150 SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



will be obtained when the cream has about 28 to 30 per cent of fat. Cream 

 with too high a percentage of fat has a tendency to adhere to the sides of 

 the churn, which causes_difficult churning and increases the danger of loss 

 of fat in the buttermilk. 



Thin Cream Undesirable. When cream is too thin or has too small a 

 percentage of fat in it, as in the case of hand-skimmed cream containing 

 from 12 to 20 per cent of fat, good, uniform churning is hard to secure. 

 Such cream loses too much fat in the buttermilk and also requires longer 

 churning. 



Methods of Ripening Cream. Poor quality in farm butter is most 

 frequently due to a lack of proper ripening of the cream previous to churn- 

 ing. On the farm it is often necessary to store the cream from two or 

 or more days' milkings in order to secure a sufficient amount for a churning. 

 The common method now in use on most farms is simply to collect in a 

 cream can or jar successive creamings, until enough has been secured 

 for a churning. Meanwhile the cream is held in the cellar, milkhouse, 

 back porch or springhouse. The temperature at which it is held varies 

 with the weather, season of year and other conditions. Under these 

 conditions the cream usually ripens or develops acid until at the end of 

 three or four days it becomes sour and is then stirred and churned. If 

 it is kept too cold for ripening during this holding period, it is warmed 

 for several hours and allowed to sour before churning. 

 \ This is a bad practice and is responsible for many of the taints and 

 off flavors found in farm butter. The reason for this is that the temperature 

 of the cream is usually about 55 F., which is a little too low to secure 

 a good growth of the lactic or acid-forming bacteria which produce the 

 proper flavors in the cream. Some claim that this average cellar tem- 

 perature favors the proper conditions for the growth of the bacteria that 

 produce objectionable flavors and taints in cream. These undesirable 

 bacteria produce no acid, will not grow well in the acid medium and seem 

 to grow best at a temperature of 50 to 60 F. 



The Pennsylvania Experiment Station, Bulletin 135, has conducted 

 some experimental work to determine the best way to ripen cream on the 

 farm. This work indicates that there are three other methods, any one 

 of which will give better results than the storing of cream at cellar tem- 

 peratures. They are: (1) holding or storing the cream at a very low 

 temperature (below 45 F.) until enough is secured for a churning, and 

 then warming it up to 70 to 80 F. and ripening; (2) ripening the first 

 collection of cream at once and adding each skimming to it, from day to 

 day, until a churning is secured; (3) adding a portion of buttermilk to 

 the first cream gathered and then adding each skimming until enough 

 is secured for a churning. 



The first method is a good one for butter-makers who have ice for 

 keeping the cream cold. Immediately after separating each day's cream, 

 it should be cooled to 45 F. or below, and held at this low temperature 



