2IO BACTERIA IN BUTTER. 



proper ripening. But, being unable to do this, his most prac- 

 tical method of controlling the ripening is by the use of 

 starters. Butter-makers, at the present time, who are 

 acquainted with modern methods, recommend the use of 

 some kind of starters for controlling the cream ripening, at 

 least at those seasons of the year when the cream can be 

 obtained by the creamery in a tolerably fresh condition. If 

 the cream is already tolerably sour and nearly ready to curdle, 

 i. e., already ripened, by the time it reaches the creamery, of 

 course the use of a starter is impractical. 



Both pure cultures and home starters are useful, and it 

 is difficult to say which is better. The former are less 

 troublesome and more reliable, the latter less expen- 

 sive. Pure cultures are especially valuable in a creamery at 

 times when trouble is experienced in producing a normal 

 product, for they will frequently remedy the trouble at once. 

 Whether they should be used in pasteurized or unpasteurized 

 cream depends upon the market. For the American market 

 the use of starters in unpasteurized cream has proved fully 

 as satisfactory as their use in pasteurized cream, but for the 

 European market pasteurizing appears to be necessary to 

 produce the desired product. 



BACTERIA IN BUTTER. 



What becomes of the immense number of bacteria after the 

 churning? Do they have any further part to play in the 

 changes that take place in the butter? A large part of them 

 are removed from the butter with the buttermilk and many 

 more are washed out of the butter by the washing that occurs 

 during the working of the butter. But these processes do 

 not by any means remove them all, and the completed butter 

 still contains great numbers of bacteria. In this butter, how- 

 ever, the bacteria do not find favorable conditions for growth. 

 The butter is very compact, contains only a comparatively 

 small amount of moisture, and into it oxygen cannot readily 



