BUTTER DEFECTS 469 



it to have a milky brine tend toward the development of a sour 

 flavor and aroma. 



High buttermilk content, overripe cream and starter and 

 similar agencies are responsible also for curdy and cheesy flavors 

 which often accompany the sour flavor, or take its place. They 

 are due directly to the curd content of the butter. This class 

 of flavor defects is characteristic of hot weather butter and 

 especially of butter made from sour, farm separator cream dur- 

 ing the summer season. It will appear as long as the creamery 

 accepts a poor quality of cream, but may be minimized by 

 neutralization, pasteurization, the use of a good quality of starter 

 and expulsion of buttermilk by thorough washing. 



Unclean Flavor. This is a rather general term and yet it 

 represents, in the vocabulary of the butter judge, a definite flavor 

 condition of the butter. Butter with an unclean flavor lacks 

 the clean, delicate, pleasant, aromatic butter flavor. Its taste 

 suggests the use of unsanitary utensils and methods of handling 

 the cream, such as unclean strainers, especially cloth strainers ; 

 foul smelling cans, especially cans that are not washed clean, or 

 that contain dirty wash water due to incomplete rinsing, or that 

 were not thoroughly steamed and dried after washing 'and 

 rinsing; unclean farm separators, as the result of not removing 

 all remnants of milk, cream and separator slime after each 

 separation, or not washing the separator after each separation; 

 unclean and leaky vats, pipes and conveyors, churns and pack- 

 ers; and unclean milk and cream and polluted wash water. 



The unclean flavor is imparted to butter in two ways, by 

 direct incorporation in milk, cream and butter, of decayed rem- 

 nants of milk with foul smelling odors and indirectly by the 

 contamination of the product, through these channels, with pu- 

 trefactive bacteria, yeast and molds, thriving in decaying rem- 

 nants of milk and developing products of putrefaction in the 

 cream and butter. 



Unclean flavor in butter can be prevented by using clean 

 utensils for the production and handling of milk and cream on 

 the farm, returning to the farmer clean, sterile and dry cream 

 cans, and keeping the equipment in the creamery in sanitary 

 condition. 



