BUTTER STORAGE 



455 



or curd of butter, as caused by bacterial, enzymic or chemical 

 action hastened in the presence of air, heat and moisture. A 

 damp storage is prone to cause the development of mold. The 

 storage room therefore should be dry. 



Temperature of Storage. Heat intensifies every type of 

 butter deterioration in storage. It hastens oxidation, it enhances 

 the action of bacteria and enzymes, it accelerates chemical ac- 

 tion and it favors mold development. Butter that is intended 

 for prolonged storage must be stored at temperatures of zero 

 degrees Fahrenheit or below. At higher temperatures its keeping 

 quality is invariably jeopardized and the poorer the quality, the 

 more rapid will be the deterioration with age. 



Gray and McKay, 1 in a series of experiments, studying the 

 effect of storage temperature on keeping quality of butter, found 

 that at 10 degrees F. the butter kept better, both while in 

 cold storage and after removal from cold storage, than when 

 stored at higher temperatures. The butter in these experiments 

 was stored at these temperatures for 5 to 8 months. Similar 

 results were obtained by Rogers, Thompson and Keithley, 2 who 

 show the following scores of butter stored at temperatures rang- 

 ing from zero degrees F. to 20 degrees F. : 



From the above results Rogers and his co-workers conclude 

 that the difference between zero degrees F. and 10 degrees F. 



1 Gray and McKay, Investigations in the Manufacture and Storage of 

 Butter, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, B. A. I. Bulletin 84, 1906. 



2 Rogers, Thompson and Keithley, The Manufacture of Butter for Storage, 

 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, B. A. I. Bulletin 148, 1912. 



