CHAPTER IX. 

 BACTERIA IN BUTTER-MAKING. 



125. Sweet and ripened cream butter. The pecu- 

 liar qualities of ordinary butter are so dependent upon 

 the relation of bacteria to cream, that in order to under- 

 stand the subject aright, it is necessary to consider, first, 

 their effect in cream. If butter is made from fresh sweet 

 cream, it has a delicate, although unpronounced flavor 

 that differs .considerably from the usual product. With 

 the great bulk of the commercial product, the cream is 

 allowed to stand for a certain length of time, during 

 which it undergoes a series of fermentations technically 

 known as "ripening." 



American consumers have become accustomed to the 

 peculiar properties of acid cream butter, and as yet, there 

 is but little demand for the sweet cream product. The 

 keeping quality of the latter is relatively poor compared 

 with that made from ripened cream, so that it is only 

 adapted for immediate consumption. 



The germ content and the quality of ripened cream 

 butter varies materially, depending upon the way the 

 cream is handled. 



In dairy butter-making, the cream is usually gathered 

 by the gravity process, and is ripened in various ways. 

 In creamery butter two methods of securing cream are in 

 vogue. The more primitive way is where the cream is 

 separated by gravity and is taken to the factory when it 

 is nearly ready for churning. The more modern method 

 is to bring the whole milk to the creamery where the 



cream is removed by centrifugal separation. In the one 



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