BUTTER. 



BUTTER. 



the specific gravity 1.0244 was found by Ber- 

 zelius to contain 



Parti. 

 Butter ....... 4-5 



Cheese 3-5 



Whey 92 



v Curd, which is easily separated from creamed 

 milk by rennet, has many of the properties of 

 coagulated albumen : it is composed, accord- 

 ing to the analysis of MM. Gay Lussac and 

 Thenard, of 



Parts. 



Carbon 59 781 



Oxygen 11 409 



Hydrogen ------ 7 429 



Azote 21-381 



100- 



Curd, adds Dr. Thomson (System of Chem. 

 vol. iv. p. 499), as is well known, is used in 

 making cheese, and the cheese is the better, 

 the more it contains of cream, or of that oily 

 matter which constitutes cream. It is well 

 known to cheese-makers, that the goodness of 

 it depends in a great measure on the manner 

 of separating the whey from the curd. If the 

 milk be much heated, the coagulum broken in 

 pieces, and the whey forcibly separated, as is 

 the practice in many parts of Scotland, the 

 cheese is scarcely good for any thing ; but the 

 whey is delicious, especially the last squeezed 

 out whey; and butter may be obtained from it 

 in considerable quantities. But if the whey is 

 not too much heated (100 is sufficient), if the 

 coagulum be allowed to remain unbroken, and 

 the whey be separated by very slow and gentle 

 pressure, the cheese is excellent, but the whey 

 is almost transparent and nearly colourless. 

 (Journal de Phys.) 



When milk is deprived of its cream, it is 

 composed, according to M. Berzelius, of 



Paris. 



Water 928-75 



Curd with a little cream - - - -28- 



Sugar of milk 35- 



Muriate of potnsh (chloride of potassium) - 1'70 

 Phosphate of potash ----- -25 



Lactic acid and acetate of potash - 



Earthy phosphates - - - - - 30* 



1000- 

 (.Thomson, vol. iv. p. 501.) 



From some valuable experiments on the 

 temperature at which butter may be best pro- 

 cured from cream, by Dr. John Barclay and 

 Mr. Allen, it appeared " that cream should not 

 be kept at a high temperature in the process 

 of churning. In the experiment when the tern 

 perature was lowest, the quantity of butter 

 obtained was in the greatest proportion to the 

 quantity of cream used ; and as the tempera- 

 ture was raised, the proportional quantity of 

 butter diminished; while, in the last experi- 

 ment, when the mean temperature of the cream 

 had been raised to 70, not only was the quan- 

 tity of butter diminished, but in quality it was 

 found to be very inferior, both with regard to 

 taste and appearance. That the lowest possi 

 ble temperature should be sought in churning 

 appears likewise from another result of these 



xperiments, the specific gravity of the churnec 

 having been found to diminish as th 

 temperature of the cream was increased; thus 

 showing, that at the lower temperature, th 

 butter, which is composed of the lighter parts 

 240 



f the cream, is more completely collected than 

 ,t the higher temperature, in which the churned 

 milk is of greater specific gravity." The con- 

 clusion to which they came therefore was, that 

 he most proper temperature at which to com- 

 mence the operation of churning butter is from 

 30 to 55, and that at no time of the operation 

 ought it to exceed 65; while, on the contrary, 

 f at any time the cream should be under 50 

 n temperature, the labour will be much in- 

 creased, without any proportional advantage 

 aeing obtained; and a temperature of a higher 

 degree than 65 will be injurious as well to the 

 quality as the quantity of the butter. (Trans. 

 High. Soc. vol. i. p. 194.) One of these experi- 

 ments it may be well to abridge: 15 gallons 

 of cream at the temperature of 50 were 

 churned ; each gallon (equal to holding 8 Ibs. 

 4 oz. of water) weighed 8 Ibs. 4 oz. ; by churn- 

 ng for two hours, the temperature of the cream 

 rose to 56 ; at the end of the churning it was 

 60. The butter obtained weighed 29$ Ibs. 

 avoirdupois, or nearly 2 Ibs. for each gallon 

 of cream: the butter was firm, rich, and plea- 

 sant. A gallon of the churned milk weighed 

 8 Ibs. 9 oz. 



Mr. J. Ballantyne found that the greatest 

 quantity of butter from a given quantity of 

 cream is obtained at 60, and the best quality 

 at 55 in the churn just before the butter came; 

 when the heat exceeded 65, no washing could 

 etach the milk from the butter without the aid 

 f salt; but when a quantity of salt was 

 wrought well into it, and the mass allowed to 

 stand for twenty-four hours, and then well 

 washed, the milk was separated. (Trans. High. 

 Soc. vol. i. p. 198.) 



The method of making the best butter all 

 over the dairy district of Scotland, is thus de- 

 scribed by Mr. Aiton (Quart. Journ. Jlgr. vol. v. 

 p. 351) : The milk, when drawn from the cow, 

 is placed from six to twelve hours in coolers, 

 the same as when set aside to cast up its cream ; 

 but this is merely to let the milk cool; and 

 whenever it is divested of its natural heat, the 

 whole meal of milk is emptied from the cool- 

 ers into a stand vat or tub sufficient to contain 

 the whole. If the vat is large, and a second 

 meal of milk has become cold before the for- 

 mer meal of milk has begun to acidify, the 

 second may be turned into the first. It is then 

 placed in a vat, covered over, and allowed to 

 remain undisturbed, till the milk has not only 

 acidified, but until it has been formed into a 

 coagulum (or lapper, in dairy language). It is 

 now ready to be churned ; and, provided the 

 lapper is not broken (which makes it ferment), 

 it may remain, without injury, unchurned for 

 some days. 



Milk prepared in this way is churned in up- 

 right or plunge churns, of a size to suit the 

 magnitude of the dairy. Where only a few 

 cows are kept, the churns will hold about 100 

 quarts, from 200 to 240 quarts, and some still 

 more. These large churns are on some large 

 farms moved by machinery of various con- 

 structions, but in most dairy farms, churns of 

 200 quarts are wrought by hand-labour only. 

 After the clotted milk is put into the churn, a- 

 much hot water is poured amongst the milk as 

 to raise the temperature from 50 or 55, which 



