Bacteria in Butter- Making. 137 



137. Reputed advantages of culture starters. 



1. Flavor and aroma. These are factors of greatest im- 

 portance, as the market value is determined largely by 

 this quality. Ferments of this sort rarely produce any 

 higher or more pronounced flavor or aroma than the best 

 of the natural product, but they possess the reputation of 

 producing a clean, mild flavor that is very desirable when 

 the market becomes accustomed to it. 



2. Uniformity of product. Culture starters produce a 

 more uniform product, because the type of fermentation 

 does not vary from day to day. Even the best of butter- 

 makers sometimes fail to make a standard product, owing 

 to their inability to fully control the character of the 

 ripening process. 



3. Keeping quality of product. Butter made from pas- 

 teurized cream to which a good, pure starter has been 

 added will keep much better than the ordinary product, 

 because the diversity of the flora is less and the milk is 

 not likely to contain those organisms that produce an 

 " off " condition. 



4. Elimination of butter defects. One of the greatest 

 advantages is its application to factories that are unable 

 to make good butter on account of some hidden trouble 

 due to bacteria. 



138. Pure cultures vs. home-made starters. The 

 question as to the relative merits of pure or domestic fer- 

 ments as starters should be answered in the light of vary- 

 ing conditions. In the present development of the pure 

 culture system, no culture on the market possesses such 

 superior advantages over a first-class domestic starter 

 especially as to flavor and aroma, that it can be unquali- 

 fiedly recommended as better. The main advantage of 

 the culture system lies in the uniformity of the product. 

 The elimination of the risk that always attends in a greater 



