358 



WORKING THE; BUTTER 



draining less thoroughly and working with the churn gates 

 closed, and it can be entirely prevented by working the butter 

 in the presence of a small amount of water. The water so used 

 should be of practically the same temperature as the butter. 



Table 56. Showing Amount of Moisture in Butter After Draw- 



ing-off Buttermilk, After Washing and in Finished Butter 



When Butter Granules Are of the Size of Whe-at Kernels. 1 



When the butter granules are very hard, so that consider- 

 able working may be necessary in order to bring the moisture 

 content up to the maximum allowed by law (less than sixteen 

 per cent), there is always more or less danger of injury to the 

 grain of butter. 



If the butter granules are soft, flaky, irregular and have a 

 ragged surface, as is usually the case in late spring and early 

 summer, when most of the cows have freshened and have access 

 to abundance of succulent pasture, which conditions yield fat 

 globules of large average size, and butterfat with a relatively 

 low melting point, the excess moisture does not escape so rea- 

 dily, and there is danger of excessive moisture in the finished 

 butter. This is due to the fact that cream with predominatingly 

 large fat globules and butterfat with a low melting point, pro- 

 duce a soft butter. This soft butter is more miscible with water 



1 Hunziker, Mills and Spitzer, Moisture Control of Butter. Purdue Bulletin 

 160, 1912. 



