Aug. 2, 1920.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 593 



"Cooked." 



This means that the butter has assumed a flavour somewhat similar to that 

 of milk which has been heated to too high a temperature and thereby 

 scorched. 



This "cooked" flavour is caused by cream absorbing the flavour from 

 scorched casein present inside the machine while the process of pasteurisation 

 is in progress. 



The scorching may be brought about in two principal ways, the first 

 of which is the use of excessively high temperatures in pasteurising, an 

 inaccurate thermometer often being the indirect cause. 



The secoDd way, which only happens with the flash system and is the more 

 frequent, is by a comparatively small volume of cream coming suddenly in 

 contact with the hot metal surface of the inside of the pasteuriser when the 

 machine is first started. The casein in the cream becomes immediately 

 scorched and adheres to the hot surface in a thin film. The remainder of the 

 cream, as it passes over this adhered portion, absorbs the scorched flavour, 

 wjiich is afterwards reproduced in the butter. It will be seen that neither 

 system of pasteurisation is responsible for this fault, which is solely due in 

 the first instance to an oversight, and in the second, to faulty manipulation. 

 To remedy this fault, take care, firstly, that the thermometer in use is an 

 accurate one ; have the instrument tested for accuracy, and, if not correct, 

 either discard it altogether or have the necessary correction in reading made. 

 Secondly, do not turn on the steam until the machine is practically full of 

 cream. The heating will then be done gradually, and the adherance of 

 scorched casein to the inside surface of the pasteuriser will be prevented. 



"Mouldy." 



The infection which causes butter to become mouldy may come from the 

 boxes into which it is packed, from the papers with which the boxes are 

 lined, from the walls or ceilings, or from the close surroundings of the 

 factory itself. 



Owing to the shortage of timber, much of that used for making butter 

 boxes has not been allowed to become properly seasoned, and many of the 

 boxes used have been quite mouldy and damp. Immediately butter is packed 

 into those boxes, this mouldy timber becomes the most frequent and ready 

 source of infection. The parchment papers, if not stored in a dry, clean 

 room, free from mould growth, may also soon infect the butter with which 

 they come in contact with mould growth. 



Then again, if the woodwork of the ceilings and the walls of the factory 

 is allowed to become damp and rotten, it becomes an ideal growing ground 

 for moulds, the spores or seeds of which, being extremely light, are detached 

 and float about in the air, and are distributed throughout the factory. 

 These spores, as soon as conditions of temperature and moisture are 

 favourable for their germination, soon grow and produce moulds, so that 



