FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 291 



A great many people object to exposing the cream to any special treat- 

 ment at the creamery, on the ground that if the same effort, time, and 

 money, necessary to improve the cream there, were exerted toward improv- 

 ing the quality of the cream on the farm and during transportation, much 

 better results would be obtained. The results obtained for improving the 

 quality of cream on the farm are not immediate. It seems to take con- 

 siderable time to cause a marked improvement to come about it in this way, 

 while improvements caused by any special treatments at the creamery would 

 be noticeable at once. 



Several methods of improving hand separator cream at the creamery have 

 been experimented upon at the Dairy School, Ames, Iowa, at Michigan, and 

 at several of the larger central plants. One method employed at the Iowa 

 Experiment Station was to neutralize the acid in the cream with ordinary 

 bread-soda, and also with powdered chalk. After neutralization, the cream 

 was pasteurized, a starter added, and the cream ripened in the usual way. 

 By this method we were able to improve the immediate quality of the butter 

 several points, but for some reason this butter did not keep. After the but- 

 ter had stood in cold storage a day or two;it assumed very undesirable flavors, 

 undoubtedly due to chemical changes rather than bacteriological. For this 

 reason it was not deemed expedient to employ or recommend this method. 



A second method used was to wash the hand separator cream in water 

 and also in good, sweet skimmed milk. In some instances a little amount 

 of saltpetre was added to the water. Sufficient water or skimmed milk, 

 whichever was used, was added to the cream to dilute it to such an extent 

 as to permit of reskimming. The cream was stirred thoroughly after it had 

 been diluted. Then it was reskimmed and the cream pasteurized. A very 

 rich cream was skimmed which removed a large portion of the undesirable 

 serum. A starter was added to the cream and ripened in the usual way. 

 The resulting butter showed a marked improvement. 



This method of improving hand separator cream could hardly be classed 

 as a practical method because in the first place it requires a considerable 

 amount of work and time , and there is also a considerable loss of fat sustained 

 during the skimming process. Diluting the cream with sweet skimmed 

 milk, stirring it thoroughly and then reskimming it produced the best 

 results. Ordinarily, in practice, it is impossible to obtain sufficient sweet 

 skimmed milk to enable the creamery operator to make use of this method 

 of improving hand separator cream. 



A third method employed is that of pasteurization. When the cream was 

 being pasteurized without the addition of a good starter afterwards, very 

 little improvement in the immediate quality of the butter was observed. 

 Considerable improvement in the keeping quality of the butter was notice- 

 able. When the cream was pasteurized and afterwards a good starter added, 

 a marked improvement in the resulting butter was noticed. The immedi- 

 ate quality, as well as the keeping quality was improved several points. 

 These same results in regard to improvements obtained bv^ pasteurizing 

 hand separator cream have been confirmed by other experiment stations, 

 and by different individual creamery companies in this as well as in other 

 states. 



Some have reported poor results by means of pasteurizing hand sepa- 

 rator cream. In some instances when sour hand separator cream is pasteur- 



