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can must always be covered. Have a tin stirrer which reaches to the bot- 

 tom of the can and stir thoroughly, from the bottom to the top every time 

 fresh cream is added. 



Each time the can is emptied it should be well washed, scalded and 

 put in the sunshine for several hours. In order to be able to do this, it 

 is a good plan to have two cream cans. 



When beginning to collect cream for a churning, add to your first 

 skimming a culture or starter which you know has a clean, pleasant, 

 sharp acid flavor and smell. This culture may consist of a pint or two of 

 sour cream from your previous churning or the same amount of good- 

 flavored skim-milk. The reason for adding the culture is that the bac- 

 teria which you know produces a fine flavored butter may take possession 

 of the new cream before other germs which might prove objectionable 

 gain control of it. 



Another method is to hold the cream sweet until twenty-four hours 

 before churning, then heat it to 65 degrees and add one pint of culture to- 

 every gallon of cream. In the evening cool to churning temperature or 

 below, and hold at that temperature over night. 



Separator cream should have the foam well stirred m, and by plac- 

 ing in cold water, should be quickly cooled to 60 degrees in winter and 

 from 60 degrees to 55 degrees in summer. Stir the cream occasionally 

 while cooling. It is most essential that this thorough and quick cooling 

 be done before adding the cream to the cream can, otherwise separator 

 cieam cannot make choice butter. 



Examine the cream, and when it has a smooth, glossy appearance, 

 pours like molasses and has a pleasant acid taste and smell, it is in pro- 

 per condition to churn. Churning should be done not less than twice a 

 week in summer and three times in two weeks in winter. 



To insure a good body in the butter have the cream lowered to churn- 

 ing temperature or below several hours previous to churning. It does 

 no injury to raise the temperature to that desired, but when the tempera- 

 ture of the cream is lowered just before churning, the fat globules have 

 not had time to harden and the result will be a soft, weak-textured butter. 



To prevent loss of butter fat in the butter-milk, sweet cream should 

 not be added during the last twelve hours before churning. 



Perfectly sweet cream will churn in the same time as ripened cream 

 and makes a mild creamy-flavored butter which is gaining in favor in the 

 best markets. If the temperature of sweet cream is kept low, there is no 

 excessive loss of butter in the butter-milk. 



Complaints are sometimes made about a bitter flavor in cream. When 

 held sweet for some time at a very low temperature this bitterness fre- 

 quently develops. To overcome this difficulty, either pasteurize or get 

 the cream started to sour. 



For farm buttermaking we do not consider pasteurizing the cream 

 necessary, but if bad flavors are found in the sweet cream it will to a 

 great extent destroy them. To pasteurize, place the can holding the 

 cream in a dish of hot water on the stove, and bring the cream to 160 



