BUTTER DEFECTS 519 



cut into small slabs for table use, these slabs are generally 

 dropped from the butter cutter into ice water. In the case of 

 salted butter, if these slabs are permitted to remain in this water 

 for any considerable length of time, portions of the surface 

 begin to bleach, giving the butter a mottled appearance. Con- 

 tinued exposure will bleach .the entire surface, the mottles be- 

 come very indistinct, but the color on the surface of the slabs is 

 much lighter. 



This type of bleaching can be readily and entirely avoided, 

 as demonstrated by the work of Hunziker 1 , by dropping the 

 slabs of salted butter into a solution of 25 per cent brine instead 

 of water. In this case there is but one kind of liquid present 

 and that is brine, brine in the butter and brine surrounding it, 

 no interchange of liquids takes place and there is no bleaching. 



If the slabs consist of unsalted butter they do not bleach 

 when dropped into water, because here again there is but one 

 liquid and that is water, water in the butter and water surround- 

 ing it, there is no cause for interchange of liquids and there is no 

 change in the color of trie slabs. See also "Mottled Butter." 



Excessive working of salted butter also has a marked 

 whitening effect on the butter. This is due to the fact that in 

 normally-worked butter the average size of the water drop- 

 lets is relatively large and this lends the salted butter a relatively 

 clear, deep yellow color. Overworking causes a finer division 

 of these water droplets and this in turn produces a lighter and 

 more opaque appearance, more nearly like that of unsalted 

 butter, in which the water droplets always average much smaller 

 in size. 



Dull Color. Much of the butter made in some creameries 

 has a dull and lifeless color. This is usually the result of at- 

 tempts to incorporate a high per cent of moisture, and overwork- 

 ing. When, in an effort to incorporate moisture, the butter is 

 overworked to the extent to where the grain of the butter is 

 destroyed, the fat granules lose their bright lustre. The large 

 amount of moisture held by the fat in very minute droplets and 

 very complete emulsion, together with the very firxe division of 

 the air in the butter, also resulting from overworking, hides the 



1 Hunziker Defects in the Coloring of Butter. Address American Asso- 

 ciation of Creamery Butter Manufacturers, Chicago, February 18, 1919. 



