506 BUTTER DEFECTS 



ent handling. This abnormally prolonged agitation causes these 

 firm globules and small firm granules to grind against each other 

 and to strike the sides of the churn until they completely lose 

 their identity, destroying the grain and giving the butter a salvy 

 body and texture. Such butter is also prone to be abnormally 

 high in moisture. A raise in the churning temperature of cream 

 of this character sufficient to make the butter come reasonably 

 soft, will shorten the time required for churning and avoid the 

 production of butter that is salvy. 



Crumbly Body. The brittle and crumbly texture of butter 

 is characteristic of butter made in late fall, winter and early 

 spring. Most creameries are troubled with this defect to some 

 extent during the winter season. While its consequences are 

 not fatal, the buyer demands a waxy body that permits of draw- 

 ing a smooth plug with the trier and the consumer criticises 

 butter that refuses to spread on account of its brittleness. The 

 hotel and restaurant trade particularly objects to crumbly but- 

 ter, because they find it very difficult to cut it into neat slabs 

 and cubes ready for the table. Crumbly butter refuses to 

 respond to knife or wire. On a weak market, crumbly butter 

 often sells at a sacrifice. 



Causes of Crumbly Body. There are two fundamental 

 causes of crumbly butter, neither of which is under the control 

 of the butter maker, namely, the cow and the feed. In winter 

 the great majority of the cows are well advanced in their period 

 of lactation. Cream from stripper cows contains predominat- 

 ingly very minute fat globules. The small fat globules do not 

 bind, together readily when the cream churns, they are firm and 

 persist in retaining their individuality. They do not yield so 

 readily to the forces which overcome the surface tension. They 

 remain intact and are prone to form small, smooth-surface, 

 round, firm, shot-like granules, which do not pack readily and 

 which lend the butter a short-grain and loose body of consid- 

 erable firmness. This fact was conclusively demonstrated by 

 the author 1 in experiments to determine the effect of the size 

 of the fat globules on the moisture content of butter. In these 

 experiments milk was separated in such a manner, as to produce 



1 Hunziker, Mills and Spitzer, "Moisture Control of Butter." I. Factors 

 not under Control of the Buttermaker. Purdue Bulletin 159, 1912. 



