CHAPTER XLII 



BUTTER-MAKING 



Butter is a product of milk that has been known from the 

 earliest times. The early methods of making butter were 

 very crude and consisted mainly in agitating whole milk in 

 bags of skin until the fat globules gathered into clusters. 

 The handling of cream and the process of making butter have 

 received much study, and many improvements have been 

 made. 



Preparing the Cream. — On the average farm not enough 

 cream is skimmed at one time to make a churning. It is 

 necessary, then, to collect the cream from several skimmings 

 or separations. If cream is separated with the separator it 

 should be cooled at once to 40° F. or 50° F., and kept at that 

 temperature until enough is collected for a churning. If 

 cream is skimmed from pans, crocks, or cans it will not need 

 to be cooled so much. The cooling is properly done by set- 

 ting the cream in a can in ice-water and then stirring the 

 cream slowly until it has reached the desired temperature. 

 A dairy thermometer is a necessary article. 



It is common practice on most farms to mix the cream 

 from each skimming with that of the previous skimming, but 

 this is not best if one wishes to make a high quality of butter. 

 The older cream is sure to become slightly sour, and when 

 cream of different ages is churned together the churning will 



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