CHURNING. 203 



classes vegetable and mineral. The former is usually 

 made from Annatto seed dissolved in vegetable oils. 

 The latter are made from coal-tar, a by-product in the 

 manufacture of gas. There appears to be little or no 

 difference in their effect on the butter. 



Before putting the cream into the churn, it should 

 be well prepared by scalding and afterwards cooling, 

 to fill the pores of the wood with water, so that the 

 cream will not stick to it. The cream should then be 

 strained into the churn to remove any particles of curd 

 or clotted cream. The temperature for churning 

 should be between 50 and 60 degrees. The lower the 

 temperature at which the cream will churn in a reason- 

 able time the more exhaustive will be the churning 

 and the less curdy matter there will be in the butter. 

 If the churning comes too quickly, the liquid fat is not 

 all changed to a solid, hence the butter is of a soft, 

 greasy texture. 



The churn should turn at the rate of fifty to seventy 

 revolutions per minute. A small churn should revolve 

 more rapidly than a large one. The gases, composed 

 chiefly of carbonic acid and hydrogen, should be 

 allowed to escape three or four times during the first 

 ten minutes, or till the gases cease to accumulate. If 

 the cream thickens in the churn it will be necessary 

 to dilute it with water at the same temperature as the 

 cream. When the granules of butter appear the size 

 of clover seed, a small quantity of water, preferably 

 brine, should be added in warm weather, to firm the 

 butter and cause a more complete separation. In 

 winter the water should be of about the same tempera- 



