AS a matter of fact
we are producing a very considerable
amount of milk in Georgia which we are
attempting to handle for butter produc-
! tion without that degree of success
which we should reasonably anticipate.
! The trouble is due to the fact that
! the milk and cream is not properly pre-
pared for churning and hence the but
| ter derived therefrom is of an inferior
quality and sells therefore at a dis
count OF from 1Oc to soc pound as
compared with western butter. More
over, the farmer is only obtaining
from his milk and cream about two
thirds of the butter fat The loss in
this direction is simply appalling and
an attempt has, therefore. been made
| in this article to advise farmers how
to save and handle milk and cream in
order that ii may be ripened properly
| for churning and a first-class quality
of butter obtained therefrom.
Good milk or cream properly handled
produces good butter. No one can
make good butter from dirty, off-fav-
| ored milk or cream. AS the milk or
cream is, so the butter will be. Much
of the dirt from the cows body, which
commonly falls into the ordinary milk
pail during milking. may be kept out of
the milk by using a covered pail
Churning whole milk should be dis
| couraged on account of the greater loss
of butter in the buttermilk and because
better butter can be made from cream
The principles of churning, however,
are the same in both cases.
The thermometer should be the dairy
mans compass. without it he is lost
No one can guess at the temperature
either for the turning" or churning of
milk or cream, and make good butter.
/ The writer ventures to say that every
person who reads this has churned two
hours before the butter came. Like
wise every one has churned in ten min
utes and got butter which looked more
/ like pound-cake dough than good but
| ter In the latter case the quantity of
butter left in the buttermilk was large
and in a year would have bought sew
/ eral thermometers. thermometer
costs only so cents and saves money
! and time. When accuracy. replaces
guesswork, good butter and good prices
will be the rule and not the exception,
as is now the case with the great bulk
| of country butter.
Any make of churn that does not
contain a dasher or paddle device on
the inside will give satisfaction. The
barrel churn and the swing churn are
easy to handle and convenient because
y. 3,
which buttermilk and wash water can
be drawn from the churn. Do not buy
a churn because of claims to the eff
feet that butter will come in from
to minutes, for butter made in that
time is sure to be of poor quality and
probably the milk or cream was churn-
ed too warm. While excellent butter
can be made in the old-fashioned dash
err churn, it is unhandy.
Very often the glazing of earthen-
ware vessels scales off and let's milk
or cream into the porous substance,
where it sours and decays. giving bad
odor and flavor to the butter. For these
reasons such utensils should not be
used A shotgun can is much superior
to earthenware jars or churns as
milk contaiper, because it is lighter TO
handle and can be kept clean.
A strainer is necessary for straining
the cream or milk in the churn to re-
move Jumps and again for strainlng
the buttermilk to prevent the loss OF
butter
A butter worker is great help n
making good butter.
Fiber brushes for cleaning utensils
are more satisfactory than cloths, do
better work, and are more easily kept
clean.
Milk and cream should be soured or
turned" at 65 or 70 degrees Fathren-
heit because at that temperature the
bacteria which gives butter the right
flavor grow best and tend to prevent the
growth of germs which, if allowed to
grow, give the butter a bad flavor. In
judging butter the flavor counts almost
as much as everything else, which
shows how necessary it is to use
thermometer and know that we have
the proper temperature.
Many people have trouble in getting
milk or cream to sour in the winter.
The common practice in most homes
is to set the vessel of milk or cream
near the fireplace turning occasionally
to keep it from getting too hot on the
side nearest the fire. The trouble with
this system is that the milk does not
really get warm through and through.
The cream near the center remains cold.
ONLY when the whole mass of milk or
cream gets warm enough will it sour
quickly To warm the cream thorough
ly, set the vessel in another one con-
tanning hot water and stir the cream
until the thermometer shows that 1T IS
warm enough-70 degrees F. Why is
hot water better than the hot air from
the fire? Because water is good CON-
ductor of heat and will warm milk or
cream more than 81 times as fast as
| II
milk or cream is brought to 20 degrees