WASHING THE: BUTTER 311 



CHAPTER XI. 



WASHING, SALTING AND WORKING THE BUTTER. 

 Washing the Butter. 



Purpose. The chief purpose of washing the butter is to 

 free the butter granules, after the buttermilk has been drawn 

 from the churn, from such remnants of buttermilk as may adhere 

 to them. Other objects may be to harden the butter, in case 

 the butter shows a weak body, and to remove undesirable flavors 

 in case the original cream was of poor quality. 



Drawing off Buttermilk. When the churning process is 

 complete, the buttermilk is drawn from the bottom of the churn 

 and the butter should be allowed to drain thoroughly. If the 

 butter granules are very small their separation from the butter- 

 milk and their rising to the surface, may be facilitated by the 

 addition to the churn of a little cold water. When the butter- 

 milk has considerable commercial value and a steady trade has 

 been established for it, the practice of pouring water into the 

 churn before the buttermilk is removed is obviously objection- 

 able. In this case excessive loss of fat may be avoided by leav- 

 ing the churning at rest for about 10 minutes before drawing 

 off the buttermilk. This gives the smaller granules an op- 

 portunity to rise to the surface and to attach themselves to the 

 mass of butter. 



In order to avoid the escape of butter granules the butter- 

 milk should be strained. In farm buttermaking the use of a 

 fine hair sieve or of a dipper strainer is convenient for this 

 purpose. For creamery buttermaking a cone-shape or cylindrical 

 tin or wire mesh strainer is inserted in the buttermilk outlet of 

 the churn. These strainers can be purchased from creamery 

 supply houses. 



Addition of Water. After the buttermilk is removed, the 

 butter should be allowed to drain thoroughly. Then the wash 

 water is added, using about as much water as there was but- 

 termilk. The churn is then given a few revolutions to agitate 

 the contents gently and to facilitate the washing of the granules. 

 The wash water is then withdrawn, the butter again allowed 

 to drain and the washing is repeated by the addition of a second 



