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to the churning temperature and holding it at that tempera- 

 ture about twelve hours (over night) has been found to produce 

 a butter of exceptionally fine quality. This practice is locked 

 upon with favor by many creameries. Sour, gathered cream is 

 rarely, if ever, benefitted by further ripening. It usually has 

 a high degree of acidity when it reaches the factory and it is 

 contaminated with a variety of detrimental organisms. If 

 warmed to and held at the ripening temperature for any length 

 of time, undesirable fermentations are prone to gain the upper 

 hand, hastening objectionable decompositions and injuring 

 the flavor and keeping quality of the butter, in spite of the 

 addition of a pure culture lactic acid starter. For this reason 

 sour gathered cream is best cooled to the churning temperature 

 at once, or if pasteurized, immediately after pasteurization, and 

 churned after holding it at that temperature for about three 

 hours. The addition of starter to this type of cream either 

 immediately after cooling or just before churning usually 

 freshens up its flavor to some extent and improves the flavor 

 of the resulting butter, though it may not benefit its keeping 

 quality appreciably. 



The Proper Degree of Acidity in Cream at the Churn, 

 The per cent acid in cream at the churn that produce* the 

 most desirable result depends on such factors as disposition 

 of butter, whether it is intended for immediate consumption 

 or for storage, quality of cream and richness of cream. 



That the addition of starter to cream and the proper ripen- 

 ing of cream assist in developing flavor in butter is an estab- 

 lished fact. Good starter improves the flavor of butter and 

 the ripening of the cream produces the high flavor desired by 

 the American consumer. If butter is intended for immediate 

 consumption, therefore, the use of starter in all cream, and the 

 ripening of cream that arrives at the creamery in sweet con- 

 dition, are desirable and assist in best meeting the demands of 

 the market. Under these conditions cream may be ripened 

 with starter to an acidity of .50 to .60 per cent, the exact acidity 

 varying with the fat of the cream. 



On the other hand, it should be clearly understood that 

 acidity in cream is harmful to the keeping quality of the but- 

 ter, assisting in the decomposition of the non-fatty constituents 



