FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IV. 229 



STARTING AND CREAM RIPENING. 



\V. S. SMARZO, ASSISTANT DAIRY COMMISSIONER. 



There is no longer a question as to the advisability of using a good com- 

 mercial starter; in fact, all concede that it is absolutely necessary for best 

 results. Not many years ago the starter was not considered necessary in 

 carrying on the process of cream ripening; and none, except a few butter- 

 wakers who were considered cranks, troubled themselves about its use. 

 These gentlemen have since demonstrated, however, that it takes a good 

 starter to make a fine grade of butter. We are now living in a different age, 

 and our methods of creamery management have undergone great changes. 

 The cranks have found out that a commercial starter properly used helps to 

 control the cream, so they may be able to make a high and more uniform 

 grade of butter. I could cite you to several buttermakers whom we have 

 been able to get interested in commercial starters, and by its use have raised 

 their premiums from one-half to one and one-half cents above the quoted 

 market. These very buttermakers were at first opposed to using a starter, 

 but since they have become familiar with its use, would not think of making 

 a pound of butter without using a good commercial starter. 



I will briefly go over the making of starters. Originally speaking, all 

 the different kinds of starters are included under the names ' 'natural" and 

 "commercial." The latter is prepared from a supposed pure culture of 

 bacteria obtained from the laboratory; the former includes a great many 

 kinds of dairy products, which are supposed to contain a preponderance o^ 

 those germs which are involved in the production of desirable flavors. A 

 good natural starter is usually obtained by selecting into sterilized jars a 

 number of different samples of the best milk coming into the creamery. 

 The samples are allowed to sour naturally at about seventy degrees, and 

 the sample which coagulates into a smooth, uniform curd and has a pleas- 

 ant, mild acid taste, is selected and used as a mother starter. When inocu- 

 lated into a large sample of selected pasteurized milk, cooled to, and kept 

 at, a temperature of about seventy degrees, until it begins to coagulate, it 

 will usually produce a good starter. The best method to prepare a new 

 commercial starter is to pasteurize a pint or a quart of the best milk you can 

 find. This can be done by placing the milk in a sampling jar; then place 

 the jar in a pail of cold water; then heat the water until the milk is heated to 

 180 or 190 degrees. It should be kept in this condition twenty minutes; then the 

 hot water should be drawn off and cold water turned on until the milk is at 

 a temperature of 85 or 90 degrees; it should then be inoculated with a pure 

 culture and then cooled down to 65 or 70 degrees, and held at that tempera- 

 ture until it begins to coagulate; and at this stage it is in the best condition 

 for using, as the germs are more active. Always use enough mother starter 

 so that your starter will thicken in about twenty hours. Many buttermakers 

 still claim that they can obtain satisfactory results from the old method, or 

 so-called homemade starter, or even none at all; and, while under the most 

 favorable conditions it is possible to produce a good commercial butter with- 

 out the aid of a commercdal starter, it is never safe to depend upon these 

 primitive ideas and methods. 



