Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/500

 494 BUTTER pure constitutents of stagnant pools impart characteristic differences in flavor and odor, resembling the impurities. It is therefore of great importance, as affecting the quality as well as the quantity, that the cows should have free access to pure spring water. With few exceptions, the best butter is now made in large establishments, called creameries or but- ter factories, as in this way a more perfect sys- tem can be followed, and greater exactness in time and temperature, uniformity in churning, and many important details, can be secured. The most convenient arrangement includes a spring house, the floor of which is covered with running water to the depth of about 18 inches, in which the milk is set in cans or buckets 8 or 10 inches in diameter and about 20 inches in height. The temperature of the water should be about 56 F. Instead of having the water run over the floor, it may be made to pass through vats or troughs. When the cans con- taining the recently drawn milk are placed in the water, which should rise a little above the level of the milk, the animal heat is soon re- duced to between 56 and 58 F., and the milk will keep sweet for 36 hours even in the hottest weather. This temperature allows the cream to rise with greater facility, and with less ad- mixture of other constituents, than can be ob- tained in any other way. Some butter makers allow the milk to stand for 36 hours; others say that 24 hours is practically sufficient for all the cream to rise. It is found that as much cream is obtained by using deep as by using shallow ves- sels, while deep vessels have the advantage in economy of space, a better control of the tem- perature, less exposure to the air, and con- sequently less drying and hardening of the cream, by which the quality of the butter is affected. After the cream has risen it is to be removed by skimming, and after standing a suitable time is placed in the churn. The kind of churn generally preferred by the best butter makers is the common dash churn, made of white oak. This form possesses advantages too important to be overlooked over those which have been invented with a view to shorten the process of churning. It gathers the butter in masses, excluding the caseous cell walls and other ^constituents in a more perfect manner, and consequently yields a better product, as these substances cannot be entirely removed by after-working. Much depends upon the manner in which the operation is performed, even with the same churn. A very desirable quality in butter is what is called grain. This is destroyed by too rapid churning, by melting, or by heating the cream too highly before churning. Good butter possesses this quality of grain in consequence of the con- tents of the cells preserving in a certain degree their form, or at least their identity ; a result which can only be obtained by keeping the material throughout the whole process of man- ufacture at a temperature at which the par- ticles of butter are solid and firm, and by using the proper amount and kind of mechanical force. When cold, firm butter of prime quality is broken, the grain may be easily recognized. The swing churn, and the substitute for it lately invented in England, by which the cream is thrown alternately from one end of the ves- sel to the other, probably allow of a more per- fect preservation of the grain than even the dash churn. The chief objections to their use are increased labor and the limited amount of cream that can be churned at one time. The temperature at which the churning should be performed is a matter of great importance, as well as the time occupied. At the commence- ment the cream should be at about 58 F. During the process it rises to 64 or 65. The time occupied in churning 12 or 15 gallons of cream should be from 40 to 60 minutes. Great- er rapidity is injurious, as it mixes the cell walls and the buttermilk with the butter, ren- ders it less firm and solid, and injures the grain. When taken from the churn it should be thor- oughly washed in pure cold water, using a la- dle, and not the hands. It should then be salted with about ^ of its weight of the pu- rest and finest salt, which should be thorough- ly incorporated with it by means of a butter worker or ladle, the hands being never allowed to touch the butter. From 8 to 12 hours after- ward a second working should be performed, and the butter packed in strong and perfectly tight white oak firkins. When filled, they should be headed up and a strong brine poured in at the top until all the interstices are filled. It should then be placed in a cool, well ven- tilated cellar. Many persons suppose that it is necessary for cream to become sour before it is fit to churn ; but, according to Prof. Johnson of Yale college, "readiness for churning de- pends chiefly upon the time that has elapsed since milking, and the temperature to which it has been exposed in the pans. The colder it is, the longer it must be kept. At a medium temperature, 60 to 70, it becomes suitable for the churn in 24 hours, or before the cream has entirely risen. Access of air appears to hasten the process. The souring of milk or cream has directly little to do with preparing them for the churn. Its influence is, however, otherwise felt, as it causes the caseine to pass beyond that gelatinous condition in which the latter is in- clined to foam strongly at low temperatures, and, by enveloping the fat globules, hinders their uniting together. On churning cream that is very sour, the caseine separates in a fine, granular state, which does not interfere with the gathering of the butter. " In Devon- shire a method called " clouting " has long been practised. The new milk, after standing 12 hours, is gradually raised to a temperature of 180 F., and then returned to the milk room until all the cream has risen. This process has been thought by those who practised it to allow of a more complete separation of the cream, and to shorten the duration of churning ; but according to the principles above laid down,