44 



The chemists attempted to produce a "butter flavor," but they 

 liave not been able to provide oleomargarine with the desired 

 aromatic flavor any more than the bacteriologists. Nevertheless, 

 the latter have by combining more than one breed of bacteria 

 succeeded in producing commercial "starters" which, when made 

 by reliable firms, give a uniform and satisfactory result, but in 

 no way better than that obtained from good home made "starters." 

 Where uniformity is of importance the commercial starters are 

 to be recommended. We have Hans en's Lactic Ferment, Douglas 

 Butter Culture, B 41, Keith's and Ericsson's Cultures in the mar- 

 ket here. 



While introducing these, a great deal of educational work has 

 been done by the various firms, showing the buttermakers the 

 great importance of the ripening process, and thus in reality re- 

 ducing the variation in flavor caused by feed, climate and period 

 of lactation, but only in one case (Iowa Experiment Station) 

 have tests been made resulting in the assertion that the difference 

 may be wiped out altogether by careful high ripening, that, in 

 other words, just as fine flavored butter can be made from strip- 

 pers' milk as from that of fresh milking cows ; but these results 

 have as far as I know, not been confirmed. 



Yet, the fact remains that cream-ripening is the most im- 

 portant part of buttermaking, and that, as I said years ago about 

 cheesemaking, "Acidity like salt and charity covers a multitude 

 of sins." 



RIPENING CREAM ON THE FARM. 



Let us now come down to the practical handling of cream on 

 a small farm. A common way is to keep the cream in a stone 

 jar, and, if any attempt is made at ripening, to place it near the 

 kitchen stove. Stone jars, if there are no cracks in the glazing, 

 are all right, but not very convenient to handle, and especially 

 troublesome when it is desired to change the temperature. Take 

 it all in all, there is nothing better than a clean, heavily-tinned 

 and smoothly soldered steel or copper can. In this the tempeia- 

 ture of the cream may easily be changed by placing the can in a 

 larger one or in a tub with water. The warmer the water the 

 more important it is to stir the cream so as not to overheat part 

 of it. It is safest not to have the water more than 120 or 140 deg. 



When the right temperature is obtained the can should be 



