STARTERS IN UNPASTEURIZED CREAM. 2O3 



The desirability of some means of controlling the cream 

 ripening has, however, been clearly recognized. A second 

 plan of using starters has been adopted which does not 

 involve the previous pasteurization of the cream. The 

 method consists of building up the cultures by the method 

 described and then adding it in quite large percentage to un- 

 pasteurized cream, allowing the ripening to take place by the 

 combined action of the bacteria originally present and those 

 that were added by the inoculated culture. This method is 

 undoubtedly illogical. The cream which has been brought to 

 the creamery is already filled with bacteria from a variety of 

 sources and sometimes in very great numbers. To inoculate 

 such a lot of cream with bacteria in such a way that the inocu- 

 lated bacteria shall produce the ripening would clearly require 

 that the cream should previously be treated in such a way as 

 to get rid of the bacteria already present. In the method of 

 use of cultures now considered such a previous treatment is 

 not adopted, but the starters are added at once to the cream 

 already filled with bacteria. 



Although this method is theoretically incorrect there are 

 certain reasons for believing that it is not quite so illogical as 

 might at first sight appear. In the first place the majority 

 of species of bacteria present in cream do not succeed in 

 growing very much and do not become very abundant in 

 the cream, provided there be present a sufficient number of 

 lactic bacteria. Such being the case it is quite clear that, if a 

 large culture of vigorous lactic bacteria be added to a lot of 

 cream already filled with miscellaneous species, the addition of 

 the lactic organisms might soon check the growth of the mis- 

 cellaneous bacteria and prevent their producing the unfavor- 

 able decomposition changes which they would produce if they 

 developed abundantly. If the cream were allowed to ripen 

 normally the growth of lactic organisms would, after a time, 

 check the development of the miscellaneous species, but this 

 might not be until after such a large abundance of decomposi- 



