SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART VII. 277 



coagulated, for in so doing you have taken out of the starter all of the 

 undesirable bacteria that may have dropped in from the top, and if 

 whole milk be used you will necessarily have to skim off the cream, and 

 this would be lost. 



In pasteurizing, the heating and cooling should always be done as 

 quickly as possible, as the quick changes in temperature is much more 

 effective in destroying bacteria. 



We are now ready for the inoculation, and the time of the inocula- 

 tion depends upon the temperature at which you prefer to ripen your 

 starter and the time at which you expect to have it ripe. Since the 

 lactic acid bacteria seems to work most satisfactorily at from 70 to 75 

 degrees Fahrenheit, this is the temperature in general use, and at this 

 temperature you will need to use about 10 per cent mother culture, which 

 you have prepared and ripened the day before, to ripen starter in six or 

 eight hours, and for the mother culture, which can be cooled down very 

 eprly in the evening, this method is perhaps the most satisfactory one. 

 But for the large can where there is no satisfactory way for cooling 

 quickly a better plan is to use from 2 to 5 per cent of culture, allowing 

 the starter to be quite thick in the morning when ready to put in cream. 



Before a culture or starter is used it should be poured from one vessel 

 to another, or stirred with the stirring device until it is very smooth 

 and of the same consistency all through, otherwise there will be bacteria 

 in the lump of curd which will not come in contact with the fresh milk, 

 but will become overripe and will cause the starter to whey off more 

 easily, and at the same time with the small per cent of inoculation as in 

 the large can there is apt to be milk which does not become inoculated 

 and you will have a very uneven curd. For the same reason cultures and 

 starters should be shaken several times during the ripening process. 



If you wish a mild, creamy flavor, ripen starter at a high temperature; 

 but if you prefer a sharper, more acid flavor, ripen at a lower tempera- 

 ture. 



Either of the above methods require very close attention, for In 

 ripening at a high temperature the starter must be cooled down just at 

 the proper time, otherwise it will become overripe very quickly, and in 

 ripening at a low temperature you have the bitter flavor to fight and the 

 possibility of your starter not being coagulated at the proper time, and 

 under no consideration should we use a starter that is not thick. In a 

 case of this kind and at other times when the starter does not show up 

 as it should, and this will happen to the best of them sometimes, it i3 

 advisable to use a buttermilk starter. However, this should not be 

 repeated and should only be resorted to as a last resort. 



Now in closing I wish to give you just three points which will cover 

 all that goes to make up a good starter. So closely related and so 

 important are they that they can not be numbered one, two, three, but 

 they must be numbered one, one, one, and these are the points, pure 

 milk, cleanliness and temperature. 



